Girls 10U team takes top prize at Utah tournament
Talk about regrouping.
After dropping the first game of the Triple Crown World Series
10U girls’ softball tournament in Park City, Utah, the Hollister
Heat caught fire to win its next eight games in a row and capture
the prestigious, 15-team tournament that included teams from all
over the western United States.
Girls 10U team takes top prize at Utah tournament
Talk about regrouping.
After dropping the first game of the Triple Crown World Series 10U girls’ softball tournament in Park City, Utah, the Hollister Heat caught fire to win its next eight games in a row and capture the prestigious, 15-team tournament that included teams from all over the western United States.
“We played really well,” Coach Leo Ibarra said. “As coaches, we were determined to get the message across to the kids to go out there and have fun. They did, and they also took all of the things that we had been working on all season and put it all together.”
Winning the tournament was the perfect way to end the summer season – a season that saw the 10U Heat girls post an overall record of 20-8.
“This is my third year coaching this team,” Ibarra said. “This is one of the more talented teams that I’ve coached. This team had the most potential talent.”
The key game in the string of wins, according to Ibarra, was the team’s second game in bracket play against the Colorado Red Wings. With one loss already in the books, a loss to the Red Wings would have forced the Heat to climb its way through the tournament in the loser’s bracket – a bracket that would have forced them to play 13 games instead of nine.
The turning point came in the fifth inning in the game against the Red Wings. At the time, the Heat trailed 1-0.
“We were running out of time. The games were only allowed to go 1.5 hours or a maximum of seven innings, and we were getting closer to the time limit,” Ibarra said.
That inning, after picking up two quick outs, things were looking bleak for the local travel team. Callee Heen kept things alive when she singled and successfully stole second. Pitcher Jordan Bachman, who split her time on the mound with Adriana Ibarra, then picked up a single of her own to tie the game at 1-1. Emily Jennings then came into pinch run for Bachman and wound up stealing second and third.
With Alyssa Newman up at the plate, Ibarra decided to call the signal for the risky suicide-squeeze play, which worked to perfection and won the Heat the crucial game.
From there, the biggest challenge remaining was a showdown with the Salinas Storm in the semifinals, which the Heat wound up winning by a 10-9 margin before crushing Rocky Mountain Thunder 8-0 in the championship game.
In all, the Heat scored 59 runs in the tournament and allowed only 22 runs. As a team, the Heat batted .378 and had an on-base percentage of .478.
