Waves secure softball gold at Games

In pool play, the Waves tied with Five Cities Softball, 6-6, and lost to the Los Angeles Regional champions, El Segundo, 14-0, sending the Half Moon Bay team to the Silver Division. From there it won its next three games to earn a first place finish in the championship bracket play.

Starting pitcher Haeden Johnson held Goleta scoreless in the quarterfinal game to secure a 4-0 victory, and struck out 17 batters. She was also a force from the plate going 2-for-3. Camdyn Blake and Sophia Ortega contributed RBIs that scored Addison Mendes, Leena Loeffler-Little and Makaela Gunning. 

The win sent the team to the semifinals versus the San Ramon Valley Stompers, who the Waves previously faced in the Northern California Championships. The Stompers won that game, 4-2.

This time around the Waves got some sweet revenge stomping the Stompers, winning 13-5. The Waves’ bats did all the talking. On the first pitch, leadoff hitter Mendes smashed the ball into center field to set the tone for the game. Loeffler-Little hit the first RBI of the game, and the Waves led 3-2 after the third inning, when Kayla Cresci’s two-RBI sacrifice opened up a six-run rally in the fourth inning. The team scored four more runs in the fifth. Johnson pitched 13 strikeouts in the game and went 4-for-4 at the plate. 

The Waves played the Santa Maria Outlaws in the Silver Championship game earning a 7-6 victory and the California State Championship title. In the fourth inning, Ivy Campos hit a double to get things going after a slow start for the team. Blake went up to bat afterward and was hit by a pitch, setting Natalie Marquez-Gonzales up for a two-run RBI single on a ground ball to the outfield.

The team went on to trade runs with the Outlaws before Ortega and Johnson got the tying and go-ahead runs in the final inning. Pitching the final inning, Johnson held the tying runner on third and got three straight outs to secure the victory. 

Overall, the Waves finished the season 18-8-1.