Surf ‘n Softball rolls on

Surf ‘N Softball, a North Huntington Beach 12-and-under girls’

All-Star softball team, won five consecutive games to capture the

Southern California All-Star Central District Tournament and qualify

for the upcoming California State Championship tournament.

It is the first time that a North Huntington Beach 12-and-under

team has qualified for the state event.

The central district tournament was played in Rancho Santa

Margarita.

Surf ‘N Softball did it the hard way, too: not only did the team

drop an 8-6 game to host Rancho Trabuco before embarking on its win

streak, but it lost the services of third baseman Erica Congelliere

to a broken ankle.

Undaunted, Surf ‘N Sport rose to the challenge and, dedicating the

remainder of the double-elimination tournament to Congelliere, went

on to play four more games where they outscored their opponents,

31-3.

They whipped Mission De Oro, 12-1 and came back later in the day

Saturday to rout West Garden Grove, 11-2.

A busy Sunday started with a 7-1 win over Mission Hills, followed

by a 5-3 payback win over Rancho Trabuco. Surf N’ Sport then capped

their comeback with a 3-0 victory over Irvine in the tournament

final.

During the regular season, the team won the La Mirada and

Huntington Beach tournaments and finished runner-up at the Oceanside

tournament.

In addition to Congelliere, Surf ‘N Softball is made up of Kellie

Cuadras, Brook Hitchcock, Alex Iorfino, Taysia Kaufman, Kendall

Kraiss, Cristina Kuehn, Alex McCollum, Kristin Mendez, Mariah

Nogueira, Amy Nunez and Rebecca Sass.

In other 12-and-under action:

Platinum All-Stars second at Fountain Valley tourney

The Huntington Beach Girls Softball 12-and-under Platinum All-Star

team reached the title game of the Fountain Valley All-Star

Tournament where they lost to Los Alamitos, 11-3.

Huntington Beach had defeated Capistrano, 13-2, La Habra, 5-4 and

Long Beach, 6-3 en route to reaching the championship final.

During the tournament, Taryn Devich hit a pair of home runs, Jenny

Pilecki homered and Heidi Chappell and Jacqueline Kent saw pitching

action.

The Platinum All-Stars also consist of Lana Rutkin, Hannah Thomas,

Elise Nordin, Meghan White, Keely Toma, Amy Williams, Kaleigh Moses

and Lena Smith.