9-10 yr. old All-Stars win Northern Calif. Championship
MANTECA – In 2003 there were 398 Northern California little league districts that fielded all-star teams, but only one could be crowned as the Northern California Regional Champion.
Gilroy’s 2003 girls minor league all-stars were that one team – capturing the coveted title for the first time ever after winning the Section 5 tournament in San Jose and the Northern California Regional tournament in Manteca over the past week.
“They were in shock. We were in shock,” Coach Robert Lira said. “It was a long haul getting there. It really was an overwhelming feeling of victory.”
The diamond girls combined dominant pitching, powerful and consistent hitting, solid defense, and smart coaching to win seven of nine games in an 11-day span. The Garlic City girls, ages 9 and 10, had to face down much adversity along the way, such as having to play a double-header to claim the section title and also winning four consecutive elimination games in Manteca in the NorCal Regional Championship.
“When we started this tournament, we started every game with a prayer for a safe game, a fun game and god’s favor,” Lira said. “Not only did we have the talent, but I believe we had god’s favor with us.”
Section 5 Championship in San Jose
The first challenge they faced was competing in the Section 5 tournament in San Jose, which brought together all-star champions from around the Bay Area to compete for the section title.
“We actually knew going in with strong team. A lot of these girls played together for a couple of years, a number on same traveling team,” said Lira, who was joined in the dugout by Manager Cathy Martinez and Coach Danny Kinoshita. “They had a chemistry going.”
In the first game of the section tournament on July 17, Gilroy overwhelmed Tennyson Little League (Hayward) 21-0 in four innings. Danielle Kinoshita shut down the opposition with a powerful pitching performance, allowing only one hit and striking out 10 opposing batters in the four innings, while Gilroy’s offense came up with nine hits. Brenna O’Neil was the big hitter for Gilroy going 3-for-4, while Michelle Sosa and Adrianna Osuna each went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Alyssa Castro’s dominating pitching led Gilroy to their second win of the tournament on Sunday, July 19 against a strong Sunnyvale National team by a score of 5-1. Castro struck out 12 Sunnyvale batters and only allowed five hits in a complete-game performance. Osuna had the key hit of the game – a bases-loaded double that put Gilroy up 3-0 in the third inning. Castro also produced at the plate, going 2-for-2 and scoring two runs.
Sunnyvale National fought their way out of the loser’s bracket to face Gilroy for the championship on Tuesday. Kinoshita put in a strong pitching performance and left the game after six innings with a 3-3 tie, but Sunnyvale’s bats woke up in extra innings and they captured an 11-4 win over Gilroy to force a second game. Dominique Perez and Castro each went 2-for-3 in the game and Perez gloved two line drives at third base.
Sunnyvale National and Gilroy faced off again immediately after the Gilroy loss for a winner-take-all game in the double-elimination tournament. Gilroy came from behind to win 8-5, capturing the Section 5 title and earning a berth into the Northern California Regional Championship. Gilroy benefited from solid pitching from Castro and timely hitting. With Gilroy down by a run, Sosa put Gilroy ahead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning by belting a hit up the middle to plate two runs. Castro went 2-for-2 at the plate.
Northern California Regional Championship in Manteca
The day after the long double-header on Tuesday, Gilroy had to travel to Manteca to play in their first game in the regional championship tournament. Since they had played the double-header the previous day using their top two pitchers, Kinoshita and Castro, both were unavailable for the opening game of the tournament. Gilroy went down hard in the opener to the Manteca All-City team, 10-2. Manteca’s pitcher, Brittany Lamar, shut down the Gilroy offense by allowing only one hit and recording 11 strikeouts. Osuna had Gilroy’s only hit and Sosa pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
“We played like five hours of softball on Tuesday so the girls were tired going into championship tournament,” Lira said. “They fought their way through… They struggled the first few games, but the last few championship games they really pulled together and played like the all-stars they really are.”
Gilroy then moved to the loser’s bracket to play elimination games each day for the remainder of the tournament. They faced off against the Antioch West all-stars on Thursday and pulled off an impressive come-from-behind victory in their last at-bats. The game was tied 6-6 at the halfway mark going into the top of the fourth, where Gilroy scored a run when Dani Hemeon came in to score on an infield ground out. Antioch answered in the bottom of the inning to plate two runs, and added another in the bottom of the fifth to take a 9-7 lead.
Facing tournament elimination in their last at-bats, Gilroy stunned the opposition by getting three runs across the plate to take a 10-9 lead. The first two Gilroy batters walked and advanced to second and third on a ground out. Castro then delivered a one-out single to tie the game on a close play at the plate to score the tying run. Osuna then hit the game-winning single to plate Castro. Kinoshita came in to pitch a hitless sixth to clinch the win for Gilroy. Osuna once again led the Gilroy offense, going 3-for-4 at the plate.
On Friday, Gilroy faced the Peach Bowl little league all-stars from Yuba City in another elimination game. Sosa got things going in the right direction for Gilroy by leading the game off with a long shot to left-center field over the heads of the outfielders, after which she touched all the bases to give Gilroy a 1-0 lead. Gilroy went on to win in dominating fashion 13-2 in just five innings.
Hemeon stepped in to pitch a strong first inning when a traffic jam delayed the arrival of Gilroy’s scheduled starter. Kinoshita arrived and pitched the second through fifth, allowing only two hits and striking out five in three innings of work. Brenna O’Neill went 2-for-3 and belted a bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning to put Peach Bowl away. Osuna kept up her hot hitting by going 4-for-4, and Sarah Lira had a single and a double while going 2-for-3.
On Saturday, Gilroy faced off once again against Manteca all-city, which had a day off the previous day due to their winners-bracket status. But the rest didn’t help them as they fell to Gilroy 12-2 in five innings.
Gilroy continued their winning ways behind a stellar pitching performance by Castro, who struck out 10 Manteca batters and only allowed two hits. Manteca pitchers couldn’t find the plate while walking 14 Gilroy batters. Castro belted a 2-RBI single in the game as well to lead her team to victory and force a final, winner-take-all championship game on Sunday.
Gilroy played perhaps their best overall game in Sunday’s championship, resulting in a 9-2 win. Consistent hitting and defense, combined with another dominating pitching performance by Kinoshita produced the victory over a disappointed Manteca all-city squad.
Kinoshita allowed only four hits and struck out six in the complete-game victory. Osuna recorded the final out by tagging out a Manteca runner from her catcher’s position in a run-down along the third-base line. Sosa led the offense by going 3-for-3 in the leadoff spot, and Osuna and Kinoshita went 2-for-2 and 2-for-3 respectively.
The big inning for Gilroy was the third, where they scored four runs behind consecutive singles by Osuna, Kinoshita, O’Neill, Lira, and Marissa Gamboa, who also had a strong tournament both at the plate and in the outfield.
Over the course of the two tournaments, Osuna dominated at the plate by hitting .555 while pounding out 15 hits. Sosa followed with 10 hits, Castro had nine, and Lira had eight to round out Gilroy’s attack. O’Neill, Kinoshita, and Gamboa also delivered clutch hits to score runs. All the girls played solid defense and contributed to a great team effort to bring the Northern California Championship home to Gilroy.
“We couldnt have done it with a better team than we did,” Lira said. “I have to give credit to a lot of the parents who traveled back and forth from Manteca every day for five days. It was tiring, but it was great and I know the parents loved it, too.”
