Three-for-three is about as good as it gets.
All three Gilroy Little League softball All-Star teams had
championships on the line Wednesday night, and all three came
through with wins.
In Sunnyvale, the Gilroy Majors All-Stars cruised to a 9-1
victory over the Manteca All-City All-Stars in the Northern
California State Championship game to earn a trip to the Western
Sectional in Vancouver, Wash., which begins this weekend.
Sunnyvale – Three-for-three is about as good as it gets.
All three Gilroy Little League softball All-Star teams had championships on the line Wednesday night, and all three came through with wins.
In Sunnyvale, the Gilroy Majors All-Stars cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Manteca All-City All-Stars in the Northern California State Championship game to earn a trip to the Western Sectional in Vancouver, Wash., which begins this weekend.
Catcher Melanie Morelos led the way on offense for the Majors with a pair of doubles and four RBI’s, while steady starter Danielle Kinoshita pitched a complete game to earn the win.
The Majors were joined as champions by two younger All-Star squads playing in Manteca. The he Gilroy Minors All-Stars and Gilroy 11-year-olds All-Stars both finished their seasons in style with championship game victories.
“Good pitching, good pitching, good hitting, what more can you say?” said 11-year-olds coach Mark Ordaz of his team’s 20-3 win over Antioch.
Every player on Ordaz’s squad got at least one hit and Casey Lester pitched a complete game one-hitter. Shawnte “Big Dog” Garcia smacked two doubles to the center field fence for a team that outscored its opponents 47-17 in the 11-year-olds tournament.
No title game of the three was more thrilling than the Minors All-Stars’ victory in Manteca. Amber Gamboa broke open a tie game with an RBI single to center field in the bottom of the sixth to secure a 5-4 win and bragging rights in Northern California for Gilroy.
For the Majors, it was Morelos who came up huge when her team needed her.
All Little League season, Gilroy Majors All-Stars manager Dennis Castro has been helping his catcher get better control of her powerful swing.
In Wednesday night’s win over the Manteca All-City All-Stars, Morelos showed the damage she can do when she does have that control.
The slugger’s two doubles included a game-changing two-bagger in the fourth inning that drove in two runs and broke a scoreless tie.
“(Morelos) has got the most power of any girl this age I’ve ever seen,” said Castro, who also coached the catcher during the regular season. “But just because you can drive a car 150 mph doesn’t mean you do it all the time.”
In the title game, Morelos did drive it hard – at precisely the right time. After the catcher got the scoring started in the fourth, a Gilroy hit barrage ensued, earning the Majors the coveted District 2 championship banner.
Gilroy will represent Northern California at the Western Sectional in Vancouver, Wash., which begins this weekend.
According to Castro, success for this Majors squad isn’t surprising. Six of the players on the team were a part of the Minors All-Star team that also won the Northern California championship two years ago.
“The real reason we won is because this truly is a team,” Castro said. “They’re not divided. … This is a backyard team like (in the movie) ‘The Sandlot.'”
Despite the seemingly lopsided win, the game was very balanced through the first 3 1/2 innings. Both teams were getting runners on base, but neither could get on the board.
In the middle of the fourth inning, a military bomber plane flew overhead and caused both fans and players to turn their attention skyward, foreshadowing the offensive bombshell Gilroy was getting ready to drop on Manteca.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brenna O’Neill led off with a line drive up the middle. Lindsay Holt was then hit in the ankle by a pitch and sent to first, where she was replaced by pinch runner Michelle Sosa. A bunt from Elaina Vasquez loaded the bases for Gilroy. That brought up Morelos, who ripped a shot up the middle and drove in O’Neill and Sosa to give the Majors a 2-0 lead.
The Gilroy offense didn’t stop there. Samantha Parraz followed with a walk. Ball four to Parraz was a wild pitch. Vasquez, who was on third, took advantage and scored, as did Morelos when a Manteca player behind the plate overthrew the ball into the infield. Alissa Castro’s flare single to right drove in Parraz, giving Gilroy a 5-0 lead before Manteca got out of the inning.
Gilroy starter Danielle Kinoshita, who pitched a complete game and earned the win, stayed tough on the mound for the remaining inning and a half of the game. She earned the third outs in the fifth and sixth innings on strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fifth, Morelos struck again. She roped another hard shot to left which drove in O’Neill, who had doubled to the center field fence, and Holt (walk) to extend Gilroy’s lead to 7-0. Parraz, up next, ripped an RBI double of her own and Stephanie Rodriguez had an RBI single for Gilroy’s last two runs.
Manteca managed to score one run in the final inning, making it 9-1, but Kinoshita was too much for the All-City All-Stars to handle.
After the game, the players were presented with the championship flag to chants of “Gilroy!” from the loud Garlic City fan base in the stands.
“I think we’ll represent Gilroy very well (in Vancouver),” Dennis Castro said.
Eleven teams will compete in two divisions at the Western Sectional. The top teams from each division will play at the end of the tournament to see who will go to the World Series in Portland in the second week of August.
In addition to Dennis Castro, the Majors All-Star team has been coached and assisted to an undefeated finish in state All-Star play by several individuals, including Jim Hemeon, Roy Holt and Larry Owens.
As for the future of Gilroy softball, Ordaz laughed, “This year, next year, three years from now, you’re going to see some really huge things from this area.
“Three championships … whewww.”
