Explosive bats power Yucaipa Lady T-Birds to CBL win

In Yucaipa's game-turning fifth inning, the Lady T-Birds pounded out six hits, and took advantage of three walks to put the game away. But the biggest hit of all came from team's leading RBI producer, shortstop, and team captain: Megan Allen.

The right-sided power hitter launched a grand slam home run, deep over the left field fence that brought home Yucaipa's final four runs of the inning.

The pitch? Just where she likes it. "It was inside and a little high rise ball," said Allen, who with the blast now has a team-leading 18 RBI, and also a team-best .418 batting average (in 13 games played).

Allen admitted the defense wasn't at the top of its game, but never the less, that didn't put the team in a mental downslide.

"We figured if we couldn't do it on defense, we had better do it on offense," Allen said. "This team is phenomenal. We just don't quit. That's the difference between this year and last year. No matter the outcome, we do not give up."

And that do-not-give-up attitude made the difference against REV, and in maintaining the top spot in the Citrus Belt League, where Yucaipa resides with Redlands tied with 3-0 records.

On Tuesday, Redlands knocked off always tough, Fontana, 1-0, in a pitching duel between the Terriers', Kim Bruins, and the Steelers, Kayla Uphold, two of the league's better pitchers.

But Yucaipa has a stellar staff as well. Jessica English started for the Lady T-Birds against REV, and had she gotten the defensive support, she would have fared much better.

English allowed six hits, struck out two, and walked one, and allowed but one earned run of the four the Wildcats scored in English's 3 1/3 innings of work. But three errors and getting behind in the count, brought on Tracy Hampton, who pitched the rest of the way to pick up the win and improve her record to 4-0.

Hampton got out of the fourth inning with a strikeout and infield pop up. She held REV in check in the fifth and sixth, but ran into some trouble in the seventh when the Wildcats scored three runs on four hits, before she nailed down the victory with a strikeout and ground out.

On the season, English leads the staff with a 5-3 record, 1.35 ERA, and 80 strikeouts coming primarily from her explosive rise ball. Hampton at 4-0 has a 2.52 ERA in 28 innings with 41 strikeouts. Hampton compliments English rise ball, with a good drop ball, change up, and pin point control on the corners.

In breaking down the competition in the CBL, Kivett said that Redlands, REV, Fontana, Yucaipa, and Fontana A.B. Miller will be battling for supremacy. Last season, Redlands swept through the league with a 14-0 record. Fontana finished second at 10-4, with Yucaipa in the middle of the pack at 8-6.

But don't look for Yucaipa to be a middle of the pack team this season. Their hitting is just too explosive to allow that to happen. In 13 games, the Lady T-Birds have scored a whopping 77 runs for a 5.9 runs per game average.

A look at the team's statistics shows four players with batting averages over .400, and four players hitting better than .300. In playing all 13 games, Allen leads the team in batting average (.418), hits (17), RBI (18), and triples (3).

"The coaches make sure we are hitting every practice," Allen said. "Our main focus this year has been hitting. We do it every day. It's improved our team a lot."

Today through Saturday, Yucaipa will find out just how good that 10-3 record stacks up against some of the best teams in Southern California as they head to Orange County for the Carew Classic Tournament.

"It is a different caliber of teams playing there," Allen said. "We will see some good teams and see where we stand from there."

Kivett agreed with Allen. In the early going, Yucaipa has played in two tournaments - the Corona Tournament, and the Jurupa Valley Big League Dreams Tournament, where they did well, finishing with a 4-1 record at Corona, and 3-2 in Big League Dreams.

But the Carew Classic will be a step up in competition, Kivett said.

"Each of our tournaments gets progressively better," he said. "We played very well in Corona, but had a slip up against Patriot (Riverside). We didn't play very well at Big League Dreams, but we did get some wins. It was good for us to have to fight through some of those games that weren't easy.

"The Carew Classic is the best one of them all. More of the elite teams play and we will be facing some of the best teams in Orange County and the Riverside area."

Yucaipa returns to CBL action with two important games next week. On Tuesday, they have a showdown at Redlands with the Terriers, and Thursday they take on Fontana at the Steelers ball diamond. Both games have a 3:15 p.m. start.

Have a game or sports story you would like posted on Yucaipa Now? All levels of play, high school, JV, freshman, and community sports, are welcome.

Just send it to me at bob.otto@inlandnewspapers.com