East County Sports

Vaqueros capture Hilltop division championship

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

East County Sports staff report

CHULA VISTA (3-24-2019) — Allyson VonYokes lifted a sacrifice fly to score Hannah Davis with the walk-off, game-winning run, as El Capitan High captured its flight of the Hilltop Tournament by upending Scripps Ranch, 6-5, on Saturday (Mar. 23).

The championship in the Bronze Division capped the best day by Vaqueros softball since the days of All-America pitcher Delanie Gourley, claiming victories in all three ballgames.

Earlier in the day, El Capitan (6-4) downed Olympian, 7-2, then upset the tournament host Lancers, 5-4, to advance to the title contest against the Falcons, then rallying from a 3-0 deficit.

Alexa Williams batted 1-for-2 with a homer two walks, then pitched the final 1.2 innings to garner the win in relief.  After Davis singled, Williams took a one-0out walk, a passed ball advance both runners,, then VonYokes went to center field for the game-winning RBI.

Williams’ homed led off the 6th, but Scripps Ranch tied it on a two-out error in the 7th before El Cap won it.

Katie Collier and Brandy Taylor each recorded two hits to account for half of El Cap’s 8 hits.

EL CAPITAN 7, OLYMPIAN 2: In the quarterfinals, Vaqueros pitcher Kylie Mead carried a 1-hit shutout into the 7th as El Capitan mounted an early 7-0 advantage.

No. 9 hitter Kylie Mead busted loose for an RBI triple, later scoring on a Madison Rosalis basehit for a 2-0 in the 3rd.

An inning later, Olivia Martinez had a 2-run double to highlight her 2-for-3 outing. Collier and Williams also posted two hits each.

EL CAPITAN 5, HILLTOP 4: In the semifinals, Hailey Mulligan capped a 3-for-4 outing by blasting a leadoff home run in the 7th inning, as the Vaqueros posted singled runs over the final three frames to shock the Lancers.

Mulligan went deep with a line drive to center field on the first pitch of the inning.

Katy Hicks (2-for-3) lined an RBI single in the 5th, then Williams lifted a sacrifice fly to tie it in the 6th.

Leadoff batter Madison Rosalis batted 3-for-4 with a walk, scoring twice.

MISSION HILLS 5, STEELE CANYN 3 (8 inn.): At Chula Vista, Grizzlies sophomore Allyson Amato slugged a walk-off, 2-run homer in the 8th inning, taking  Saturday (Mar. 23) pool-play contest at the Hilltop Tournament. No International Tiebreaker was in effect, as cleanup hitter Leanna Garcia was avoided with a one-out walk, but Amato answered with her shot to deep right field.

The strategic move to walk Garcia, a freshman, made sense. With Mission Hills trailing 3-0, she provided her own home run — a 3-run blast — to overcame a 3-0 deficit in the 6th.

The Cougars compiled the lead when Tayler Thomas singled home Amanda Whipple (one-out single) in the 4th. An inning later, Audrey Bagge belted a 2-run homer to also score Marley Rimoldi (lead walk) Her one-out drive went to right field.

For Bagge, four of her six hits this season have gone deep, while she has walked 11 times. Meanwhile, Bianca Morales walked three times.
For Steele Canyon (5-5), Whipple and Thomas each collected two hits. Mission Hills moved to 5-5-1.

HILLTOP 4, WEST HILLS 3 (9 inn.): At Chula Vista, mistakes by the Wolf Pack in the 9th allowed the tournament-host Lancers to escape with an ITB victory.

The Pack took a 3-2 lead despite two solid defensive plays by Hilltop.
With placed baserunner Sabrina Brown circles the diamond on a base hit by Star Gaylord and a passed ball. However, Brown was out at the plate on an ensuing fielder’s choice when the third baseman fired home for the out.

However, an error allowed Gaylord to score.

West Hills then accepted two walks to load the bases, but the Lancers turned an inning-ending double play.

In the home-half of the inning, an error moved the placed runner to third base, while a wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position.

Hilltop then won it on a ground ball out, then a sacrifice fly by Alexa Zumstien.

Hilltop (9-2-1) held a 2-0 lead after one inning, but West Hills (4-4) registered single runs in the 5th and 7th to force extra innings.

The shutout bid ended when Gaylord stroked a leadoff triple, scoring on a ground out to the right side by Youngdale .

In the 7th, Calllia Rooks singled, Sabrina Brown reached on an error, then Gaylord, a cleanup hitter, ground the ball to third base, but Rooks beat the throw to the plate.

CENTRAL 15, VALHALLA 5, CENTRAL 8, SANTANA 3: At the Spring Classic, it was a big day for the surging Spartans (8-2) after owning a pair of East County squads. A brief search of the archives shows this is just the second ECC has produced such a sweep this century.

Versus Valhalla, the Norsemen jumped to a 3-0 lead in the 1st but allowed 11 runs to the Spartans in the 5th. Valhalla later defeated San Diego, 5-3, thanks to a pair of home runs by Maryn Jordan (3-for-3, 4 RBI, 2 runs.

Against Santana, the Spartans tallied five runs in the 1st to win early, too, despite a homer from the Joey Barkhimer of Santana (4-2).

HELIX 6, SACRED HEART (Flintridge) 3 – Sophia Ramuno went six innings, striking out nine to earn the win, and hit a home run in the first inning for the Highlanders at a tournament event in La Jolla.

Erin Brown drove in a run in the first inning with a single for Helix.

Alyssa Cruz went 3-for-4 for Helix.

IMPERIAL 4, HELIX 1 – Nicole Hernandez homered but the Highlanders lost at the tournament.

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