All-stars grab second place

The Surf City Breakers, a 10-and-Under “A” All-Star team from South Huntington Beach Girls Fastpitch Softball, earned a second-place finish last weekend at the Southern California State All-Star Championships in Lancaster.

The Breakers played eight games over three days with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. They went 6-2 against other top All-Star teams throughout the southland and their second-place finish secured the Breakers a berth in the Western “B” Nationals, which get underway July 31 in St. Louis.

It’s the second straight year that the team has qualified for nationals.

The Breakers opened up the tournament on Friday with a 10-1 rout of Rancho Cucamonga All Stars. That win was followed by a 4-0 shutout of Downey.

On Saturday, the Breakers’ hot play matched the weather, as they scored a 5-0 win over Rancho Bernardo that clinched a berth in St. Louis. Sammy Cordova tossed a no-hitter and allowed just one base runner on a walk. Taylor Dennison had the game’s big hit, a three-run triple to open the game up.

Later Saturday, the Breakers lost a tough game to eventual champion Bonita Valley, 5-3. The Breakers opened up the game with a 3-0 lead, but couldn’t hold on.

Needing to climb back into contention, the Breakers began to fight their way out of the loser’s bracket with a 3-1 win over Santee, a game that concluded at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. They were back on the field early Sunday but showed no sign of weariness, as they defeated Moorpark, 4-2.

Needing one more victory to play for the division title, the Breakers overcame a 2-1 deficit in their final at-bat to defeat Hart Gold, 3-2. In the bottom of the sixth, Emma Fitzsimmons opened up the Breakers’ final at-bat with a single up the middle. Alison Jahansouz then sacrificed pinch runner Sarah Baca to second and a single into right field by Jillian Martinez put runners at the corners. Dennison then delivered a huge hit, a double to deep right-center that drove in both Baca and Martinez, to send the Breakers into the final against Bonita Valley.

Playing their third game of a scorching day Sunday, the Breakers fell to Bonita Valley, 5-0, in the final.

The Surf City Breakers will take a record of 32-3 into the eight-team, 10-and-Under national tournament in St. Louis. The Breakers are Sarah Baca, Breeauna Beason, Emily Brucelas, Sammy Cordova, Melanie Coyne, Taylor Dennison, Emma Fitzsimmons, Alison Jahansouz, Chanel Luis, Jillian Martinez, Madison Pautsch, Emily Stoner and Logan Vournas and coaches Art Cordova, Rich Dennison and Greg Vournas.

The Breakers will be fundraising the next two weeks to offset the cost of their trip to the Western Nationals. Donations can be made to SHBGFS, P.O. Box 7332, Huntington Beach, Ca., 92615. Write “10-under All Stars” in the memo line. You can also e-mail South Huntington Beach league co-President Dan Kerins at dkerins@npsweb.com for more information.

In other All-Stars action:

The South Huntington Beach Sparx, a 12-and-Under All-Star team, finished in the top eight in their division’s tournament at Lancaster. The finish enabled the Sparx to become the first 12-and-Under team in South Huntington Beach Girls Fastpitch Softball history to compete at the Western Nationals. The tournament will begin July 31 at Midland, Texas.

Huntington Beach Girls Softball All-Stars:

Huntington Beach Going to Nationals

The Huntington Beach Girls Softball 14-and-Under All-Star team competed in the Amateur Softball Assn. State Tournament last weekend in Lancaster and earned a berth in the upcoming ASA Junior Olympic National Girls Fast-pitch Tournament.

The national tournament will be held Aug. 1 to Aug. 6 at Aurora, Colo.

At last weekend’s state tournament, Huntington Beach posted a record of 4-2 to finish fifth among 21 teams in the division. Huntington dropped its opener Friday to eventual second-place finisher Scripps, 3-1. They came back Saturday to play four games in 102-degree weather and won all four games to secure a berth in the national tournament.

The team advanced farther than any previous Huntington Beach Girls Softball 14-and-Under team in postseason play.

The wins Saturday came over Riverside (6-1), Moreno Valley (8-2), Mission Viejo (8-2) and Cypress (8-3). The Cypress game ended at 11 p.m.

Huntington came back for an early 8 a.m. start on Sunday, and dropped a 14-5 game to Moorpark.

Huntington pitchers Amanda Horowitz and Jacqueline Kent combined for an ERA of 3.50, with 26 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched. The duo allowed 16 earned runs in six games.

Offensively, Huntington racked up 64 hits in the tournament, 12 for extra bases, and had a team batting average of .416.

Horowitz, Randi Heidenreich, Taylor Gould, Lana Rutkin, Jessica Garcia and Allison Dufault all batted above .400. Meghan White led the team with seven RBI. Chelsea Breitwieser hit a lead-off home run in the win over Cypress and Charlene Courtney, Kylee Lappin and Amanda Nicholaou made key contributions.