Villa Park (Calif.) High, #2 in the latest Extra Elite Eighty High School Rankings, defeated Murrieta Mesa (Calif), 3-1, in the championship game of the 26th Dave Kops Tournament of Champions on Sunday at Mohave High of Bullhead City, Arizona.
Senior pitcher/infielder Sydney Somerndike, who has signed with Arizona and was ranked #13 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, struck out 11 for Villa Park in the title game while giving up just two hits and Kalia Espere, an uncommitted sophomore infielder, hit a home run to help the Spartans run their record to 11-0
For the event, Somerndike had four wins while giving up just four runs with 26 strikeouts for Villa Park, ranked No. 1 in Orange County and the CIF Southern Section Div. 1 ratings.
Espere had four hits, four walks, two home runs and five RBIs while Williams College-bound C/1B/3B Brianne Kang had six hits, three walks, three runs, two home runs and five RBIs in the prestigious high school tournament and uncommitted 2022 3B/SS Mikala Maher had six hits, three homers, two walks, five runs and seven RBIs
To get to the championship game, Villa Park beat Whittier Christian (Calif.) 7-1 in the semi’s as Somerndike pitched five innings and helped her cause by hitting an RBI double while going 2-for-4
In the other semi-final game, Murrieta Mesa defeated Los Alamitos 9-1, but the Griffins bounced back to beat Whitter Christian 7-0 to take the third-place game.
—Carlos Arias, Extra Inning Softball (Follow Carlos on Twitter @Los_Stuff)
