n Special to the Dispatch
Salinas – The Gilroy Glory Under-16 girls’ softball team went undefeated at an ASA Fastpitch “A” Qualifying Tournament in Salinas last weekend, outscoring opponents 28-5 and coasting to the championship with a 13-0 victory. The Glory now qualifies for the ASA National Tournament later in the fall.
The Glory have been to the championship game in four out of eight tournaments this year.
The Garlic Girls played superbly all weekend. Three of their five wins came by way of shutouts. The Glory committed only four errors total in the five games, while their opponents committed 10. The Glory pitchers also gave up 10 walks throughout the tournament, while the locals took 18 bases on balls from their opponents.
“It was a total team effort,” said Glory manager Dennis Castro.
Ace pitcher Ashley Harrington threw all three shutouts to win four of the five games. Pitcher Danielle Payne hurled the other victory. Harrington pitched a two-hitter in the championship game, which ended in a 13-0 whitewashing over the Nor-Cal Heat (Santa Clara).
Harrington also led the Glory in batting, hitting .545 over the course of the tournament. Left fielder Emily Castro was right behind with a .500 batting average, followed by center fielder Stephanie Doting at .307.
Setting the stage for the Glory throughout the tournament was Doting, who scored seven runs, and shortstop Sam Romero, who scored six, including getting on base four times via errors. Second baseman Ashley Serrano, catcher Kristy Pineda and Doting also had extrabase hits in the tournament.
Diana Carter, Kaitlin Muraoka, Ally McClintic, Patty Gomez and Stelle Nelson also contributed for the Glory.
The Glory jumped on the Heat in the championship game by scoring 11 runs in the first inning – the most runs scored in a single inning all year.
Castro had two doubles in the inning, while Pineda had a single and a double. Gilroy sent 15 batters to the plate and had a combined nine hits in the first inning.
The Glory went into championship Sunday as the No. 1 seed after going 3-0 on the opening day of the tournament, which included two shutouts. They opened with a 3-0 win over the same Heat team, followed by a 3-2 victory over the Salinas Red Raiders and a 5-0 blanking over Mize Diamonds of San Jose.
In the semifinal win on Sunday, they beat Mize Diamonds 4-3. Other teams in the tournament included the Oakland Jinx, Salinas Rockets and Monterey Bay Rippers.
The Glory had two nail-biting victories: the 4-3 semifinal win and a 3-2 second game win. In the semifinals, the Glory jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Mize Diamonds in the first inning, fell behind 3-2 after four innings, but came back with the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth inning.
Romero scored two runs, and Serrano and Doting also scored.
In the 3-2 win on Saturday against the Salinas Red Raiders, pitcher Payne got the hard-earned win. The Glory came back from a 2-1 deficit by scoring two runs in the final inning. Castro and Pineda scored.
The locals are managed by Dennis Castro, with coaches Marty Serrano, Rebecca Dayton and Jerry Nelson.
