Locals headed for Oregon

“Transform!” is the cheer that begins each game, and that is exactly what happened to a group of girls that came together to represent South Huntington Beach girls’ fast-pitch softball 12-and-under division All-Stars during the Amateur Softball Assn. Central District finals.

South Huntington Beach went on to finish fifth at the California State “B” championships over the weekend in Lancaster, advancing to the Amateur Softball Assn. girls’ B 12-and-under western nationals, beginning July 27 in Milwaukie, Ore.

To help fund the trip, South Huntington Beach is holding a “SHB Garage Sale” Saturday at Kettler Field from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Alternatively, donations will be taken via check or cash to SHBGFS, P.O. Box 7332, Huntington Beach, CA, 92615. Write “SHB 12U All-Star Fund” on any checks.

The South Huntington Beach Transformers entered the district championship game June 28 undefeated. They would have to be beaten twice to not walk away as tournament champs. Things did not start off so well, however, and the team from Cypress that they defeated rather easily the previous day, was not ready to hand the championship to the girls from SHB. Amanda Caswell’s strong pitching and Katie Winstein’s speed on the bases was not enough to overcome an early three-run deficit as the Transformers trailed the entire game. The girls fought hard to come back in the fifth and sixth innings but ended up short two runs and lost, 6-4.

As the second game began, both teams knew it was going to be a battle. Cypress struck first, scoring one run in the second inning and two more in the third.

Then the SHB bats came alive in the fourth with hits from Madison Corbin, Kelli Tatum, Breeauna Beason and Kylie Winthrop, who combined to produce four runs.

Cypress scored three more in the fourth and SHB retaliated to tie the game when Briahana Martinez lead off the inning with a walk and Lizabelle Talataina brought her home to score with a homer in the fifth. Although she pitched well, Micaela Vierra gave up one more run in the sixth on a walk and a double, but managed to shut down the Cypress bats in the seventh.

As the dust cleared and the Transformers ran into the dugout for their last at-bat, there seemed little hope of them coming back from the one-run deficit to win the game and a lead-off strike-out brought a hush to the crowd.

The Transformers, however, never quit. Randi Fehser fought off strike three and blooped a single in just over second base.

Having given up the go-ahead run on the mound an inning earlier, Vierra came up to bat knowing she needed to help herself and crushed a shot over the center fielder, allowing Fehser to tie the score.

With a runner on second and one out, Lauren Gooch’s speed and athleticism kept the SHB hopes alive as she beat out an infield single and moved the runner over.

With runners at first and third, Madison Corbin, lead-off batter for the Transformers, took her bat from her coach, looked into his eyes and said, “I’m going to end it here!”

And she did.

With two strikes, she golfed a low pitch into center field scoring the game-winning run that gave the Transformers an 8-7 victory in the tournament finale.

?HBGS 8U Silver team wins tournament: The Huntington Beach girls’ softball 8-and-under silver all-stars won the Rancho Bernardo tournament over the weekend, defeating Tierra Canyon, 10-0, in the championship game.

Katelyn Drake struck out 13 and allowed just two hits in the championship game. Natalie Dorame scored the first run on Danika McKee’s triple, and also drove in the 10th run.

Shayla Thomas went two for two with two RBIs, while Sage Malvin went one for two with three RBIs.

Huntington Beach went 4-1-1 over the three days of the tournament. In the final three games, Drake had 28 strikeouts and gave up only two runs and four hits.