Recently in Softball Category

The South Bay enjoyed a slew of signings as part of the Early Signing Period last week. Here are a few of the highlights from selected signings parties. If you would like to submit a photo of your signing party, please email tony.ciniglio@dailybreeze.com.


From Palos Verdes in its gym (left-to-right): volleyball player Madi Cicchetti (Fairleigh Dickerson), softball player Sammi Gyerman (Iowa), volleyball player Kenedy McGrath (Virginia Tech), basketball player Kelsey Brockway (Pepperdine), volleyball player Samantha Rummans (Hawaii Pacific), volleyball player Kelly Johnson (Yale) and volleyball player Hannah Rau (Davidson).


From North Torrance (left-to-right) as they actually sign: softball players Kelsey Cairns (Cal State East Bay), Sydney Halleen (San Jose State), Coco Taualii (Brigham Young) and Jordan Stamps (Delaware State).


From Carson from its stage (left-to-right): softball players Laura Herrera (Florida State College at Jacksonville), Brittanie Lamotte (Chico State), Brittany Moeai (UCLA), Darian Tautalafua (Long Beach State) and Alicia Barajas (Southern University).

Former Torrance softball star Sarah Iwata has found a new home to hone her coaching skills.

Due to the heavy rainstorms in the Torrance area, the Daily Breeze suffered a power outage that knocked out electricity and phone service to its building for much of Friday night. The Breeze apologizes to those coaches and scorekeepers who were trying to call in their game scores. We appreciate your patience in this situation. We tried to reach as many of you directly as we could.

Rainouts
Coaches and administrators, if your school had a competition rained out Friday, please inform us about the rescheduled date at sports@dailybreeze.com.

Two-time Daily Breeze Player of the Year Taylor Petty has continued to thrive in her freshman season at Long Beach State.

Petty, the former San Pedro star, earned Big West Conference Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.

Petty helped Long Beach State sweep Pacific. She threw an eight-inning complete-game in a 2-1 victory over Pacific, allowing three hits and one run while tying her career high with 11 strikeouts.

Petty then earned the start in the finale and responded with her 15th complete game of the year. Petty again gave up just one run while scattering five hits and registering seven strikeouts.

For the series, Petty posted a 0.93 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 15.0 innings of work. She held the Tigers to eight hits, two runs and a .160 batting average.

The L.A. City Section softball seeding meeting is officially over, and here is what emerged from the meeting.

San Pedro, still fresh off a dramatic 4-3 comeback win over Carson to win the Marine League title, is the No. 1 seed.

The Pirates and pitcher Kailee Cuico, pictured, will try to win the program's ninth City title in the last 10 years and the fourth in a row for the Pirates.

Marine League runner-up Carson is No. 5 and Banning is No. 6. We could possibly see a San Pedro-Carson semifinal.

Western League champion Westchester is No. 9 and could face San Pedro in the quarterfinals, the fourth time these teams would hook up. 

Here are the early seedings:

1. San Pedro
2. El Camino Real
3. Kennedy
4. Granada Hills
5. Carson
6. Banning
7. Chatsworth
8. Marshall
9. Westchester
10.Lincoln
11. L.A. Poly
12. Narbonne
13. San Fernando
14. Sylmar
15. Birmingham
16. Grant
17. South East
18. King-Drew
19. Eagle Rock
20. Bell
21. Venice
22. Huntington Park
23. Palisades
24. Arleta
25.Garfield
26. Verdugo Hills
27. Bravo
28. Roosevelt
29. Fairfax
30. Crenshaw
31. Wilson
32. Hollywood

The Hawthorne softball team knows how to clinch a CIF playoff spot in style. Hawthorne beat Culver City, 9-7, in eight innings in a crucial Ocean League game on Wednesday when Jackie Delgado hit a walk-off three-run home run over the right-field fence.
It marks the second straight season Hawthorne has made the playoffs after not making the playoffs for 10 years.
Delgado had five RBIs, Cynthia Quiroz had four hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs and Winnie Reece and Ivana Verdin had three hits and an RBI each for Hawthorne (10-6-1, 6-1), which is in second place in the Ocean League.
Culver City (9-11, 4-3) scored two in the top of the seventh to tie the score and one in the eighth to take a one-run lead before Delgado's walk-off blast.
"This is by far our biggest win of the season," Hawthorne coach Jerry Contreras said. "A walk-off home run over the fence to put us into CIF, the crowd went crazy, this is something we have not experienced here."

Torrance softball coach Don Glavich, pictured, warned before the season not to sleep on South Torrance.

Well, in his Pioneer League opener, Glavich watched South give Torrance fits until the final at-bat.

Lauren deCastro hit a game-winning double in the bottom of the seventh that just caught the chalk on the left-field foul-line as Torrance opened Pioneer League play Wednesday with a dramatic 2-1 victory over South Torrance at Wilson Park.

Karina Scott started the rally with a sharp one-out single to center. One out later, deCastro delivered with her double down the line.

"When it came off the bat, it looked like it would clear the fence, but I didn't know if it was going to stay fair," Torrance coach Don Glavich said. "The wind definitely helped it stay fair. I'll take a little help like that when I can get it."

DeCastro, who has been relegated to designated hitter after sustaining a strained ligament in her right elbow over two weeks, had been hit by a pitch in the first inning and almost had to leave the game.

"She toughed it out," Glavich said. "She said she could handle it. Around the fifth inning, it loosened up for her."

Torrance took a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning as Camille Redman singled home Mel Vazquez. But South tied it in the seventh as Leanna Flores doubled down the third-base line to score Shannon Hokama with one out.

Torrance pitcher Mea Flores struck out eight of her first nine batters and finished with 15 strikeouts and no walks in a four-hitter.

South pitcher Jessica Cherness also threw a four-hitter with six strikeouts and four walks.

"I think Chreness is a pitcher who can keep them in games," Glavich said. "Really that's all you need. She kept us off-balance. We've been on a bit of a tear since Las Vegas, but she had us guessing the whole game."

The Redondo softball team picked a great time to turn things around.

Redondo stopped a 10-game losing streak with an 8-3 victory over West Torrance in the Bay League opener for both teams on Wednesday.

"It was a great way to get started in league," Redondo coach Jennifer Dessert said.

Sonia Colavita hit a three-run triple in the first inning and went 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Redondo.

Left-hander Brett Aspel allowed three runs, seven hits, seven strikeouts and two walks for Redondo. Alex O'Hagan went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs for Redondo.

Rachel Gulbrandsen led West (4-8, 0-1) by going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run, and Leilani Norton added a two-run single. Krista Ross went 2-for-3 with a double for West, which stranded 12 runners.

The Banning softball team posed for photos after winning the Clark Charger Invitational in Las Vegas for the second time, beating Carson, El Camino Real and Granada Hills to cap an unbeaten 6-0 performance in Las Vegas.

Now Banning is preparing to take on Carson in a rematch that has a lot more at stake when the teams meet Tuesday at Carson at 3 p.m. in a key Marine League showdown.

Banning reestablished itself as an L.A. City Section power by winning the Clark Charger Invitational in Las Vegas on Wednesday with a pair of wins over two City titans.

Banning beat El Camino Real, 5-1, in the semifinals, then posted a 2-1 eight-inning win over Granada Hills in the final, showing it is overcoming its adversity and pre-tournament lackluster play .

"It means a lot," said Banning co-coach Rudy Aguirre, who took over when Jesse Espinoza was fired four games into the season. "Coming into this tournament, in my opinion, we weren't doing too well, but we made a statement that we're still contenders."

Pitcher Jessica Lozano (13-5) had 50 strikeouts in six games and put together two gems. Lozano threw a four-hitter with six strikeouts and no walks against El Camino Real.

Then Lozano outdueled Granada Hills ace Rebecca Patton to hand Patton her first loss of the season. Both had 10 strikeouts.

"The tournament didn't have an official MVP, but Jessica Lozano was definitely our MVP of this tournament," Aguirre said. "She was the heart of this team. No one hit her hard in this tournament."

Banning (13-6) finally broke through against the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo-bound Patton thanks to the international tiebreaker that puts a runner at second base at the start of each extra inning.

Yesenia Alcala started the inning on second base and was sacrificed by Cassie Garcia. Marlene Tafoya walked, putting runners at first and third for Stephanie Aguirre, who hit a single to left field to score Alcala. When the ball was muffed by the outfielder, Tafoya scored as well.

"I believe we're on track now," Rudy Aguirre said. "They are starting to have confidence in themselves and the coaching staff. We're developing more chemistry and trust."

Tafoya hit a two-run triple and Stephanie Aguirre had two hits and an RBI against El Camino Real.

"We're a good team, but our heart is what won this tournament," Rudy Aguirre said. "We're not as strong as some of these other teams, and of course we don't hit the ball as well, but our team has a lot of heart.

"I'm really proud of the girls. We even got a text (message) from (Jesse) Espinoza. I thought that was nice for our team."