Brittney Souza gave Torres Construction And DS Builders Riptide
an early lead over the Dr. Bas Wafelbakker, DDS Sunbirds in
Thursday’s Gilroy Little League Girls Majors championship.
Unfortunately for the Riptide, which battled its way into the
title game by bouncing back from a defeat to the Sunbirds earlier
in the double-elimination tournament, that lead was short
lived.
The Sunbirds answered right back with a run of their own by
Lauren Castro in the bottom half of the first before going on to
win the game 5-1.
GILROY – Brittney Souza gave Torres Construction And DS Builders Riptide an early lead over the Dr. Bas Wafelbakker, DDS Sunbirds in Thursday’s Gilroy Little League Girls Majors championship.
Unfortunately for the Riptide, which battled its way into the title game by bouncing back from a defeat to the Sunbirds earlier in the double-elimination tournament, that lead was short lived.
The Sunbirds answered right back with a run of their own by Lauren Castro in the bottom half of the first before going on to win the game 5-1.
The Riptide had opportunities to score, including having the bases loaded with one out, but second baseman Emma Leach turned in a play that quite possibly saved the game.
Holly Lam hit a fly ball toward the foul line in shallow right field, but Leach raced over and made a diving catch for the second out. She wasn’t done. Hopping to her feet, Leach lasered the ball to catcher Brook Loesch who applied the tag as the Riptide’s Jacklyn Cambria tried to tag up and score.
Karli Martinez put the Sunbirds ahead for good, scoring on a Castro single in the fourth.
Castro made sure the Riptide didn’t get another chance to come back, as she pitched two more shutout innings to finish off the game with nine strikeouts.
“The play that Emma made was incredible and saved the game for us,” said Sunbirds manager Al Orosco. “And Lauren’s pitching, as it has all year, made it difficult for the other teams to get big rallies.”
