The San Bernardinos have over fifty words for heat.
It was ninety degrees at nine o’clock last night and this morning it was just hot enough at Houghton Stadium so that the Gilroy Little League Majors All Stars didn’t need much time to warm up their bats.
The softball girls from Gilroy — Northern California State Champs — opened the Western Regional Championships with a victory over Enterprise Little League, the representative from Utah, by a score of 5-3 early Friday in San Bernardino.
The team did it as it has all season long: timely hitting, clutch defense, dominant pitching and a little help from the opponents.
The Garlic City girls started off hot in the bottom of the first inning, scoring three runs. Christal “Abby” Clark, the wily lead-off hitter for the home team, drew a base on balls and later stole second. Clean-up hitter Christina Chavez drove her in with a two-out hard hit ground ball to center field.
Isabella Delgado, the heroine of the state championship, drove Chavez in with a hard hit fly ball that the Utah right fielder could not handle. Delgado took second base on the throw to the plate and advanced to third as the Utah fielders mishandled the ball. Delgado eventually scored the third run of the inning on a passed ball.
Clark started the game in the circle for Gilroy. She went four strong innings, allowed two earned runs and struck out one.
“Abby pitched four great innings,” manager and head coach Norma Castro said. “She’s taking a well-deserved day off tomorrow. She’ll be fresh for our third game on Monday.”
Utah’s two earned runs came in the top of the third inning. Utah added an unearned run in the fourth to tie the game, but that was all Gilroy would allow. Savanah Castro came on in relief in the fifth inning and tossed two perfect innings, striking out two and walking none.
“Reynolds and Budelli on the left side totally shut the scoring down. Abby (Clark), as usual, made sure the middle was closed,” Norma Castro said. “I brought in (Savanah) Castro to throw a live arm at Utah. Abby (Clark) pitched a great four innings. I’m sure she could have gone all six, but I felt we could throw them off with a fresh arm. I’ll use her again tomorrow in that role.”
The bottom of the fourth was the latest in a series of nerve-wracking innings for the Garlic City Little Leaguers. With the scored tied at 3, Vanessa Zozaya dropped a cunning bunt down the first base line for a lead-off base hit. AnnaIsabel Perez was then brought in to pinch hit. She drew a four-pitch walk.
Savanah Castro came up and promptly dropped a perfect bunt that forced the catcher to field it. Her throw got to first base late and Savanah Castro had her second hit in two at bats. The bases were loaded and the top of the lineup was up. The bottom of the lineup continued to produce.
“Coach Jon (Castro) tells us to keep the line moving,” Perez said. “There’s only a ‘bottom of the order’ in the first inning. After that, everybody’s on deck.”
Clark hit a sharp ground ball to the second baseman who threw home for a force of Zozaya at the plate. Isabelle Reynolds then ripped a ground ball through the right side of the infield which scored Perez for the go-ahead — and ultimately the winning — run. The bags remained loaded with one out and Budelli at the plate. That’s when things went right for Gilroy.
“Brianna hit a pop fly to short center, but the ump called ‘infield fly’ early,” coach Joe Budelli said. “The runners were half way down the line. The infielder was moving backward to make the catch, but the batter was already out. The ball bounced off the top of her glove and Savanah (Castro) just trotted in…” for the fifth and final run of the game.
Savanah Castro then took the mound and tossed two perfect innings to secure the victory for her team and also notch her first victory of the Western Regionals.
“It was scary at first because it was a tied game,” Savanah Castro said. “But once I pitched the first strike I knew I was going to be OK.”
The girls will square off against Arizona at 11 a.m. Saturday. Norma Castro said she knows it won’t be easy, but that she is confident in her team.
“We expect them (Arizona) to have a strong team because they were here last year,” she said. “But our girls are playing so well as a team… I think we can play well enough to win any game on any given day.”
Brianna Budelli, the winning pitcher of the State Championship, will start tomorrow’s game. All games are at Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino.
Fans of the Gilroy Girls can follow them on Gamechanger.com. You can also receive updates on Twitter by following @DispatchERed and check back for results and stories here at the conclusion following the game.
Enterprise LL
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO
Kindy C.
3 0 0 0 0 0
Timorie P.
2 0 0 0 0 1
Calista C.
2 0 0 0 1 0
Kashton C.
3 0 1 0 0 1
Shaylee R.
3 0 1 0 0 0
Mesa J.
1 0 0 0 0 0
Alaina R.
1 0 0 0 0 0
Kayla J.
0 1 0 0 1 0
Jessica H.
2 1 1 2 0 0
Kangie B.
1 1 0 0 1 0
Ellie P.
2 0 1 0 0 1
Samantha T.
1 0 0 0 1 0
Jackie H.
1 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 22 3 4 2 4 3
Gilroy LL
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO
Christal C.
2 1 0 0 1 1
Isabelle R.
3 0 1 1 0 1
Brianna B.
3 0 0 0 0 0
Christina C.
3 1 1 1 0 0
Isabella D.
2 1 0 1 0 0
Sarah S.
1 0 0 0 1 0
Vanessa Z.
3 0 1 0 0 1
Mia G.
1 0 0 0 0 0
Savanah C.
2 1 2 0 0 0
Annaisabel P.
1 1 0 0 1 0
Kendall I.
0 0 0 0 0 0
Alyssa O.
1 0 0 0 0 1
Totals 22 5 5 3 3 4
