The Surf City Summer Showcase took place last weekend in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, Calif. and featured many of the elite programs at the 14, 16 and 18U levels.
The 18U Premier action saw teams paired off in two brackets, A and B, and because of time constraints Sunday evening there wasn’t a “championship” game matching the bracket winners.
In fact, there wasn’t a true winner in each bracket as the So Cal Athletics and the Sorcerer Gold-Phil teams ended up tied 0-0 after seven innings in Bracket A and by agreement decided to call it.
“We were shorthanded as it is,” said Bruce Richardson, Head Coach of the A’s. “We see this event as good for prepping us for the (PGF National) Championship in a few weeks and it gave us a chance to get more players some game time.”
“All our kids are committed so it’s not for the exposure,” he continued. “This time of the year you want to fine-tune and it’s important to face live pitching. You miss a week from going against live pitching and it will take some time to come back up again.”
Bracket B saw the OC Batbusters win by default as All-American Sports Academy had to leave early.
Several other teams were in the same boat including Explosion, which finished fifth in Colorado, and The Next Level from San Diego, another top team in the Surf City Showcase.
Here’s a look at what ended up being the last game of the tourney, the tie between the So Cal A’s and the Sorcerer Gold:
So Cal Athletics 0, Sorcerer Gold 0
(game ended after 7 innings, by agreement… stats provided by Robert Pearson)
The two stars of the game—obviously when it’s a scoreless tie—were the pitchers.
Lindsey Chalmers (2014, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) had eight K’s and no walks for the Sorcerer Gold in her seven innings of work and only allowed two singles.
The Sorcerer team did get on base, hitting seven singles and a double, but left nine runners on including four in scoring position.
Infielder Gabrielle Maurice (2013, UCLA) had two singles as did catcher/outfielder Victoria Molina (2014, uncommitted). Catcher/1B Bailery O’Mara (2013, Pacific) added a double.
The A’s were led by pitcher Haley Copeland (2014, South Carolina) who had six strikeouts and no walks.
The Athletics’ No. 1 pitcher is Delanie Gourley (2013, Florida) and she had pitched a seven inning shutout in the game before, a 1-0 win over the San Jose Sting, despite loading the bases in the fifth with no outs.
According to Coach Richardson, Gourley and Copeland will be key for the A’s as will a third pitcher, Selina Taamilo (2014, UCLA).
“When we get to the PGF Championship we’ll use all three,” he confirmed.
The A’s offense was fairly quiet with only two singles although they did get a runner to third in the 3rd inning but were unable to score.
Note: the Athletics will be hosting their own friendlies this weekend as they continue their march to a third consecutive PGF National Championship.