The Gilroy Stanford Cardinal under-14 girls softball team gave
manager Joe Hernandez the best going-away present ever by winning
the 2005 NorCal National Softball Association’s Fall Ball
Championships the last weekend in November in Salinas.
The Gilroy Stanford Cardinal under-14 girls softball team gave manager Joe Hernandez the best going-away present ever by winning the 2005 NorCal National Softball Association’s Fall Ball Championships the last weekend in November in Salinas.
The G.P.A. Gilroy Stanford Cardinal went 5-1 over three days, winning the championship with a 7-3 victory over the Tracy Express. It was the last tournament for Hernandez with the team he’s managed for the past two years. He will soon be moving out of the area.
The Garlic Girls defeated the Hollister Heat, Stockton Diamond Girls and the Diablo Valley Panthers on their way to the tournament championship. They ended up having to play the Tracy Express three times, beating the runners-up twice.
Most valuable player for the Gilroy Stanford Cardinal was pitcher Ashley Harrington, who pitched every inning of the six games and struck out 20 batters. Leading the hitting was left fielder Kaitlin Muraoka, who banged out eight hits over the course of the three days. Second baseman Alissa Castro had six hits along with some sparkling defensive plays. Alissa’s sister, Emily, had five hits, McClintic all collected four hits apiece. O’Neill also had a double and a home run while Diana Carter had a double and a triple included in her three hits. Harrington also had three hits, including a triple, and Melissa Avila added two hits.
The Gilroy Stanford Cardinal went into Sunday’s final day as the top seed by defeating the Hollister Heat 4-3, the Stockton Diamond Girls 5-2, the Diablo Valley Panthers 11-9 and the Tracy Express 6-4 over the first two days. On Sunday, during which the Tracy Express had to defeat the Gilroy girls twice, the Gilroy Stanford Cardinal suffered their first defeat 4-1, before coming back to win it all 7-3.
In the 7-3 championship-clinching victory, the locals sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. O’Neill and Muraoka hit singles during the rally and Harrington had a triple. The Garlic Girls added another run in the third inning, led by Carter’s triple and singles by Muraoka and McClintic. Their final two runs were scored by a single by Emily Castro and two errors by the Tracy team. Meanwhile, pitcher Harrington held the opponents to three runs on three strikeouts.
Also providing solid play for the Gilroy champions were: Sara Sendejas, Liz Wallace, Patty Garcia, and Ashley Hernandez. Helping manager Joe Hernandez were coaches Dennis Castro, Aurelio Sendejas, Gary Wallace and Larry Owens. Hernandez and Castro have been coaching together since 2001, starting with the Gilroy Little League. In 2002, their team won the Little League Minor championships, and were runners-up in 2003. Hernandez and Castro later enlisted the help of 2004 Majors championship coach Sendejas in starting the Gilroy Stanford Cardinal travel team, which finished in the top eight of the NSA Nor-Cal Spring Championships.
