Bruisers claim Turkey title

The South Huntington Beach Bruisers, a 12 & Under girls’ softball team

who began their season in September with a second-place showing at the

Winterball Opening Tournament, concluded their 1999 season by winning the

championship of the Winterball Turkey Tournament at El Dorado Park in

Long Beach.

The Bruisers cruised to three tournament victories, beating Cypress, Long

Beach, and Santa Fe Springs, before sweating out a come-from-behind

one-run win over the South Huntington Beach Bruins, who in September had

defeated the Bruisers in the title game of the Winterball Opening

Tournament.

South Huntington Beach rolled past Cypress, 4-2, and Long Beach, 5-0, in

their first two games to earn a date with the Bruins. A win against their

rival would propel the Bruisers into the tournament championship game,

and they got off to a quick start when Taryn Lipscomb hit a leadoff

double and later scored on Shauna England’s two-out single.

The Bruins, however, came right back to push across five runs in the

bottom of the first inning and appeared headed for an easy win, but

Bruisers starting pitcher Terry Swift settled down to shut down the

Bruins the remainder of the game.

Swift went on to strike out seven in five innings.

The Bruisers’ offensive, meanwhile, went to work.

Jamie Kimball’s two-out, two-RBI double in the third inning scored

Jessica Aldrich and England to begin the comeback, and the Bruisers tied

the score an inning later when consecutive walks by Erika Chavez and

Elena Bortugno set up Nikki Uranga’s two-RBI single.

The Bruisers completed their comeback victory in the top of the seventh

inning when Lipscomb’s infield groundout scored Bortugno, who just did

beat the tag at the plate.

Aldrich, who took over for Swift to start the sixth inning, shut down the

Bruins in the seventh inning to preserve a 6-5 triumph.

Riding the emotion from that win, Swift delivered a complete-game

two-hitter Sunday in a 5-2 title-clinching victory over Santa Fe Springs.

Monika Chavez’s two-RBI hit up the middle scored Uranga and Aldrich for a

2-0 lead. Chavez later scored on England’s single.

Amanda Phillips added an RBI single in the fourth inning, and Kimball

drove home England in the sixth inning with an RBI single to cap South

Huntington Beach’s scoring.

Santa Fe Springs scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

The tournament title closed the season for the Bruisers, who concluded

their campaign with a 27-4 record.