GILROY—On Sunday, the Gilroy Junior Softball All Stars proved they are the best in North California.
Gilroy blanked Paradise 12-0 in the championship game of the Northern California Junior Softball Tournament in Pinole Sunday. With the win, the Garlic City girls clinched the title of Junior League Northern California Champions. They will represent all of NorCal in the Western Regionals tournament July 22-30 in Tucson, Ariz.
But things almost went very differently on Saturday.
Gilroy played a double-header Saturday, beating Sutter Buttes 13-3 in Game 1 to set-up a showdown with Paradise.
Paradise took a dominant 7-0 lead—thanks in part to Gilroy errors—before the hometown squad scored four runs to cut the lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth. Gilroy continued to rally in the seventh and Kaia Adams sealed the 9-8 victory by driving in the winning run.
“The girls understood with the mistakes that they made (Saturday) that they needed to lock in their defense so they wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice and leave any room for them to come back,” Junior All Stars manager Norma Castro said.
The Gilroy All Stars have a week to prepare for regionals in Arizona. And that preparation includes raising the funds to get there. Castro estimates travel expenses will cost around $30,000 for the 13 girls and coaches to get to the tournament in the Grand Canyon state.
Dutchman’s Pizza, 6940 Chesnut Street, Gilroy, will help the team get there by donating 20 percent of all profits raised this Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19.
“Any customers that come in, 20 percent of the proceeds will go towards the girls,” Castro said. “If we can get as many people going over there, that would be awesome.”
Castro said the team will also host a “huge” family yard sale from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 17-18, at 7401 Miller Street—the corner of Sixth and Miller streets in Gilroy.
Gilroy’s All Stars plan to recycle everyday and sell Krispy Kreme donuts in an effort to raise as much money as they can in a week’s time.
Castro said she’s hoping the Gilroy community and all of Northern California can help her team make this trip a reality.
“We’re representing all Northern California,” she said.
For more information on how to donate to the Junior All Stars, email
cl***************@ya***.com
or
no******@ho*****.com
. You can also visit the team’s gofundme page here.
