Gilroy won’t be making a return appearance to the Little League
Softball World Series this year.
The Girls Majors softball team of Gilroy Little League came
agonizingly close to winning the Northern California Division II
Championship in Sacramento last week, which would have allowed the
team to advance to the Western Regionals being played in Vancouver,
Wash – a qualifying tournament for the LLSWS, but a string of
costly errors in the first game of a double-elimination final
against Red Bluff and cold bats in the second contest ended the
team’s season.
Gilroy won’t be making a return appearance to the Little League Softball World Series this year.
The Girls Majors softball team of Gilroy Little League came agonizingly close to winning the Northern California Division II Championship in Sacramento last week, which would have allowed the team to advance to the Western Regionals being played in Vancouver, Wash – a qualifying tournament for the LLSWS, but a string of costly errors in the first game of a double-elimination final against Red Bluff and cold bats in the second contest ended the team’s season.
Ahead 8-0 going into the fifth inning of the first contest, Gilroy committed eight errors in the frame, which resulted in three runs, and five more errors in the sixth, allowing Red Bluff to even the score 8-all before winning 10-8 in an extra seventh inning.
“We had it in the bag,” manager Ray Covarrubias said. “We were undefeated and had to win just one more game.”
“[We] had a 6-0 lead and got a little too comfortable and just started falling apart.”
Raeanna Covarrubias was strong on the mound through four innings of the first game, allowing no runs while also batting 1-for-2 with an RBI. She was aided by Adrianna Ortega (4-for-4, 4 RBIs), Brianna Perez (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) and Holly Lam, who hit a triple and scored on a passed ball. But in the end, the defense couldn’t hold on for the win.
The effects of falling in the first game could have carried over to the next contest, as Gilroy lost 1-0 and only recorded one hit.
Lam pitched “a great game,” according to Ray Covarrubias, recording six strikeouts. Red Bluff was fortunate again, though, scoring a run in the third off another error.
“It kind of carried on from the fifth inning [of the first game] to the next day and we we’re just flat,” Ray Covarrubias said. “Their minds weren’t in it and they were still in shock that they lost the big lead.”
Still, the coach said it was a pleasure working with such a talented squad.
“We had a good team,” he said. “We had a good core of girls.”
Overall, Gilroy went 3-2 for the tournament.
