The championship game of the Michelle Carew Classic took place on Saturday night in Anaheim Hills, Calif. and an energetic Los Alamitos (Calif.) team put up a strong fight, but in the end the No. 3 ranked team in the country, Amador Valley of Pleasanton, Calif. was able to pull out a late-game 2-1 championship win.

The compelling storyline going into the final was the match-up of a dominating senior pitcher who’s a National Player of the Year candidate versus a fast-rising freshman who pitched 10 innings Friday night to carry her team to the semis where she then tossed a one-hitter.

The veteran was Johanna Grauer of Amador Valley (Pleasanton, Calif.) who had allowed only three hits total in four Classic wins leading to the finals.

However, Saturday night she wasn’t her usual dominating self as she allowed three hits plus five walks—including three in the top of the fourth—which, thanks to a double play to end the inning, kept the Los Alamitos lead at the time to one run.  She did have eight strikeouts with six of those coming in the first three innings.

Grauer gave up her first run of the year although it came on a two-out error in the third inning after Mary Iakopo led off the inning with a double for the Griffins.

That lead looked like it might hold up as freshman Ryan Denhart kept the Dons hitters off-balance and unable to string together a consistent scoring threat.  Denhart had only given up two hits, but the bottom of the sixth inning proved to be the difference.

Lead-off hitter Nichol Yozzo started the inning with a single and then went to second on an error which put Sammy Salustri on first.  A sacrifice moved the runners up a base and an intentional walk loaded the bases.

Stanford signee Victoria Molina came up and with one out and a 2-and-1 count lined a double to right center that plated two runs.

“She had been pitching me outside,” Molina said of her game-winning hit, “so I changed my stance and was looking for that and I got it.  I thought it was a home run when I hit it.”

The Dons fans were a little nervous when Grauer gave up a single to start the top of the seventh and Los Al put the game-tying run in scoring position thanks to a sacrifice, but the UCLA signee was able to induce two groundouts to close out the game.

Molina was voted the Tournament MVP and Grauer the Pitcher of the Tournament.

The win meant Amador Valley was the first NorCal team to ever win the Michelle Carew Classic and with today’s loss by St. Thomas Aquinas of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. in the Kissimmee Klassic will likely mean the Dons will move up into the second spot trailing only another California team, Mission Viejo, in the FAB 50 rankings.

 

Semi-Final Games

To get to the final game, Grauer had to be nearly flawless as she faced Esperanza and one of the top pitchers in the nation, Hayley Copeland. The South Carolina commit also allowed only hit, but her nine walks led to the deciding run. Grauer, on the other hand, allowed only one hit and three walks while striking eight in the 2-0 victory.

On the other side of the field, Denhart showed her great promise as she came up big in the Friday night win over a strong Yorba Linda team and then allowed only one mistake, a two-run homer, in Los Al’s 8-2 semi win over Martinez.

 

SATURDAY’S  COMPLETE RESULTS

CHAMPIONSHIP

Amador Valley of Pleasanton 2, Los Alamitos 1

SEMIFINALS

Los Alamitos 8, Alhambra of Martinez 2

Amador Valley of Pleasanton 2, Esperanza 0

THIRD PLACE

Alhambra of Martinez 16, Esperanza 6

FIFTH PLACE

Pacifica 12, Vista Murrieta 5

SEVENTH PLACE

Great Oak of Temecula 3, Yorba Linda 2

NINTH PLACE

Norco 8, Canyon 0

CONSOLATION SEMIFINAL

Agoura 5, Riverside Poly 3

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

Chino Hills 12, Agoura 3

CONSOLATION GAMES

Righetti of Santa Maria 7, Trabuco Hills 0

Oxnard 9, Piedra Vista of Farmington, N.M., 7 (8 innings)

Chaparral of Temecula 4, El Toro 0

Foothill 12, Trabuco Hills 6

Orange Lutheran 5, Saugus 4

Simi Valley 6, Valencia of Valencia 5

Santa Monica 9, Oxnard 8

Cienega of Vail, Ariz., 9, Righetti of Santa Maria 8

Murrieta Valley 9, El Toro 1

Riverside Poly 8, Aliso Niguel 0