Fastpitch Softball : Blasters, Wolverines Find Some Solace in Defeats

It was some consolation for Laguna Hills Blasters Coach Robert Melendrez when the La Crescenta Condors defeated the Texas Illusions, 1-0, Monday for the title in the American Fastpitch Assn. fifth International Friendship Tournament at Maxwell Park in Anaheim.

The title game allowed the Blasters a measure of pride. The Blasters can say they lost to the eventual champions.

The Anaheim Wolverines, only other Orange County girls’ softball team to advance to the quarterfinals, can make the same claim. The Wolverines also were eliminated by the Condors, losing, 2-1.

La Crescenta knocked the Blasters out of the tournament in the semifinal round with a 2-0 victory.

“I think we just ran out of gas,” Melendrez said. Laguna Hills played seven games in the four-day tournament.

In the quarterfinals, Laguna Hills defeated a 3-0 team, the Camarillo Breakers, 2-1.

“We laid the bunts down and slapped (the ball) in that game,” Melendrez said.

But the Condors matched the Blasters’ style of play in the semifinal round.

“It is tough for us to beat them because they are quick like us. Give me a big, slow team (to play) anytime,” he said.

The Blasters won’t win many games with power. They peck away, a run at a time.

Said Blaster infielder Erika Frazier: “We just didn’t have the same amount of intensity as we did in the first game today.”

They also were without Maureen Del Mazzio, a Canyon High player, who started the semifinal game but left because of pain from her impacted wisdom teeth.

“One player in a critical position, like Mo (Maureen), can make so much of a difference in a game,” Melendrez said.

La Crescenta, defeating Texas in extra innings, scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth when Tina Baca lined a single into right-center field, scoring Jeanne Mixon, who had tripled.

“I had stranded several runners today,” Baca said. “I wasn’t intimidated (in that spot), but I knew I had to do something.”

The Condors’ pitchers did their part too.

In the victory over the Blasters, Jenny Berry pitched a two-hitter. Against the Illusions, Janell Campbell pitched a four-hitter.

The victory also gave La Crescenta a measure of revenge.

Texas, which emerged from pool play without a loss, had defeated La Crescenta, 2-1, Saturday on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.