Belmont Blast is Tops in NorCal

The spotlight may have been on the boys Little League team these past few weeks, but Belmont's girls' softball team, the Blast (U14) has also achieved success on the diamond.

The Blast recently returned from the Western Nationals Tournament in Stockton, where they placed ninth out of 30 teams. 

According to the coach, the team did better than last year, they were 13th. In one game they were down 8-0 and came back to tie the game, and eventually lost 15-14 in extra innings. 


Their placement in the tournament makes the Blast the highest ranked team in all of Northern California.

Player roster:
Sarah Adams - center field
Alison Chavez - left field
Maddie Frick - first base
Sophie Frick - shortstop
Teresa Gomez - catcher
Ahna Kay - right field 
Jesse Larkin - pitcher
Danielle Larsen - pitcher
Kathy Li - second base/catcher
Gianna McCrystal - pitcher/left field
Emily Shipley - third base
Kate Wang - second base

Coaches:
Mike Shipley - head coach
Bal Kay - assistant coach
Erick McCrystal - assistant coach
Carrie Larkin - team manager
Lisa Chavez - scorekeeper

Thank you to team mom, Sandra Adams for the rundown of the team's Western Nationals games:

- Game 1: 3-1 loss. Jesse pitched an amazing first game against the very tough PQ Lightning from So Cal. She gave up on one run in seven innings.  We lost on 2 unearned runs in international tie breaker inning. 
- Game 2: 15-0 mercy rule win against the SunRise Sun Devils from Sacramento area. Danielle pitched the shut out, starting by breezing through the first inning on three pitches - a pop out and two ground outs.
- Game 3: 15-14 loss to Pleasanton in extra innings. Came back from 8-0 deficit, but lost in the second extra inning. 
- Game 4: 5-0 win against Elk Grove (another Sacramento area team). Gianna pitched the 3-hit shut out
- Game 5: 10-2 mercy rule win against Santa Rosa Hackers.  Jesse pitched another great game, shutting down Santa Rosa's powerful offense. 
- Game 6: Our final loss was 6-4 against Long Beach Heartwell, a very tough loss in that Jesse gave up only 2 earned runs.  

For the season, Gianna McCrystal led the team in batting with a .537 average. Sarah led the team in slugging at .727 (8 doubles, 7 triples and 4 home runs), with 51 RBIs.  Pitchers Jesse and Gianna combined to win 29 games with an ERA below 3.0. Ahna Kay led the defense with 97% fielding (only 1 error all season). Sophie, a converted catcher playing shortstop for the first time, led the team in putouts with 112.