South H.B. girls’ softball teams finish 1-2

Mike Sciacca

A pair of South Huntington Beach Fastpitch Softball girls’

12-and-under teams fared well at last weekend’s Opening Winterball

Tournament in Cypress as the Bruins and Bruisers finished 1-2 in the

double-elimination event.

Coach Greg Rojas’ Bruins breezed through the winner’s bracket by

defeating Santa Fe Springs, Cypress and Long Beach, to advance to

Sunday’s championship game.

The Bruisers, coached by Rick Aldrich, worked their way up through the

losers bracket to earn a championship date with the Bruins.

The Bruisers beat three Cypress teams, avenged an earlier loss to Santa

Fe Springs by scoring a 4-0 victory, then bested Long Beach, 10-4, to

move on to the final.

In the title game, the pitching of Aubree Rojas and the hitting and

defensive play of Rebecca Gayle led the Bruins to a 7-0 advantage. The

Bruisers, however, fought back with a five-run rally in the top of the

final inning, but with the tying run at the plate, Shauna England popped

out to deep left field, and the Bruins were able to hold on for a 7-5

victory.

Shannon Hybl, Simone Parmenter and Mallory Smith contributed to the

Bruins’ success in the final, and the play of catcher Alex Bottoroff and

Vanessa Hardway was instrumental in their tournament success.

The Bruisers played their final five games with just a nine-player

roster.

Jenny Swift and Jessica Aldrich pitched all seven games for the

Bruisers, with six of those games being played between 5 p.m. Saturday

and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Aldrich and catcher Taryn Lipscomb led the team in runs scored, while

team RBI leader Monika Chavez and England paced the Bruiser offense

throughout the tournament. Jamie Kimball, Brittany Ochoa, Erika Chavez

and Elena Bortugno also contributed on offense to help the Bruisers

battle back to reach the championship game.