Heat 10U rebound early, but can’t overcome San Diego club in
championship game in Utah
Park City, Utah
Able to avenge two of their losses from earlier in the tournament, the Hollister Heat 10U travel softball team battled back through the losers bracket of the Triple Crown World Series last week in Park City, Utah, but fell in the championship game to finish second.
The Heat, which took first place at the World Series last year, were more than 800 miles from home, which perhaps led to their slow start, manager Leo Ibarra said.
Breaking from the fatigue, however, Hollister finished with a 6-4 record, but couldn’t upend the Imperial Valley Stealth in the title game.
The Stealth, out of San Diego, defeated Hollister in the championship, 4-1.
“They were a good team,” Ibarra said. “They had a pitcher that changed speeds really well.”
The Stealth had previously beaten Hollister 7-5 in the second game of bracketed play as well, which put the Heat into the elimination bracket where they were forced to play three straight games in one day, including the championship final.
“Playing a third game on the same day, it took a lot out of them,” Ibarra added. “They fought the best they could, but you could tell they were drained. It takes a toll on you, but I was very proud of what the girls accomplished.”
Hollister batted .300 as a team and were led at the plate by Adriana Ibarra (.500), Madisyn Gutierrez-Urban (.444), Sara Rickard (.400), Blair Brown (.304) and Ryann Snook (.300).
The Heat opened the World Series with two straight losses in pool play, where they fell to the Colorado Angels 8-4 and Colorado Stars 10-0.
“In the first two games, we didn’t play good defense and we didn’t pitch well,” Ibarra said. “I don’t know if it was the travel or first-game jitters, but we didn’t execute anything that we practiced.”
Ibarra noted that the pitchers they saw in the first two games threw rather well, hitting their spots routinely.
“But in the third game,” Ibarra said, “we came to life.”
Hollister finished pool play with a 13-0 win against the Utah Freeze and a 14-2 victory against the Utah Hotshots, finishing the pool with a 2-2 record and the 5-seed heading to bracketed play.
After beating the Las Vegas Majestics 4-3 to open, the Heat suffered their first loss to the Stealth, 7-5.
“We put them in the losers bracket last year,” Ibarra said of the Stealth. “They pretty much remembered that the whole year.”
Hollister rebounded, though, with a 9-1 win over the Utah Hotshots and a narrow 7-6 victory against the Colorado Angels.
The Heat were actually losing to the Angels 6-2 at one point. But after scoring four runs in the fifth to tie, including a bases-clearing triple by Madisyn Gutierrez-Urban, Hollister forced the game to extras where international tiebreaker rules were enforced. International tiebreaker rules call for a runner to start on second base each inning.
In the first inning of extras, Adriana Ibarra came into relief, and after a pass ball advanced the runner to third base, Ibarra struck out the side.
In the bottom half, Jessica Bueno hit a hard grounder that scored Ryann Snook from third base for the 7-6 win.
The Heat avenged their second loss in the semifinals by defeating the Colorado Stars 5-3, securing a date with Imperial Valley in the final.
In the championship, Hollister scored a run in the first inning to grab a narrow lead, but they couldn’t hold on in the end.
Ibarra, though, was still pleased with his team’s performance.
“We were on the verge of repeating, but just couldn’t put it together,” he said. “Everything changed after that first day. We hit the ball extremely well.”
2008 Triple Crown World Series, July 6-12
The Hollister Heat 10U travel softball team went 6-4 at the Triple Crown World Series in Park City, Utah last week, finishing in second place overall.n Colorado Angels, 8-4 L
Colorado Stars, 10-0 L
Utah Freeze, 13-0 W
Utah Hotshots, 14-2 W
Las Vegas Majestics, 4-3 W
Imperial Valley Stealth, 7-5 L
Utah Hotshots, 9-1 W
Colorado Angels, 7-6 W
Colorado Stars, 5-3 W
Imperial Valley Stealth, 4-1 L
