For the Gilroy Little League all stars, pool play at the Junior Softball World Series was an exercise in frustration.
Despite leading eventual pool winner West Cumberland early in the first game of the tournament, and playing close games against Italy and Texas, manager Nelson Villanueva’s club finished pool play 0-4 before taking two final shots in the consolation bracket.
On Friday, they made the most of the opportunity.
Gilroy erased an early 7-2 deficit with an eight-run second inning before scoring eight more over the next two innings to beat the Canadian champions from Windsor South Little League 18-7 and notch its first win at the World Series.
“The talk around our hotel and even with the umpires, we were not an 0-4 team,” Villanueva said. “Today’s game, the bats finally woke up.”
Gilroy was held to 11 runs in its first four games combined in Kirkland, a startling low number after scoring 74 runs in eight games at the West regional, including outputs of 12, 13 and then 21 against Utah.
“We’ve been trying to battle from behind,” Villanueva said. “This is the type of softball we usually play.”
The offensive output stretched up and down the lineup for Gilroy in its first win, as three players finished with multiple hit games while nine score at least one run.
Nicole Villanueva and Maria Sandoval finished with a combined five hits, four runs scored and one RBI and had a simple answer when asked about the excitement of finally picking up a win at the World Series.
“It’s really amazing,” Sandoval said.
Both of that pair also contributed on the mound, working a combined four innings and along with BryannaLee Moreno, holding the Canadian team to only three earned runs over five innings before the 10-run mercy rule was called into effect.
“We were more disciplined at the plate,” Nicole Villanueva said. “It feels really good to finally get a win under our belts.”
Gilroy will have one more chance to pick up a win in another consolation bracket game on Saturday before heading back to northern California to begin school and prepare for the high school season in the spring.
But as their manager said, the most important thing is to enjoy everything that comes with their last seven innings together.
“We got to the big dance, but we hadn’t put our shoes on yet,” he said. “We finally put on one shoe and hopefully tomorrow we put on that other shoe and walk out of here.”
