By Loren Kopff
CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA-What began as a promising opening to the slew of summer tournaments for the three Cerritos Girls Softball Association all-star teams ended with a pair of heartbreaking losses plus an uncontested rematch in the San Dieguito Memorial Day Tournament. The best chance for a championship came from the 8-Under Dynamite, which reached the semifinals this past Monday at Cardiff-by-the-Sea Sports Park.
But the team was overmatched by Laguna Niguel in a 12-1 loss that saw the Dynamite record only two hits. Cerritos had ended pool play action with a 4-2 win over Laguna Niguel this past Sunday afternoon. But Laguna Niguel scored four runs in the top of the first and added one more tally in the next inning.
Laguna Niguel increased the score to 8-0 going to the bottom of the third before Cerritos, which had stranded five runners through the first two innings, avoided the shutout. With one out, Lily Roth singled and moved to second on an error. After stealing third, Roth scored on a base hit from Alexis Montez.
The team had begun the playoffs earlier in the day with an 11-6 win over San Marcos, a team it had blanked 12-0 last Saturday in pool play action. Cerritos wasted little time putting San Marcos away with four runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by run scoring hits from Ashley McCart and Madison Wright,
In the bottom of the second, Cerritos scored four more runs on four walks and an infield single from Makayla Vanosse. In the bottom of the third, Roth and Bella Bulthuis each had singles to bring in the final three runs. Cerritos was limited to six hits but the San Marcos pitching staff issued seven walks.
Also this past Monday, the 10-Under Bam What team was doubled up by Peninsula, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. Down 4-0 heading into the bottom of the third, Cerritos got on the board when Maya Cisneros tripled to the left field gap and came home on a groundout from Azalea Herrera. Peninsula answered back in the top of the fourth but Cerritos got closer in the fifth when Makayla Sur and Piper Garcia each reached on errors. With one out, Sur would come home on a double steal and Garcia scored the final run on the second hit from Cisneros.
Cerritos began pool play action with wins over Alpine (5-2) and San Dieguito (6-5) last Saturday before falling to Tierra Canyon 6-5 this past Sunday. The 12-Under all-stars fell to South Huntington Beach 6-1 and Alpine 5-0 last Saturday in pool play action before knocking off Imperial Beach 8-5 this past Sunday. However, in the playoffs against Goleta this past Sunday, Cerritos gave up a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth and was knocked out of the tournament 6-5.
All three teams will participate in the South Huntington Beach Tournament beginning today. The Dynamite has pool play games with Huntington Beach today and Santa Monica on Saturday. The Bam What will face South Huntington beach today and La Mirada on Saturday while the 12-Under squad face South Huntington Beach today and Temecula Valley on Saturday. The playoffs begin as early as Saturday evening.
YOUTH BASEBALL
In less than half a month, the Cerritos Legend youth travel baseball team is beginning to make some noise. The Legend won the Fountain Valley Pony Baseball/Unites States Specialty Sports Association Memorial Day Tournament after a 4-3 win over the Los Alamitos All-Stars ‘B’ team this past Monday.
Cerritos was limited to four hits but built a 4-0 lead by plating three runs in the top of the fifth. Jarrett Nielsen went two for three and drove in a pair of runs while Royce Roberts had a hit and drove in the other two runs. Nick Leung was one for two and scored once while in the circle, four pitchers combined on a three-hitter.
Earlier in the day, the Legend came away with a 4-3 win against the Orange County Spartans despite being held to just a Nielsen hit. But Nielsen and Roberts each pitched three innings and combined to give up four hits. The win avenged a 9-4 loss to the Spartans in the second game of the tournament last Saturday.
The Legend is built of seven and eight-year old players competing in the 8-Under age group. Most of the players and coaches are from the Frontier Baseball League and had previously finished in third place in its first tournament of existence, followed by a runner-up performance in the TBL Easter Saturday Classic.
TRACK AND FIELD
Five area athletes advanced to the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section divisional finals but none of them had marks to qualify a place in this evening’s Master’s Meet.
Whitney senior Catherine Luo finished in fifth place in both the 1600 and 3200 meter races in Division IV. In the former, Luo led throughout most of the first 1200 meters but fell to third place with less than a full lap to go. She finished with a time of 5:10.78 in that race and 11:20.56 in the 3200 meter race.
Also in Division IV, Valley Christian junior Jonathan Nicholson competed in both the 100 meter dash, where he had a time of 11.26, as well as in the long jump, where he placed 6th with a mark of 21’ 1 ¼”.
V.C. senior Rataeja Sholes finished in fifth place in the 100 high hurdles (15.40) and tied for third place in the high jump (5’ 1”). Also in the high jump, Whitney senior Michaela Platt was listed as one of nine Division IV participants but did not have a jump.
In Division III, Artesia senior Tytus Simmons had a time of 15.08 in the 110 high hurdles.
