The first game of three at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, California, on Sunday in the PGF Premier National Championships saw two So Cal teams, Ohana Tigers – Iwai and California Cruisers – Carreon face off.
Coach Andy Iwai felt his team had escaped the “Bracket of Death” to get to the championship game and saw his team step up in a big way… here are the details:
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The California Cruisers struck first in the bottom of the first inning when second baseman Ella Carreon reached on an error and advanced to second on a dropped throw at first base. That error would prove to be costly as a fielder’s choice moved Carreon to third and the leadoff hitter would come home on another fielder’s choice as Cali Siguenza grounded to short to make the score 1-0.
In the top of the 2nd, the Tigers quickly responded as Audrey Iwai hit a one-out single and moved to second on a fielder’s choice before designated player Jaelyn Ugalde walked with two outs. Leadoff hitter Sophia Hernandez then singled to right field and the throw to home was late as Iwai scored to even the game at 1-1.
On the first pitch of the bottom of the 2nd inning, Cruisers’ catcher Mags Okamoto lined the ball to left field for a double and moved to third on a ground to second base but Tigers pitcher Emily Yoon struck out the next two batters to end the threat and the score remained 1-1 moving to the 3rd inning.
In the top of the 3rd inning, the Tigers blew the game open with six runs as the offensive onslaught started when catcher Malaya Vargas singled to center, first baseman Lelie Salue walked and third baseman Lexi Avila lined a ball off the foot of Cruisers pitcher Juliette Foutzto to load the bases.
The Cruisers made a pitching switch and brought in Cali Siguenza but her first pitch went to the backstop allowing substitute runner Zaylee Gutierrez to put the Tigers up 2-1. KK Encinas walked to again load the bases—all with no outs—and Audrey Iwai walked to push the Tigers lead to 3-1.
Another pitching change by the Cruisers saw Foutz come back into the game to face centerfielder Kayla Avellaneda, who was hit on the hand by a pitch, but it was ruled a foul ball (hand on bat). In obvious pain, she stepped back into the box and, with two strikes, lined a shot down the third base line for a two-RBI single to push the lead to 5-1.
After a walk to Jaelyn Ugalde, the bases were loaded again before the first out came on hitter’s interference. The scoring, though, wasn’t done yet in the inning as Emily Yoon grounded out to shortstop allowing Iwai to score pushing the advantage to 6-1. The inning looked like it would be over on a grounder to short but the ball was dropped at first and Kayla Avellaneda came in to make the score 7-1 after two and a half innings.
After a one-out walk, the Tigers had a scary moment in the bottom of the 3rd when a hard-hit grounder through the middle struck pitcher Emily Yoon in the midsection and rolled to third base, giving the Cruisers runners on first and second, but the pitcher continued in the circle and forced two weak grounders to close the inning without any damage to the Tigers’ lead.
In the top of the 4th, the Cruisers made another pitching change as Ella Carreon took the mound but the Tigers’ bats were still hot as they added to their lead. Lexi Avila reached on an infielder error, moved to second on a groundout third to first and scored on a single to left by Audrey Iwai.
With two outs the Tigers loaded the bases when Sophie Hernandez hit a flair down the right field line that landed on the chalk to plate two more runs, scoring Audrey Iwai and Jaelyn Ugalde, to make the score 10-1 in the middle of four.
Tigers’ pitcher Emily Yoon gave up a single in the bottom of the inning, just her fourth hit allowed in the game, but escaped with no further damage and in the bottom of the 5th she induced a 1-2-3 inning capped by a fly ball out to outfielder Kayla Avellaneda.
Because of the eight-run (plus) run rule being in effect after five innings, the game ended with the Ohana Tigers celebrating in the outfield as the newly crowned PGF 10U Premier National Champions.
Said Coach Andy Iwai of his team’s efforts:
“These girls have been grinding all season,” he began. “We’ve been a small group all season—13 or less all season long. They’ve committed to the process, they’ve worked on their fundamentals, their movements and we’ve not focused on results all the time. It’s not been about winning games only, it’s been about winning every pitch. This group is something else. It was about playing loose and fast and playing their brand of softball.”
Coach Iwai said his pitcher, Emily Yoon, “didn’t even have her best stuff as she had to pitch a lot yesterday, but she is a bulldog and came up big when it counted.
She also went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and was aided by Audrey Iwai who went 2-for-2 with two RBUs and three runs scored.
The starting pitcher went all five innings giving up just three hits, no earned runs while striking out three and allowing just one walk.
