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Norco, the #1 ranked team in the Extra Elite Eighty High School Rankings for this week, is one of eight teams to advance to today’s quarterfinal in the prestigious Gold Bracket of the Michelle Carew Classic taking place in Anaheim, California.
The winners of today’s four games will play Saturday at 1 pm PST with the championship taking place tomorrow at 7 pm.
The Gold, Silver and Bronze semi-finalists and their game times today are listed below.
This is the 33rd year of the tournament which is hosted by Canyon (Anaheim, California) High and the 21st year it has been titled the Michelle Carew Classic, named after the former Canyon Comanche softball player and daughter of MLB Hall of Famer Rod Carew. Michelle graduated in 1995 and shortly after because ill with cancer.
She died the following April and in 1997 tournament founder Lance Eddy renamed the Canyon Tournament of Champions after Michelle, who “for eighteen years made the world a better place.”
This year’s Carew Classic Gold Bracket features six teams who went 2-0 in their pools and two others, Pacifica and Yucaipa, who won their pools on run differential tiebreakers.
The Elite Eight of the Gold Bracket includes four teams ranked in the top 35 of the Extra Elite Eighty: #1 Norco, #21 Pacifica (Garden Grove), #29 Los Alamitos, and #32 Grand Terrace.
Other Top 50-ranked teams competing in the Carew Classic today include #9 Mater Dei Catholic in the Bronze Bracket; #18 Great Oak (Temecula), #35 Rio Mesa (Oxnard) in the Bronze Bracket, #48 Huntington Beach in the Bronze Bracket.
Norco advanced to play Pacifica today behind the continued excellent play of their three Extra Inning Softball All-Americans: jr. pitcher Sarah Willis, sr. catcher Kinzie Hansen and r. third baseman Paige Smith, who are headed to Washington, Oklahoma and Ole Miss, respectively, along with a deep and talented supporting cast that gives head coach Rick Robinson a lot of options.
In two shutouts victories Wednesday, 7-0 over Rio Mesa of Oxnard, California and 8-0 over Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta Valley, California), the All-American trio each clubbed two home runs: Willis had solo shots to lead off each game, while Hansen had a three-run blast against Rio Mesa and a solo shot against Crescenta Valley and Smith had a bases-empty homer against Rio and then a bases full grand slam against CV.
Willis and fast-rising sophomore pitcher Stevie Hansen showed again why they are the top one-two high school pitching combo in the country as the pair combined to no-hit Rio Mesa and pitch a three-hitter in the second game.
Pacifica High out of Garden Grove, California will be a tough opponent and has the emotional factor as the Mariners are playing in memory of head coach Mark Campbell, who passed away suddenly last month.
Pacifica is 7-1-1 and features several standout players including jr. catcher Carli Kloss, who is committed to Notre Dame, and jr. shortstop Alyssa Brito, who is headed to Oregon.
Here’s a look at semi-final bracket play starting today along with the scores from pool play Wednesday and Thursday…
