n Staff Reports
The Gilroy Glory Under-16 girls’ softball team qualified for the Western World Series in Washington this summer with a second-place finish this past weekend in the NSA Fastpitch “A” tournament in Modesto.
The Garlic Girls battled back from the No. 5 seed to make it to the championship despite temperatures that topped the century mark.
The Gilroy Glory has now made it to the championship in five tournaments over the past two years. They have won two of those tournaments. On championship Sunday, the Gilroy Glory edged the Valley (Oakdale) Magic 1-0 and the Cupertino Inferno 5-3 before losing to a tough Atwater Outlaw team 6-0 in the championship game.
Leading the way throughout the tournament was second baseman Ashley Serrano, who batted .437. Pitcher Ashley Harrington helped her cause by averaging a cool .400. Stephanie Doting hit .384, Emily Castro hit .357 and Ally McClintic hit .333. Harrington and Kelly Hillman shared the pitching duties throughout the tournament. Also contributing for the Glory were Danielle Payne, Samantha Romero, Kaitlin Muraoka, Diana Carter and Stelle Nelson.
Gilroy received the No. 5 seed after Saturday’s qualifying games, but were competitive, being outscored only 15-10 in the three games.
During their comeback on championship Sunday, the Glory scored the lone run in a 1-0 win over the Valley (Oakdale) Magic. Serrano got on base on a fielder’s choice, stole second and scored on a single by Carter. Harrington pitched a two-hitter and struck out three in shutting out the Oakdale team.
Hillman pitched four strong innings in Glory’s 5-3 win over the Cupertino Inferno 5-3. Harrington relieved Hillman with runners on first and second and only one out in the final inning and preserved the win by forcing a groundout and getting a strikeout. The Glory’s five runs were scored by Castro, Hillman, McClintic, Payne and Romero.
The Gilroy Glory is managed by Dennis Castro. Coaches include Wes Hillman, Marty Serrano, Jerry Nelson and Coach Rebecca.
