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Pleasant Hill Tournament, July 12th - 13th
Friday, July 11th
Pleasant Hill Panthers Black 8 vs. Alameda Blaze Red 1
The Blaze dropped the opening game of the seeding round on a scorching Friday night against one of the host teams, in a match that was much closer than the score indicated. The Blaze trailed by 1-0 in the third inning, despite playing shorthanded with only 8 players due to an injury to starting shortstop Darby Nordin. In the last two innings the Panthers managed to hit to empty spots in the outfield normally occupied by fielders, and turned routine outs into extra base hits. The Blaze hitters were solid, with no strikeouts in 5 innings, but could only manage one run, on consecutive hits by Alexis Konstantino and Kelly Hosokawa, and an RBI by Hannah Johnson. The Blaze put two runners on two other times with consecutive hits, by Sydney Lewis and Hosokawa in the first, and by Lexus Rawlyk and Emily Cooper in the third, but couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities.
Saturday, July 12th
Pleasant Hill Panthers Red 10 vs. Alameda Blaze Red 0
The Blaze were matched up against the other host team in their second seeding game on Saturday. The first inning proved to be their undoing as they fell behind 6-0 on a series of fielding miscues. Their defense improved throughout the game, as they ended the fourth inning with a double play on a pop fly to shortstop Darby Nordin, and then Nordin ended the fifth inning with an impressive unassisted double play, snagging a line drive and making a lunging tag of the base runner off second. The Blaze managed four hits, by Sydney Lewis, Kelly Hosokawa, Hannah Johnson, and Alison Ganci, but couldn’t push any runs across the plate.
Pleasanton Phantoms 16 vs. Alameda Blaze Red 2
Pleasant Hill turned out to be very unpleasant for the Blaze on Saturday as they were soundly beaten in their final seeding game. The Blaze scored first when Kelly Hosokawa bunted for a single, stole second, and came all the way around to score when the catcher threw the ball into center field. Once again, the defense collapsed in the third and fourth innings, as numerous Blaze errors led to the Phantom blowing open a 1-1 game. The Blaze scored their second run on a single by Alison Ganci, and an RBI single by Cheyanne McBirney. Emily Cooper also had a hit for the Blaze.
Sunday, July 13th
Pleasant Hill Panthers Black 8 vs. Alameda Blaze Red 6
The Blaze started elimination play with a rematch against the undefeated number 3 tournament seed, and dropped a nail biter in a tiebreaker. The Blaze jumped in front 2-0 when Kelly Hosokawa singled, Sydney Lewis slammed a long RBI double, and Darby Nordin tripled her in. After giving away 4 unearned runs, the Blaze came right back with 3 runs on singles by Emily Cooper and Emma Fraser, a 2-RBI single by Hannah Johnson, and an RBI single by Alison Ganci. The Panthers went ahead once more 6-5, but the Blaze wouldn’t quit, as Hannah Johnson singled and scored on another RBI hit by Alison Ganci. The score remained tied through the fifth, when international tiebreaker rules came into play, and each inning started with a runner on second base. Pleasant Hill managed to score two in the top of the sixth before Sydney Lewis stemmed the damage with a running shoestring catch on a shallow fly ball to left field. In the bottom half of the inning, a baserunning gaffe by the Blaze cost them their extra runner, yet this resilient team again refused to give up. Another Emma Fraser single started one last rally, but it was too little, too late, and the Blaze went down and out for the weekend. Kelly Hosokawa was solid on the mound in the losing effort for the Blaze, striking out 4, her last two victims left in the dust by tremendous change-ups.