The Cerritos 12-Under Legacy All-Star team qualified for the Amateur Softball Association 'B' State Tournament after finishing in second place in the Los Angeles/South Bay District Championships. The players are: Kaitlyn Bales, Rachel Barajas, Alexa Becdach, Kylee Brown, Megan Darling, Alyssa Flores, Deidra Genera, Tyler Johnson, Victoria Maglonzo, Ashley Mitchell, Erika Romero and Nicole Waldecker. The manager is Jay Becdach and his coaches are Dave Bales, Nick Brown and Bill Mitchell.
By Loren Kopff
DOWNEY-The Cerritos Girls Softball Association’s 12-Under All-Star team, the Legacy, was primed to win the Amateur Softball Association Los Angeles/South Bay ‘B’ District Championship. But host Downey’s gold team, still stinging from a quarterfinal loss on June 26, was not ready to taste another defeat on its home turf at Independence Park.
Cerritos and Downey faced each other in the championship game on June 27 with Cerritos needing one win to take home its fourth championship of the summer. But Downey posted a pair of wins, 4-2 and 10-2, leaving the Legacy taking home the runner-up plaque instead of a championship banner. Still, the Legacy qualified for the ASA ‘B’ All-Star State Tournament to be held in Lancaster beginning today and running through Sunday.
“Of course I’m disappointed but at the same time, I’m very happy too,” said manager Jay Becdach. “It was tough getting to this point in the first place and my girls made me real proud.”
The Legacy became the CGSA’s seventh all-star team since 2006 to advance to the state tournament and the second straight summer that a 12-Under All-Star team will be representing the city. The Legacy also became the first 12-Under All-Star team in CGSA history to win its first four games in districts.
Cerritos entered the championship game as the last remaining undefeated team in its age group and was off to a 2-0 lead through the first three and a half innings. Shortstop Kylee Brown launched a home run to left field in the top of the first and in the next inning, left fielder Victoria Maglonzo singled to bring in first baseman Rachel Barajas, who had deposited a one-out base hit to right field.
The Cerritos defense was not to be overlooked in the early innings either. Third baseman Erika Romero made three outstanding diving plays to take away sure base hits from a hot-hitting Downey team. But in the bottom of the fourth, Downey tied the game and took the lead in the sixth with two more runs.
Pitcher Deidra Genera was economical in her pitch count, throwing 64 in six innings, but that came hours after throwing 109 in six innings against Torrance. As a result, the ace pitcher could not go in the second Downey contest.
“She’s my M.V.P.,” Becdach said. “She hung tough and she sucked it up. She wanted to keep going, keep battling; she didn’t want to stop. At the end of the game is when she got tired and that’s when she got affected by the heat.”
Once again, Cerritos got on the board first in the clinching game when Maglonzo drove in right fielder Kaitlyn Bales in the top of the second and Romero scored on a single from third baseman Tyler Johnson in the next inning. But her hit would be the fourth and final one of the contest as Downey touched home plate seven times in the bottom of the fourth and twice more in the fifth. Cerritos also hurt itself with four errors as three of the 10 runs were earned.
“We showed up to beat Downey and the girls battled,” Becdach said. “That’s why it was bittersweet. Once our main pitcher went out, I noticed some faces that were down.”
The Legacy began the tournament on June 25 with a convincing 10-0 win against El Segundo as Genera threw a one-hitter and struck out half a dozen batters. Cerritos blew the game wide open with five runs in the bottom of the third highlighted by a two-run single from Genera. In the next inning, Johnson singled and scored on Ashley Mitchell’s home run. Bales and designated player Nicole Waldecker would drive in Genera (single) and Barajas (fielder’s choice) following the home run. Genera, Romero and catcher Megan Darling all had a pair of hits.
Cerritos would then post an 11-5 victory against Manhattan Beach the next morning as Alexa Becdach and Genera each went two for three, Bales hit a home run and Johnson scored three runs. But what turned out to be a prelude to the eventual championship game came later in the day as Cerritos outlasted Downey 9-6 in a seven-inning affair that used the international tiebreaker rules.
Cerritos scored twice in the top of the first inning as Brown posted a two-out single followed by a home run from Johnson. While Downey always fought back, it wasn’t able to tie the game until the bottom of the fifth when 5’11” Whitney Pemberton beat out an infield single and later scored on a fielder’s choice from Sydney Romero.
But in the top of the seventh and Maglonzo standing on second, she advanced on a groundout from Waldecker. Romero and Darling would each be safe on a fielder’s choice, setting the stage for Brown who smacked a grand slam over the left fielder on a 1-2 count. Brown and Johnson, respectively nicknamed thunder and lightning, combined to go four for eight with seven RBI and three runs scored. Waldecker also had a pair of hits.
“That’s our biggest competition thus far,” Jay Becdach said. “I love their players, I love their coaches. We all get along really great. They’re a class act team. They feel the same about us; they’ve told us several times. I’m never tired of playing Downey or Torrance. We both bring out the best in each other. I’m hoping between Downey and ourselves we can represent our district and hopefully both us go to nationals and make some noise.”
On the morning of June 27, Cerritos sent Torrance into the loser’s bracket with a 7-2 semifinal victory. Johnson doubled in Darling and Brown in the top of the first and put the game away two innings later when Brown, Johnson and Alyssa Flores all scored. Flores added her second RBI in the next inning when her single plated Brown. The last run came in the sixth when Romero scored on a ground rule double from Brown, who was denied another home run when the umpires called spectator interference. Brown went three for three while Johnson drove in three runs. The Legacy will take an 18-5 record into the state tournament and have won three of five tournaments, going undefeated in all three.
Heading into day two the tournament, it seemed as if the Legacy wouldn’t be the only Cerritos team advancing to Lancaster. The other three all-star teams won their first game, marking just the second time in the CGSA’s history that every team won its first district game. However, the 8’s, 10’s and 14’s all lost their next two contests with the 10’s and 14’s each needing just one victory from action on June 26 to qualify for the state tournament.
On June 25, the 8-Under All-Stars smashed San Pedro 14-0 but then fell to La Mirada 11-5 and Downey 8-7 the next day. The team finishes the summer at 14-5-2. The 8-Under All-Stars are: Jordan Bennett, Kayla Edwards, Malena Ray Garcia, Taylor Genera, Jazmine Hill, Kylie Matthews, Dalia Morones, Kassidy Ourique, Cassie Perryman, Miranda Ponce, Diamond Sandoval, Kara Spoolstra and Leah Suarez. The manager is Lori Williams and her coaches are Cedric Hill, Adele Perryman and Adrian Ponce.
The 10-Under All-Stars edged Paramount 2-1 before falling to Torrance 8-0 and to Downey’s gold team 5-4. Against Paramount, pitcher Ashley Iseri led off the top of the fourth inning with a single and later scored on a bloop single to center from right fielder Madison Huskey. Following a wild pitch and a stolen base, Huskey would score on the second wild pitch of the inning. Iseri went the distance scattering three hits and striking out seven.
The Cerritos Intensity was held to three hits in its first loss, then facing elimination against Downey, the Intensity gave up the winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Cerritos had a 2-0 lead, then rallied to tie the game in the top of the fifth when center fielder Dejanae Page singled, stole second and scored on Iseri’s base hit. Page went two for two and scored three runs. Alyssa Medina, who also singled in the inning, scored the tying run on an error.
“We started off good in the first inning, then the wheels fell off the bus after that,” said manager Chris Borza of the Downey game. “With a good hitting team and a good team as Torrance is, once you get behind, it’s hard to come back. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
The 10-Under All-Stars were the only CGSA team to have advanced to the championship game in every tournament prior to the District Tournament and wraps up the summer at 15-8. The remaining members are: Celeste Borza, Evelynn Hernandez, Katelynn Hernandez, Destiny Lucero, Jennifer Morinishi, Kylee Perryman, Alyssa Rios and Kayla Vukovich. The coaches are Rene Hernandez, Carlos Lucero, Jon Morinishi, Lyn Perryman and Don Taguchi.
“We knew we had a good team when we [began all-stars],” Chris Borza said. “We knew we had good pitching, we had good fielding and we had good hitting. Each week the girls got better and better and played better teams.”
Finally, the 14-Under All-Stars, a.k.a. the Elite, blasted North Torrance 12-0 but ran into a buzz saw against Paramount in a 5-0 setback. A dozen Elite batters struck out 12 times, managed just three singles and did not have a runner reach third base.
“We just did the best we could,” said manager Jesse Carrasco. “All of the girls know [the Paramount pitcher] and I think…they got a little bit scared. But it’s [coach] George [Molina] and my job to put the positive spin on everything. I always tell these guys that we have to stay positive.”
Cerritos would get three hits again in a 9-0 loss to Downey. The team finishes the summer with a 7-8-2 record. The Elite all-stars are: Bobbie Amezcua, Stephanie Carrasco, Emily Dollete, Lauren Dollete, Rachel Fitterer, Mikayla Galindo, Elayna Henriquez, Courtney Hess, Kanesha Holiman, Alyssa Medina, Charlene Pedroza and Melissa Rios.
“It’s very frustrating,” Jesse Carrasco said. “We just don’t know who is going to show up sometimes. We rode [pitcher] Alyssa [Medina] as far as we could. She did all of our pitching for us and I think she just ran out of gas. She sets the pace.”
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