USA Athletics, the team that handed Hollister its first loss,
goes on to win it all
Just making it to the ASA 14U Nationals in Owensboro, Kentucky is a big deal for any youth softball team. But winning three games on the sports biggest stage can be considered nothing short of a huge success.
The Hollister Heat 14U team bowed out of Nationals on Saturday with a heartbreaking 10-8 extra-inning loss to the Jersey Intensity, only hours after they defeated the Texas Storm 4-2 to advance to a second game in the loser’s bracket.
“There was a little disappointment,” said Heat manager Todd Freitas. “I think the girls expected a little more out of themselves. But overall, I’m pleased with the outcome.”
The Heat and the Intensity were tied at 4-4 when a thunder/lightning delay in the fifth saw both teams wait patiently for nearly two hours as the storm passed.
The Heat fell behind when play resumed, only to score a pair of runs in th seventh to push the game into extra innings.
Hollister notched the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth but the Intensity’s big bats proved to be the difference in the bottom half of the frame. With to runners on, an Intensity batter drove a shot into deep center. Hollister’s Lizzy Gatto gave good chase, actually running through the outfield fence to make the play, but the ball carried out of the park for a three-run walk-off homer.
The USA Athletics, Southern California’s best team and the squad that handed Hollister its first loss of the tournament, went on to win it all.
