PREMIER GIRLS FASTPITCH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUALIFIER – Area softball athletes prepare for the end of the top summer tournament with finals qualification

June 19, 2024

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

IRVINE—For those without a spot in the Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championships at the end of July, last weekend’s Southern California Qualifier gave teams a final chance at an automatic berth. While it is possible that teams will still be invited, several area softball players, either recent high school graduates or soon-to-be juniors and seniors, were hoping to get the invite on their respective travel teams.

Eleven players from three 18-Under teams were at Harvard Park, trying to help their organizations etch their names as participants in the Premier Division or Platinum Division next month. Here’s a look at how these players did last weekend and how they’ve done since high school ended.

The (Lakewood) Southern California Athletics-Rivera/Blank has four recent Artesia High graduates, another entering her senior year in August who went 1-2 this weekend. The team lost 2-0 to (Santa Clarita) I-5 Snyder last Friday, with both runs coming in the top of the sixth inning. Last Saturday afternoon, So Cal Athletics-Rivera/Blanck defeated (Clovis) Top Dog-Nomura/Santana Gold 7-6 with the winning run coming in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs.

Midfielder Alea Medina, the only Artesia player returning, went one for two, scored twice and walked three times. Catcher Vanessa Soto (Orange Coast Community College) and third baseman Maya Torres (Whittier College) each went one for three, with Soto driving in a pair of runs and scoring once. Later in the evening, the So Cal Athletics were shut out 3-2 by the (Oxnard) Southern California Athletics-Tamai, with both runs coming in the bottom of the sixth and seventh inning. Medina and Torres each went one for three, with Medina scoring in the seventh with two outs.

In eleven games this summer, Torres is hitting .444 with eight hits, five RBI, scoring four times and walking nine times, which leads the team. Medina is hitting .381 with eight hits, ten runs scored and has walked eight times. The two other Artesia graduates on the team are outfielder Irma Gonzalez (Cerritos College) and Melissa Mendoza (Arizona Western College).

A pair of Whitney High sisters, Audrey and Nuella Anyama, are part of the (Whittier) USA Athletics-Garcia 18-Under team, which won a pair of matches in the losers bracket before falling 5-0 to the (Fresno ) Firecrackers-Wallace fell Saturday night. The USA Athletics opened the qualifying match last Friday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over the (Burbank) Firecrackers Hollywood-Workman, before being eliminated 5-0 later in the evening by the (Los Angeles) Athletics Mercado-Gurrola. Audrey Anyama doubled off the bench in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The next day, USA Athletics saw the (San Gabriel) Titans eliminate Fastpitch-Aspeitia ACC 4-1 and the (Vacaville) Bulldog Softball Club 7-2 before being bounced from the tournament. In 11 summer tournament games, Audrey Anyama is hitting .250 with six hits, a double, a triple and two runs batted in, while Nuella Anyama is hitting .231 in nine games with one home run, two runs scored and one RBI.

The USA Athletics will participate in the USA Softball Champions Cup in Irvine next month and the Triple Crown Sports World Series in San Diego immediately following the Champions Cup.

Diana Bravo (John Glenn High/Park University), Sienna Contreras (John Glenn/Park University), Arianna Franco (Artesia/Pacific Lutheran University) and Amber Valdez (La Mirada High/Ottawa University) play for the (Downey) Ohana Tigers- Colenzo lost both matches played. Last Friday afternoon the Ohana Tigers were defeated 3-1 by the (Pasadena) California Thunder-LeVier/Milton and the next day they were eliminated by the Titans Fastpitch ACC-Aspeitia 6-1. In the first game, Franco and Valdez each went one for three, with the latter driving in the only run. In the second game, Valdez went one for two and Franco scored the only run.

In the 16-U age group, with all games played at Great Park in Irvine, Gahr High right fielder Malaia Huskey and Valley Christian High catcher Brianna Ramirez are part of the (Fountain Valley) Explosion-Kim/Adame team that won all five matches played. to secure a place in the PGF National Championships. Last Friday, the Explosion posted an identical 8-0 score against the (West Sacramento) All American-Mizuno Gold-Jackson/Mayfield and the (Vista) Breakers Lab-Blaney.

In the first game, Huskey drove in a run as the Explosion scored three runs in the bottom of the first and five more in the fourth. In the second game, the Explosion put the game on ice with a six-run bottom of the fourth.

Last Saturday afternoon, the Explosion recorded its third shutout in a row with a 3-0 victory over the (Placentia) West Coast Lady Dukes-Blanco. Huskey hit one at a time and reached on an error in the top of the sixth. Ramirez had previously been used as a pinch runner and both would score the second and third runs. Later in the evening, the Explosion defeated the (Moorpark) Southern California Choppers-Ashley 7-4 when the team rallied from a 4-0 deficit after two innings and scored six runs in the top of the fourth inning. Huskey reached on an error in the fourth, making it 4-2 and scoring one batter later. She would also have one hit in three at-bats.

In last Sunday’s final match, the Explosion crushed (Downey) Athletics Mercado-Slater 11-0. All runs were scored in the first four innings, four of which came in the top of the second inning and five more in the fourth. Huskey went three for three, scored three times and drove in another run. Since the beginning of June, The Explosion has won nine of fifteen matches, with one draw.

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