The Pride 12U Green team lost its first game in last weekend
’s Summer Slugfest at Community Park but came back strong. The
team went 4-1-1 to win the tournament title, eliminating the Pride
Gold team, which finished third.
The Pride 12U Green team lost its first game in last weekend’s Summer Slugfest at Community Park but came back strong. The team went 4-1-1 to win the tournament title, eliminating the Pride Gold team, which finished third.
The Green dominated the game between the two Morgan Hill squads, winning 13-2. The Green laid down several nice bunts in the game that the Gold team was unable to field for the needed outs. JC Clayton pitched for the Green, and Shayna Osuna, who had a solid RBI, handled the catching duties behind the plate.
Kelly Hillman was on the mound for the Gold. JC Clayton went 3-for-3 for the Green, and Tanya Ferry at second base made a back handed catch on a ball headed into left field.
In the championship game against Parajo Valley, the Green won 7-2. Parajo was ahead 2-1 until the top of the sixth. Clayton singled, Brooke Willis sacrificed and Kourtney Kientzy hit a triple. Ferry and Michel added doubles. Mary Luna, who doubled and scored in the third inning, doubled again for two more runs.
Defensively, second baseman Vanessa Santoya showed some heads up play when backed up the first baseman to get an out. Willis came up with a great scoop at third base and threw the runner out at first.
After losing the opener 6-5, the Green came back to defeat the Livermore Smoke 6-0. Pitcher Jenna Robertson had five strikeouts. The Green had 12 singles in the game. Alyssa Barsanti reached base on a nice slap bunt and then came around to score.
In the third game Saturday, thee Green team tied the San Carlos Force 3-3 after time was called. Robin Nelson laid down a beautiful bunt. She stole around to third, but was left there. Michel had a double in the game.
On Sunday against the Slammers, the Green won 11-4 after working out 13 singles. Catcher Shayna Osuna had a strong outing behind the plate, throwing a couple runners out. Willis hit a hard hit double. Ferry had a timely RBI single. Clayton scooped out a hard hit ball at short and ran to second base to get the out to end the game.
On Saturday morning, the Gold team, which went 4-1 in the tournament, defeated the Marin Tremblers 6-1. ChereRay PreJean started the Pride off with a triple but was unable to score. The game remained scoreless until the third when Marin scored an unearned run on a leadoff walk.
This would be the only run scored by Marin. Maureen King scored the first run for the Pride in the third off a base hit by Mandy Kline, who went on to score on an RBI from Danielle Campett. Third basemen, Kline caught several fly balls, and first basemen CJ Wrye made an unassisted double play to shut down Marin in the fifth inning.
In the afternoon matinee, the Pride defeated the Fremont Flyers 3-1 – a team that had bettered them twice the previous week. Sarah Cornaggia took the mound for the Pride with Holly Turay behind the plate. The Pride scored in the second inning with a single by shortstop Amanda Whitling. Turay reached on a bunt and scored on singles by C.J. Wrye and Nicole Sanchez to give the Gold a 2-0 lead.
The Flyers fought back scoring once in the bottom of the second. Clampett had a triple to score PreJean in the fifth inning. Cornaggia struck out four batters, allowing only two walks. It was the second error free game in a row for the Pride.
In the final game of the day, the Pride Gold defeated San Mateo 7-3. Hillman took the mound and had five strikeouts and several strong defensive plays. Back to back hits in the first inning by Whitling, Cornaggia and Clampett along with walks from Sanchez and Brittany Vaughn-Vandergriff gave the Pride five runs before the inning ended. Clampett in right field threw out a runner to first basemen Stephanie Doting to end the game.
Finishing 3-0 in pool play and in a solid first place, the Pride would faced the San Carlos Force Sunday morning. San Carlos, which had tied the Pride Green 3-3 the previous day, came out strong with three runs in the first. Hillman struck out two batters and second basemen CJ Wrye caught a fly to end the Force’s rally. The Pride came back with singles from Kline and Campett and a double by Cornaggia to move the Pride to within 3-2.
Doting, Turay and Wrye led off for the Pride Gold in the second inning with singles.
Doubles by Kline and Cornaggia gave the Pride a solid 8-3 lead. The Force came back strong scoring in the fifth inning. But with the tying run on second base, Hillman shut down the last two batters with strikeouts to end the game.
