Pacific Coast Softball reaches two final fours

Pacific Coast Girls Fastpitch Softball (PCGFS), an American Softball

Association (ASA) organization that serves girls 5-15 in the

Newport-Costa Mesa area, produced its best performance yet during the

June-July tournament season.

In just its second official season as an ASA sanctioned league the

PCGFS 8-and-under girls All-Star team competed in three area

tournaments with promising results.

The first tournament was Tustin. The girls made it to the final

four of this double elimination tournament by defeating two other

area teams.

Pitching was strong behind Lotte Martin and Kirtland Gentry. The

infield of first baseman Nicole Werline, second baseman Taylor

Stefano, shortstop Shanequa Watts, third baseman Nikki Perrier, and

catcher Brooke Migliori, was solid.

Offensively, the standouts were Stefano, Hattie Marshall and

Perrier.

Stefano and Marshall shared the best batting average for the team

at this tournament, while Perrier logged what should have been the

only home run, called a ground-rule double due to some outfield

obstruction.

A solid left field performance by Natalie Barbariese, with three

deep catches on the fly and multiple stops, kept opposing batters

from taking any advantage.

Ultimately, the tourney was won by Irvine, which defeated Pacific

Coast in the first round by two runs.

The second tournament was in Vista. Pacific Coast again made it to

the final four with impressive wins over Clairmont and La Costa. With

one win to go to make it to the Championship game, Pacific Coast ran

out of gas against Lake Elsinore. Amazingly, the tournament winner

was Santee, who Pacific Coast lost to in third round tournament play

by the same two-run margin as the prior tournament.

The club’s hitting was again led by Stefano who batted .677 for

the tournament, with 4 other girls batting over .300. The on-base

percentage leader was Werline, with a .714 mark. Barbariese, Allyson

Nisbet, Mary Lyon and Kirsten Rohan also had on-base percentages

worth mentioning, all finishing over .500.

Pacific Coast’s defense was superior in this tournament, logging

only 3 errors that resulted in runs for the entire tournament.

Especially strong play behind the plate from Migliori kept opposing

scoring to a minimum.

While Gentry and Martin carried the bulk of the pitching load,

Watts also pitched 4 innings and recorded 10 strikeouts. Martin, who

pitched a total of 11 innings in this tournament, had 28 strikeouts.

In the end, it was a final-inning three-run rally by Santee, that

kept Pacific Coast out of the championship game.

The Orange County ASA tournament, held this year in Coto de Caza,

had the girls performing against the best teams in the area. The

17-team tournament gave the girls a chance to see how the local

league could fair against teams that might ultimately qualify for

state and national tournaments. The girls were assigned a top seed in

the first round and played Tustin Gold.

Pacific Coast led Tustin 3-2 in the fifth inning, but Tustin

rallied for three late runs to win the ballgame.

Pacific Coast’s next game was against West Garden Grove, which

prevailed 4-1.

“Though the final results of the ASA tournament were somewhat of a

disappointment, the girls all had a great time and proved that

Newport-Costa Mesa area girls softball has now been identified as a

formidable competitor,” Pacific Coast Manager Brian Marshall said.

Until this year no PCGFS all-star team has had more than 1 win in

tournament play during a spring season. This year’s 8-and-under

“Roadrunners,” as they call themselves, posted four wins and two

final four appearances.

“An encouraging sign of things to come,” one league official said.