Little League Softball: Gilroy falls to Arizona

Gilroy lost their first game of the Western Region Softball Championship Saturday and the heavens wept.
As soon as the final out was made, it started raining in San Bernardino “for the first time in twenty five years!” according to Gilroy’s host Darcie Tossetti.
Gilroy was outscored 6-1 by Sunnyside, Arizona’s representative in the Western Region Softball Championship, but it wasn’t “over easy” in spite of the score.
Gilroy had two tough innings. Arizona scored three runs in the second and three in the third inning and that was enough because of pitcher Yanira Acuna’s efforts — six innings, two hits allowed, no earned runs, one base on balls and eight strikeouts.
“I have only two pitches, but today my changeup was moving. Even though we made three errors, my defense made great plays when they had to,” said Acuna, who lost to Hawaii in last year’s championship. “We missed going to the World Series by one run last year. I really want to get another chance,” she added.
The Gilroy bats were silenced with one exception. Isabella Delgado continued her hot hitting by going 2 for 3 and scoring her team’s lone run. She was on base three times, one hot smash in the fourth having been ruled an error by the Arizona Shortstop.
Delgado led off the top of the second inning with an opposite field smash that dropped just inside the right field foul line. The speedy Delgado slid hard into third base just ahead of a textbook relay from right field to second base to third. She stood there as the next two batters both were sent back to the dugout on called third strikes. Mia Garnica then came up and hit a line drive that glanced off the right fielders glove. It was ruled an error, but it scored Delgado from third for Gilroy’s only run.
“Delgado’s got a hot bat right now. She’s seeing the ball well and swinging with confidence,” said Gilroy manager Norma Castro. “That’s what was missing from the rest of the lineup today. We have faced harder throwing pitchers and pitchers with a lot of movement, but today we did not bat the way I know we can.”
Brianna Budelli pitched a complete game for Gilroy. She struck out six, walked none, hit two and allowed three earned runs. She and her teammates played four flawless innings, but it was the second and third innings that were their undoing.
The bottom of the second inning saw the Garlic City girls load the bases with Arizonans without benefit of a hit or a walk. The Arizona catcher led off the inning and reached base by error. The first baseman struck out but reached on a dropped third strike. Budelli, after striking out the first of three strikeouts in the inning, hit the Arizona second baseman to load the bases. A passed ball, a bloop single over the short stop and a misplay at third amounted to three runs.
The third inning started inauspiciously as the Arizona third basemen was hit by a pitch. A triple, two singles and three runs later and the girls from Gilroy were staring at a 6-1 deficit that would prove to be the final score.
The Gilroy Defense responded in the bottom of the fourth inning in sterling fashion. A lead-off walk to the Arizona left fielder was erased by Garnica’s laser throw to second base and Isabelle Reynolds’s perfect reception and tag. Kendall Irwin snatched a screaming line drive in left field for the second out, and AnnaIsabel Perez handled a sharply hit grounder and threw a dart to first base for the third out. Alyssa Olivares’s catch in center field and Budelli’s defense shut out Arizona in the fifth. The Gilroy half of the sixth saw Delgado’s second base hit of the day but nothing more.
The All Stars have the day off Sunday to rest up for its next game. Gilroy will take on the Southern California team — from Granada Hills — at 7:30 p.m. Monday in San Bernardino. 
 Southern California defeated Arizona 5-0 on Friday and is slated to face off against Hawaii at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
California is the only team in the Western Region with two representatives. Both Gilroy and Granada Hills are considered State Champions.
In other Western Region action, Washington defeated Alaska 11-0 and Oregon beat Idaho 12-0 on Friday. Enterprise, the team from Utah that Gilroy defeated Friday in the tournament opening game, played another 8:30 a.m. Saturday and blew out the Nevada team 19-2. Montana defeated Idaho 5-4.
Pool play ends Wednesday. The top four teams will then participate in a single elimination round on Thursday that will send the two winners to the Western Region Championship next Friday with the winner earning the right to go to the Little League World Series in Portland, Oregon.
Gilroy LL

Sunnyside LL (AZ)