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July 25, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
The Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championships tournament is nearing the end, and a few area players are helping their respective travel softball teams with their hot bats. At the same time, other area players saw their teams make early exits of the prestigious end of the summer event with some of the players heading off to college while the rest will still have a few weeks of vacation before high school begins in the middle of August.
PGF 18-Under Premier Division
Right fielder and second baseman Natalia Hill (Gahr High/University of Nebraska) of the (Riverside) BSC Bengals-Briggs scored once while her high school teammate, Rio Mendez (University of Utah) went one for three and scored once as the Bengals knocked off the (Phoenix) Arizona Storm Premier-Downes 6-1 this past Tuesday in their first bracket game. Hill had entered the game one for seven in the three pool play games with the lone hit a solo home run against the (Surprise, AZ) Firecrackers AZ-Brashear/Holland in a 3-3 tie last Saturday afternoon in the first pool play game. Mendez went two for three with a run scored in pool play action. The Bengals faced the (Marietta, GA) Athletics Gold-Tamborra this past Wednesday evening.
Hill and Mendez were the only players in the 18-Under Premier Division to stay in the winners bracket.
Valley Christian High first baseman Zoee Barrett had a hit and drew three walks in pool play action while V.C. left fielder Choyce Chambers scored once and drew a walk in pool play action as their (Downey) Nemesis Elite Gold team failed to win a game in the tournament, getting outscored 34-5.
Kayla Martin, a right fielder for V.C. and the (Cerritos) Ohana Tigers Gold-Quarles, was four of six during pool play action and drove in a pair of runs against the (Woodland) All-American Sports Academy Gold-Merrida for her team’s lone win in the tournament. Her first hit tied the game in the bottom of the first inning and her second hit was a two-out, game-winning single in the bottom of the fourth as the Ohana Tigers picked up a 4-1 win. In the two other pool play games, plus the two bracket games, the Ohana Tigers combined for four runs.
The (Garden Grove) West Coast Lady Dukes-Blanco, home to La Mirada High’s Alyssa Avila and Angelyna Conde, went winless in pool play action, then were blasted by the (Pickens, SC) Tennessee Mojo-Ramsey/Fisher 14-1 to immediately fall to the loser’s bracket. But the West Coast Lady Dukes avoided elimination with a 1-0 win over the (Mason) Ohio Hawks-JJ National this past Wednesday. Avila’s first hit of the tournament was a one-out double in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Ohio Hawks. Conde would have just a two-run double and scored once in the second pool play game last Saturday.
Gahr third baseman Marley Cortez of the (Los Alamitos) Wildcats-Weil had three hits, scored once and drew a walk in five of the six games the Wildcats played as they were eliminated by the (San Jose) Suncats-Jimenez 2-0 this past Wednesday.
PGF 18-Under Platinum Division
The (Garden Grove) 5 Star Playmakers-Siofele/Mulipola, who Larissa Flores (Gahr/California State University, Northridge) and Kaleyse Foster (Artesia High) play for, defeated the (Fountain Valley) Empire Fastpitch Premier 2-1 this past Monday before losing two straight games. Against the Empire Fastpitch Premier, Flores tied the game with a base hit in the bottom of the 10th inning, then Foster had a game-winning sacrifice fly the next inning in a 2-1 win. Flores would have five hits in six games played with two runs scored and two RBI while Foster had four hits.
La Mirada’s Luna Cruz has had two at-bats, both coming against the (Shawnee, KS) Select Fastpitch-Chester/Bower but her (Torrance) California Cruisers-Smith won their first two bracket games this past Tuesday. It was the team’s first victory of the tournament after going 0-2-1 in pool play action.
The (La Palma) Wildcats-Hunter, with Kylie Manibusan (Cerritos High/George Fox University) and Kendall Nakano (Norwalk High/Biola University), won their first two bracket games but then fell to the (Thornton) Colorado Stars-Sakamoto 8-0 this past Tuesday and the (Mesa) Mojo AZ-Vela 4-3 this past Wednesday. Nakano, a third baseman, had 11 hits in 19 at-bats with five RBI, two doubles and two runs scored while Manibusan, a right fielder, scored five runs, had four hits, drove in a pair and had a double in pool play action, and in the two victories.
PGF 16-Under Premier Division
Valley Christian catcher Peyton Kingery of the (Riverside) BSC Bengals Briggs-RB, which went 1-2 in pool play action, collected one hit in each of the first two bracket games as the Bengals have won all three bracket games by a combined 20-6 score. But the Bengals fell to the (Hiddenite, NC) Mojo-Sherrill 2-0 in one Premier Division Bracket A quarterfinal game this past Wednesday.
Trying to battle its way out of the loser’s bracket is the (Long Beach) USA Athletics-Rogers Gold 2025 with Angelina Ratzlaff (La Mirada) and Katherine Villegas (Cerritos). After winning two of three pool play games, then falling to the Mojo-Sherrill, the USA Athletics picked up wins against the (Puyallup) WA Ladyhawks-Seeley/Wicker, 6-5 and the (San Antonio, TX) AM Bonola/Frausto, 4-3, this past Tuesday and the (Lawrenceville, GA) Impact Caymol Premier-Sullivan 1-0 before knocking off the (Winter Haven, FL) Intensity National KOD-Bod 9-5 in eight innings this past Wednesday. Ratzlaff has three hits, two RBI and scored once thus far.
Gahr’s Malaia Huskey and Brianna Ramirez are with the (Fountain Valley) Explosion-Kim/Adame, which went 1-2 in pool play action, then lost to the Mojo-Sherrill 8-0 this past Monday, stayed alive with a 5-3 win over the (Pinole, CA) Universal Fastpitch-Tatro this past Tuesday before falling to the (La Habra) Athletics Mercado-RC 3-2 the next day. Huskey had a pair of hits while Ramirez, in two games, had a hit.
