Fastpitch softball: Riptide advances to national tournament

The Newport Beach Riptide, a 14-and-under girls fastpitch softball

traveling team, placed third out of 20 teams in a two-day national

qualifying tournament last weekend to earn a trip to the Triple Crown

World Series National Tournament.

Riptide fell, 8-1, to San Diego-based TNL in a semifinal Sunday. In a

quarterfinal contest Sunday, Newport came away with a 5-4 win against the

Northridge Quakes.

Alex Shitanishi and pinch runner Heather Lohrman scored on a triple by

Markie Bingenheimer in the second inning, but the Quakes answered with

three runs to take a 3-2 advantage.

Pinch runner Tami Divino scored a run and Sasha Grumman and Shitanishi

each drove in a run in the third to give the Riptide a 5-3 advantage.

In the Riptide’s first game of the qualifying tournament Saturday

against the Straight A’s, Ashley Gleason pitched a no-hitter to lead

Newport to a 5-0 victory.

In the second inning, Bingenheimer singled to score Tori Harrison and

Kelsey Ferguson. In the third inning, Grumman hit a line drive to bring

Julianne Bass and Harrison home. Riptide sealed the win in the fifth when

Lohrman, pinch running for Jenny Tompkins, stole second and third and

scored on a passed ball.

Against Quicksilver from Laguna Niguel, Ferguson pitched a

three-hitter to lead the Riptide to a 4-0 win. Riptide scored two runs in

the third on singles by Bingenheimer, Lohrman and Tompkins. Bingenheimer

drove in a run in the fourth and Harrison had an RBI in the fifth to

close out the scoring.

In the Riptide’s third game Saturday, Newport fell to the Orange

County Blaze, 2-1. The Blaze capitalized on two errors in the fourth for

two runs. Riptide starter Christine Kulick gave up only two hits.

Leading the Riptide offensively in the tournament were Bingenheimer,

with a .583 batting average, and Tompkins, who hit .500. Gina Catalino

was perfect on defense.

The Riptide is the first Newport Beach-based team to qualify to play

in the World Series, which will be held in Colorado in August.