Pacific Coast Girls Fastpitch Softball earns ASA Junior Olympic State Championship berth

The Pacific Coast Girls Fastpitch Softball (PCGFS) 10-under All Star team from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa combined participated in the Southern California ASA Junior Olympic District Championship Tournament hosted by Buena Park over the Fourth of July weekend of July 4-6, 2008. Teams from Long Beach, Orange County, and the South Bay competed in the three day tournament.

The PCGFS Rebels, captured a berth to the 2008 American Softball Association (ASA) State Championship, scheduled for July 11-13, 2008 in Lancaster, CA by finishing second place.

The girls opened the tournament by besting Fountain Valley 7-1, and the Rebels had all three facets of their game working, as their defense, hitting, and pitching all helped to nail down the win. Kathryn Perry pitched 6 strong innings recording 12 strikeouts and scattering four hits.

Game two was another victory from a much tougher opponent. It’s the third time that PCGFS has faced Santa Ana in a tournament beating them in the semi-final match 7-6 in the Tustin Romp Tournament and losing in the semi-final match 4-1 in the Fountain Valley Tournament.

The Rebels knew that both teams are evenly matched and needed to strike early against a formidable pitcher. The bats came alive for the Rebels by scoring 5 runs in the first two innings. With one out Kathryn Perry got things started by reaching base on an error, followed by a walk to Catrell Robertson and a base hit by Sydney Mckeown driving in the first run. Santa Ana got a strike out for the second out of the inning before Paige Migliori delivered a crucial double driving in two more runs.

In the second inning the Rebels got two more runs with consecutive base hits from Riley Gerdau and Kathryn Perry followed by a triple from Catrell Robertson. Kathryn Perry again pitched 6 strong innings and the Rebels winning 7-3.

Things got tougher in the third game as the Rebels faced a heavily favored San Clemente team who won the San Clemente and Fountain Valley Tournaments. The girls where held in check for five innings trailing 4-0, but came on strong in the last two innings eventually losing by the score of 5-3.

With the lost this put the Rebels in the elimination bracket only to set up a rematch with a Santa Ana team that was determined to beat them. The Rebels jumped out to an early lead by base hits from Courtney Leyba and Sydney Mckeown, a sacrifice bunt from Jordan Blanchfield and a wild pitch accounted for two runs. Pitchers Kathryn Perry and Sydney McKeown combined held Santa Ana to one run with the Rebels winning 4-1 to get into the championship game.

The Rebels rematch with San Clemente in the championship game proved tougher than the previous meeting. San Clemente’s bats started to pound the ball into the gaps, and the Rebels couldn’t match their firepower eventually losing 11-1.

Chris Migliori who coaches the 10-under All-Stars, says his girls started the tournament with high expectations of a qualifying berth to the State Championship. They got better at each game and had to play error-free ball to win it. He was proud for what they accomplished as no team from PCGFS has ever qualified for the State Championship.