Little League West Region: Southern California softball falls short in title game
SAN BERNARDINO — Quartz Hill Little League battled the heat but couldn’t beat it.
BrookeLynn Sandberg-Zygo allowed just one earned run and struck out seven but it wasn’t enough as Southern California’s 11- and 12-year-old champions lost 2-1 to Northern California in the Little League West Region championship game at Al Houghton Stadium.
“All we did was sit around and wait in the heat. They should’ve played this game at 7 o’clock at night, not in the heat of the day,” Southern California manager Steve Sandberg said. “ESPN needs to do a better job of scheduling the times. It was 110 (degrees) at the start of the game today.”
The loss marks the end for Sandberg and Quartz Hill LL, which was unbeaten and had scored 23 runs at the West Region tournament until Friday when the team did not score until the sixth inning and saw the game finish with the tying run from third base.
“We had the chance to tie it, so easy. All we needed was a passed ball, a fly out, a ground ball, anything,” said Sandberg, who previously led Quartz Hill LL to two appearances at the Big League Softball World Series. He announced his retirement from coaching after the game.
“I’ve been at this for 30 years (and) I figured that’s enough,” Sandberg said. “I wanted to take them to the World Series – we would’ve been the first from Quartz Hill to go to a World Series – so it’s heartbreaking.”
Playing in temperatures that never dipped lower than 103 degrees, Northern California manufactured a run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Kira Gutierrez reached on an infield hit and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Danika Garcia.
Almaden LL added an insurance run in the top of the sixth when Auzerais Garibaldi-Munoz reached on an error and scored on Brooklynn Scott’s RBI single.
Southern California put runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth and fifth before finally getting on the scoreboard in the sixth when Bailey Dell singled up the middle and scored on a fielder’s choice.
Jayda Drake (2 for 3) earned the win in two innings of relief for Northern California, getting out of back-to-back jams and striking out Alina Elias to end the game.
“I’ve been in that position and I just take deep breaths a lot,” Drake said. “All I could do was focus on the glove and getting the strikes in there.”
Based in San Jose, this was Almaden LL’s first appearance at the West Region tournament. The team advances to play at the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, N.C., beginning Aug. 9.