SOFTBALL: Temple City survives
Rams hold off Spartans, increase league lead to 1 1/2
Above: Temple City pitcher Kaitlin Ellingsworth is helped off the field after being hit by a line drive during the third inning. She remained in the game and played at first base. (Staff photo Keith Birmingham)
By Scott Galetti, Staff Writer
TEMPLE CITY - Ordinarily, a game with first-place ramifications could be expected to be a thing of beauty.
Friday's Rio Hondo League battle between Temple City and La Canada high schools, with a share of first place at stake, arguably could be described as a matter of survival.
While the game boasted some key hits and nifty fielding, it was far from pretty to a purist.
From a competitive standpoint, though, the Rams wouldn't be outdone as they outlasted the Spartans 5-3.
"I told them after the game that they're not playing like they want to, but it's a long season and they have to refocus and put it back together again," Temple City coach Bob Ellingsworth said.
Temple City (15-4-1, 7-1) won its seventh consecutive league contest since a 1-0 home loss to the Spartans March 14, and took a 1 1/2-game lead with four to play.
With three league games left, La Ca ada (10-6, 6-3) finds itself in need of some help to get back into the title hunt.
"We're not counting on them falling back and it's in their hands," La Canada coach K.C. Mathews said.
Both teams had their troubles in the field. Temple City committed four errors; the Spartans had three.
"We made too many mistakes," Mathews said. "When we beat them earlier in the year, we played a clean game, and that's what it's going to take to beat a team like Temple City."
Senior left-hander Kaitlin Ellingsworth (9-3) pitched the first three innings for Temple City and allowed four hits and one run to earn the victory.
She had to move to first, though, in the fourth when Amanda Ulf hit a hard shot off her leg to end the third.
Rams senior Melissa Vega came on and worked the final four innings. Vega allowed two unearned runs on no hits and struck out two for her sixth save.
"She's tough," Bob Ellingsworth said. "You see the lefty and then you have to adjust to her. She knows where to put her pitches and gets a lot of movement on her ball. She does very well."
Added Vega: "I wasn't really nervous at all and I knew my defense was behind me."
Temple City did quite well early by pushing three runs across in the first inning off Spartans freshman pitcher Lauren O'Leary (5-2).
Jessica Kosharek drove in the first run with a single. Ashley Perez later scored on a fielding error. Kosharek, who was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, later crossed the plate on a fielder's choice.
Back-to-back doubles by Lucy Filippone and Abby Ulf in the second inning cut Temple City's lead to 3-1.
Kelsey Hardwick's run-producing single to left field in the fourth gave the Rams a three-run cushion, but La Canada came right back with two runs on a pair of Temple City miscues to pull within a run at 4-3.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
I agree that Coach Mathews should be Coach of the Year. He has done a tremendous job of unifying the team and getting them to believe. The talent was there, they just didn't know it! Where did he come from?
Due to circumstances beyond our control, posts aren't going up and there were no local stories in Thursday's paper.
Hopefully, the post I created about Wednesday game will come up at some point.
TC 9 - SP 13
:(
Yes, Chk, you can still take pokes. I didn't know that was a poke, seemed more like a haymaker.
Geez Scott,
I can't even take subtle pokes at you anymore?
You guys are doing a much better job now at the end of the season. See, blogs are good for something.
Anyway that was a pretty good game between TC and SP. I thought SP was going to beat them. TC is definitely the best team in the area errors or not. They have the ability to win close game and they keep doing it.
Anyway, CIF is what I meant when I was talking about waiting till it counts.
Anyone know the score of the TC-South Pas game?
Check, we, as a paper, have covered about three to five softball games, at least, a week. So I don't know why you act like we're not covering softball. For someone who didn't get out a lot early because of everything else going on, I've seen almost every team in our top 10. What would you consider as showing it when it counts? One player obviously missing on your list is Tiffany Rubin. She's the only player I've seen pitched around every time she comes up. And she's a triple ready to happen. Aguirre in center, done deal. She's the best I've seen in the field. Chk, when you say judge when it counts, do you mean that? I ask because I've covered a couple of RHL games in a week's span that counted and saw a whopping 13 errors in those two games. Sort of hard to judge players, who may normally be good fielders, seeing games like that.
TC 2 - S Pas 1 in eight innings.
Temple City 2 - South Pasadena 1 in eight innings.
Before discussing the All Area team, here is another stat comment:
While looking at the stats I am seeing a lot of people batting over .400 and a good amount above .500. WOW, that is near inhuman at this stage. I should point out however that a lot of teams still do not keep stas and some have stopped for unknown reasons. To tell you the truth I do not know how the Pas Star News can fish through this mess and come up with an All Area team that isn't made up of players with inflated stats or made up stats at the end of the year. (Maybe I am crazy and all of those numbers are right.) And how would the PSN know the difference since thay have seen so few of these teams actually play this year. It really is hard to decipher and you get the feeling that they will just have to go by the numbers. That is too bad because some of the best players have modest or unknown numbers but contribute greatly to their team with exceptional skills and deserve to be on the team.
I am going to throw out a few too many names to get started.
Pitcher - Escamilla (Alverno), Jessica Ferri (FSH), Nicole Parada (SP)
Catcher - Curly Grimes (Arcadia), Lexi Long (Monrovia),Kat Skogsberg(SP)
IF- Veronica Grant (TC), Alex Hillier (Maranantha), Dusty Gibbs,(Arcadia) Kaitlin Ellingsworth (TC),Shelby Gogreve (SP), Michelle Mun (SP) Barbara Parker (Alverno) Kimmi Sommers (Maranantha)Jessica Loicano(TC), Amanda Mowry (Alverno)
Outfield-Alex Aguirre (TC), Kylie Mulligan (LC), Need more outfielders...
The coach of the year so far is :
KC Matthews (LC)
I should say, however, that we are getting toward the end ofthe year and some teams will tank and some will excel into the playoffs. I would like to see MVP candidates and Coach of the Year candidates be people and teams that show it when it counts.
This area is often like comparing Apples and Oranges, because of the vast difference in schedules that these teams play. I would like to see the playoffs naturally sort a few of these teams out before a lot of these decisions are made.
PS - I do not mind if there are more infielders than outfielders, because in our area the best infielders would also be the best outfielders as well. Except for a few exceptions.
It was Melissa Vega's RBI single in the 4th. Melissa and Kelsey trade places in the line up. I think Melissa went 2 for 2. Nice hitting.
Looks like an eventful week for local teams/matchups...! When can we generate some discussion about this years All AREA best squad? ...and we're off:
FIRST TEAM:
Pitcher: Michelle Escamilla (Alverno)Head and shoulders above all the rest...end of discussion.( has she signed to play college anywhere?) SP's Parada is very good but did not put up the numbers during this year.
Catcher: Lexi Long (Monrovia) Big strong kid with a good arm and swings a better stick.Well over .500 all year. Katie Tripoli ( La Salle)and Curly Grimes (Arcadia) close seconds.
First Base: Alex Hillier (Maranatha) Not a better defensive 1st basemen around and has hit well over .400 all year. Comes up huge in late inning clutch AB's (ask Nathan Cambridge..)
Second Base: Emily McQuaid (Arcadia)SMOOTH and smart!
SS: A healthy Veronica Grant (TC). Range, speed, powerful and athletic.
Third: Lisa Handayan ( San Marino). Consistent and clutch.
OF: Alex Aguirre ( TC) Gutsy Gamer who covers the field as good as anyone. versatile at the plate.
Mo Barchan ( Arcadia) Little spark plug who plays hard every inning and has some pop in her bat.
Kylie Mulligan (LC) Great defensively all year good arm and hit near .500 for most of the year.
.
This is a pivotal week in softball, starting tomorow with the TC@SP game. This game has new meaning to the RHL now that LC and SP have the same amount of losses. (I hope you are covering it I want to read about it.)
SP @TC on Wed also. You have to believe that all three of those teams can beat each other on any given day.
The RHL is fun because they play each other 3 times.
Alverno will face LC at the end of the week and the Arcadia/La Salle match up is intriguing.
Also the Almont League should largely be decided with games between Montebello vs Keppel and Alhambra vs Schurr.
Poly also makes their bid this week playing both Flint Prep and Westridge. That should decide the order of the Prep League.