After placing second at the California State Championships two weeks ago, the Pride of Morgan Hill 12-and-under girls fastpitch softball team begins play at the USSSA National World Series today in Independence, Mo. where it will be the No. 1- ranked team representing California.
The Pride’s path to the World Series recently went through Sunnyvale and Twin Creeks Sports Complex. Morgan Hill went 6-0 through pool play and the first rounds of playoffs, taking their clean record into the championship round against the San Bruno Lightning – a team the Pride defeated earlier in the tournament.
However, the Lightning struck for back-to-back victories, 6-5 and 8-5, to claim the championship. Still, the Pride’s performance earned them their trip to the midwest.
Their course to the championship round started with a 15-0 shutout of an overmatched Los Banos Tigers bunch. The Pride went batted through the lineup twice in the first inning, led by pitcher Vanessa Ramos, whose triple and home run highlighted the first inning barrage. In the circle, Ramos faced 10 batters in the game, striking out four.
In the second pool play game, Pride faced Albany Sting, which was riding high after prevailing in a late-inning comeback against East Bay Impact.
After a rough pitching start, Madison Gallagher settled down and allowed only two runs.
Offensively, the team was led by Gallagher who had two doubles and a triple. Third baseman, and newcomer to the team, Mariela Mestaz, powered a home run in the third inning to cap a 9-2 victory for Pride.
In the third and final pool play game Friday, Pride faced their toughest opponent of the day, the East Bay Impact.
Impact lead for a majority of the game, but as Pride has shown in recent tournaments, they are never out of a game and never give up. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Gallagher hit a triple, bringing in Ramos from second to tie the game. Later in the inning, with catcher Sam Parish at first base, Ianna Schlaefli poked a line drive into left field which ricocheted off of the fielders leg, allowing Parish to score, lifting the Pride to a 4-3 win and completing a 3-0 Day 1.
During Saturday’s first playoff game, Pride faced the Yard Sharks from Charmichael.
Skylar Millard went 2-for-3 and added a nice delayed steal from second to third base. Jordyn Campbell added her own delayed steal from second. Pride went on to win 4-1.
The second game on Saturday pitted Pride against the East Bay Impact, which came out looking to settle the score after Pride’s victory the day before. The Pride had Impact’s number, though, riding shut-down pitching by Ramos and a 2-for-3 batting (double and triple) performance by Mestaz.
Sunday’s first playoff game was a preview of the championship games. Pride took on the Lightning, who up until that point, had also gone undefeated.
The first belonged to Pride as they routed Lightning 7-2, behind Gallagher’s pitching and a solid defense led by catcher Aly Nodohara, Schlaefli at first, Sam Brenny and Myka Hughes at second, Ramos at shortstop and Mestaz at third. Millard, MacKenzie Turnipseed and Sam Parish held their ground in the outfield. Nodohara, Mestaz and Parish all went 2-for-3 in the game while Gallagher went 3-for-3.
The Lightning displaced the Impact to get back into the championship round, where they upended the Pride twice.
NOTE: The Pride players say they are honored to represent the state of California and the city of Morgan Hill this week in Independence and they thank their coaches, parents and family for never allowing them to give up over these past few years to help them reach their goal of going to Nationals. They would also like to thank their sponsors for helping make this dream come true.
