In its very first tournament of the summer travel season, the
Hollister Heat 10U softball team went 3-3 at the 2009 Summer
Slugfest in Morgan Hill on May 29-31, finishing runner-up to
Belmont.
”
We are so proud of the way the girls played, especially after
the way Saturday went,
”
Heat manager George Ramirez said.
MORGAN HILL
In its very first tournament of the summer travel season, the Hollister Heat 10U softball team went 3-3 at the 2009 Summer Slugfest in Morgan Hill on May 29-31, finishing runner-up to Belmont.
“We are so proud of the way the girls played, especially after the way Saturday went,” Heat manager George Ramirez said.
After it edged the Almaden Lightning 5-4 last Friday, Hollister struggled on Saturday with two losses, an 8-2 defeat to Belmont and a convincing 11-0 loss to the Burlingame Flames.
Burlingame, as a result, completed pool play undefeated and received the tournament’s No. 1 seed going into Sunday.
“Base runners were very difficult to come by and runs seemed virtually impossible in that game,” Ramirez said of the team’s contest with Burlingame. “We were flat. We didn’t play good defense. We weren’t able to get into rhythm with our bats.
“It was a tough day overall.”
On Sunday the Heat came back with a fresh outlook, and returned with a comfortable 13-1 victory over the Almaden Lightning behind the bats of Madisyn Gutierrez-Urban and Barbara-Jayda Botelho.
With two outs in the second inning against Almaden, Gutierrez-Urban and Botelho provided the spark Hollister had been looking for when they hit back-to-back home runs, while later in the fourth, the duo were back at it when they connected on back-to-back doubles to keep the momentum on the Heat’s side.
The victory over Almaden placed Hollister into the semifinal game against the No. 1 seeded and undefeated Burlingame Flames, which previously trumped the Heat 11-0 the day before.
But in what was a complete opposite performance of Saturday’s loss, the Heat on Sunday played solid defense and both Gutierrez-Urban and Botelho continued with their hot bats to give the Heat a 6-3 victory over Burlingame.
The win, more importantly, advanced Hollister to the championship final against Belmont.
“Saturday was a tough day for the entire team,” Ramirez said, “but they played exceptionally well on Sunday and got themselves into the championship game, knocking out the undefeated No. 1 seed in the process.”
Against Belmont, though, an early 2-0 deficit put the Heat behind. But a leadoff single by shortstop Suzi Brookshire, followed by a walk to third baseman Kenedi Kraten, set the table for Gutierrez-Urban, who delivered a three-run home run that gave the Heat the lead.
Belmont was able to battle back, however, and eventually won 6-4 in a close game.
With its first tournament of the season behind them, the Heat 10U softball team will look forward to its next tournament. Hollister is scheduled to end its season by playing in the World Series in Washington in July.
