Bronzed

The Pacific Coast Girls 4-A Fastpitch All-Star softball team

finished third in the recent national tournament at Bonita Creek in what

must have seemed to be a marathon, rather than a softball tournament, on

the way to impressive finish in what is considered to be softball’s

“Williamsport,” according to Head Coach Barry Grumman.

“These girls have reached the top of their sport and thir third-place

finish was a result of great talent and incredible dedication through

countless hours of practice and instruction. The entire coaching staff

simply couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them,” said

Grumman.

For Grumman, Coach Joe Gleason and Manager Debi Fonda, it was a series

of accomplishments which every player shared, with come-through

performances in every direction. Among them:

- Ashley Gleason, with 17 hits, including two triples and six RBIs.

- Katie Joslyn, with 12 hits, including three doubles, a triple and

eight RBIs.

- Heather Lohrman, with 11 hits, including two doubles and an RBI.

- Julianne Bass, with 10 hits, including a double and seven RBIs.

- Hilary Ockey, with 10 base hits and four RBIs.

- Alex Shitanishi, also with 10 base hits.

- Darci Pennington, with eight singles and three RBIs.

- Amie Benjamin, with eight hits and seven RBIs.

- Kelly Pfeifer, with seven base hits, a double and three RBIs.

- Sasha Grumman, with six singles and an RBIs.

- Jessica Dugan, with four singles and three RBIs.

Gleason led the team with a .395 batting average, a .488 slugging

percentage and had a .633 on-base average.

As for pitching, Gleason led the staff with an 0.55 ERA. She, along

with Grumman, Ockey and Pfeifer, combined for a team ERA of 0.98.

“We were playing in a 16-and-under division and we faced many teams in

this tournament who were 16 or 15, but our team consisted of a few 14

year-olds and mostly 13-year-olds,” said Grumman. “Our girls not only

held their own against older competition, they excelled.”

Here’s a look at the long road which eventually brought this team to

national status:

- Pacific Coast, with a pitching staff which allowed no earned runs in

the entire four-game set, blitzed the competition to win the Regionals

July 7-8.

- Ockey was spectacular behind the plate, catching all but five

innings over the weekend. She picked off two runners at first base and

cut down four more trying to steal second base.

- Gleason pitched the final, shutting down and mercying East Anaheim,

11-1, in five innings to send Pacific Coast into the Nationals at Bonita

Creek Park.

It was an overwhelming performance.

The team batted .324 with an on-base percentage of .614. Gleason

batted .545 with a two-run triple in a six-hit assault. Bass (.364),

Pennington (.364) and Ockey (.333) each had four hits. Gleason and

Benjamin each contributed four RBIs, while Joslyn had two doubles and

three RBIs. Lohrman, the leadoff hitter, batted .429 with three hits and

seven walks, while Grumman had a hit and drew five walks. Pfeifer had two

singles and two RBIs and Shitanishi and Dugan each had a pair of base

hits.

Shitanishi was the defensive leader with 11 put-outs, five assists and

no errors. Grumman sealed up the other side at second with three put-outs

and five assists. Bass had six put-outs and three assists, anchoring the

infield at third base. Dugan and Pennington combined to gun down three

runners at first from right field.

- At the Nationals, Pacific Coast opened with an 8-6 victory over

North El Cajon July 21, then punished San Lorenzo later in the day, 5-0,

although it took a while to get the job done.

After five scoreless innings, Pacific Coast batted around for five

runs in the sixth inning.

Pfeifer led off with a double to right-center and was sacrificed to

third by Dugan. A ground ball by Lohrman got the run across and Lohrman

was safe at first on a throwing error. A perfect bunt single by Grumman,

a wild pitch and a walk to Gleason loaded the bases for Bass.

Bass, who was 3 for 3, drove in two with a single to right. Josly and

Ockey finished it with run-scoring singles.

Gleason finished with a complete game, no-hit shutout, striking out

10.

Benjamin’s catch on a drive to left for the third out with two on in

the fifth inning was the eye-popper. Gleason then struck out the last two

dazed batters.

- A day later Pacific Coast went up against Lakeside, laced with

high-school age players, and dropped a 4-0 decision. Pacific Coast had

runners aboard in every inning, but could not come up with the key hit,

leaving 12 runners stranded.

- With no room for error left in the double-elimination tournament,

Pacific Coast outdueled Vacaville, 5-2, in its fourth game in two days.

A defensive play ignited Pacific Coast in the third inning when

Vacaville, with the lead and two runners aboard, saw a single to center

killed by outfielder Lohrman, who gunned the lead runner down at the

plate. Ockey, the catcher, then fired to third for a spectacular double

play to end the inning with no damage.

Gleason and Bass led off the bottom of the fourth with singles to set

up Joslyn, who jumped on the first pitch and drilled what was considered

the hardest hit of the oturnament down the line in left for a stand-up

triple. Moments later she scored on a wild pitch.

Icing came in the fifth inning when Lohrman singled and stole two

bases, then Gleason tripled to left-center.

Grumman pitched the final four innings, allowing two hits, no earned

runs and earned the win.

- An early morning game against Valley Mesa the following day found

Pacific Coast once again rising to the challenge.

A two-out, four-run rally in the fourth inning broke up a scoreless

duel en route to a 6-5 thriller for Pacific Coast.

Five base hits and a Valley Mesa error led to the 4-0 Pacific Coast

bulge, and two more runs were added in the top of the fifth, keyed by

Gleason’s run-scoring single and two doubles by Lohrman and Joslyn.

Valley Mesa rallied for two in the fifth and three in the seventh, but

fell short when Gleason forced a pop-up and struck out the last two

batters.

- With one game standing between Pacific Coast at a berth in the

finals, Pico Rivera got a chance to redeem itself after losing twice to

Pacific Coast in two days in the league championship series.

Keyed by a three-run third inning with the help of three miscues, Pico

Rivera advanced to the finals with a 6-0 victory, where its momentum

pulled out twin 4-3 victories in seven innings over Lakeside.