The Hollister Havoc have proven to be relentless in recent
outings, and its led them to two straight tournament victories.
After outscoring the competition by a 35-9 margin at the Summer
Smash earlier this month, in which the Havoc posted a 5-0-1 record
en route to the tournament title, the Hollister 16U fastpitch
softball team recently concluded the USSSAs Fun in the Sun
tournament on June 12-13 with 66 runs scored and just 16 runs
against
— as well as another tournament title, of course.
FREMONT
The Hollister Havoc have proven to be relentless in recent outings, and its led them to two straight tournament victories.
After outscoring the competition by a 35-9 margin at the Summer Smash earlier this month, in which the Havoc posted a 5-0-1 record en route to the tournament title, the Hollister 16U fastpitch softball team recently concluded the USSSAs Fun in the Sun tournament on June 12-13 with 66 runs scored and just 16 runs against — as well as another tournament title, of course.
“We have the offense to score runs in bunches and a defense that limits big innings,” said Nick Daleo, manager of the Havoc, which went 6-0 at the Fun in the Sun tournament in Fremont and defeated 11 other teams.
To date, Hollister has combined for a run-scoring differential of 171-41 over its opponents, and it even topped the Fremont Flyers in the Fun in the Sun championship by a comfortable 14-2 score.
Fremont, the home team, had gone 5-0 in the tournament up until its game against the Havoc.
Morgan Daleo, Paige Miguel and Brittany Sparrer shared the pitching duties in the tournament, while Carly Snook and Cassy Torrez split time behind the plate. Kim Sparrer, Mia Vodanovich and Madison Kennedy held down the infield, and Kritter Ceglia, Becky Hval, Gabriela Medina and LeNae Stevens roamed the outfield.
The sizable outcome in the title game was not the standard through bracketed play, though. Hollister, which earned the No. 1 seed after posting a 3-0 record in pool play, fell behind early in its quarterfinal game against the San Jose Bombers.
The Bombers controlled a 4-0 lead through three innings of play when the Havoc found the scoreboard for one run in the fourth.
“After giving up the four runs, our defense seemed to really tighten up,” said Daleo, who felt the game against the Bombers was the biggest test of the season for the Havoc to date. “We were just waiting for the bats to wake up and do their thing.”
The bats finally awoke in the sixth inning when Hollister knotted the game at 4-all, then plated seven runs in the eighth under international tiebreaker rules. The Bombers responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, but it wasn’t enough as Hollister survived with an 11-7 victory.
“That was a crazy game,” Havoc coach Max Sparrer said. “The girls had a lot of family and friends there today cheering them on, and they sure got their money’s worth in that one.”
Hollister’s semifinal affair against the Crossfire proved to be a tight contest as well.
“We know this team very well from last year’s World Series,” Daleo said. “They’re a great team both on and off the field.”
Nevertheless, the Havoc bats once again reigned supreme and provided a 9-4 win, setting up a championship final against the Fremont Flyers that didn’t start until 10 p.m.
In pool play, the Havoc started slow — earning a 4-1 win over the San Carlos Force to open the tournament — but improved through their two remaining games on the first day, picking up a 12-0 victory over the San Jose Renegades and a 15-0 win against the Panthers of Pleasant Hill.
