Patriots party with another Falcon Fiesta championship

By ECS Staff
Updated: April 3, 2016

The Patrick Henry Patriots win the Falcon Fiesta championship for the second-straight year.

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul
© East County Sports.com
LA JOLLA (4-3-16) —It is always hard to beat a team twice in a season as Patrick Henry had done against West Hills but to beat a team three times in a season is quite the accomplishment. The Patriots accomplished the feat as they beat the Wolf Pack 3-2 in the Falcon Fiesta Tournament Semi-Finals, Saturday (Apr. 2nd).

The Wolf Pack scored the first blow in the top of the second inning when leading off for West Hills, RYLEIGH DOBYNS (2-4, R, RBI) rifled a single, MIKAYLA CRISTINII (Run) came in as a courtesy runner, ALYSSA BUBAR grounded out for the first out of the inning, Pisia was able to get on via being hit by a pitch, so with runners at first and second and only one down the Pack were in business. SYDNEY CRAVEN came up and unfortunately struck out for the second out of the inning. Things went back in the Patriots favor but it fell apart quick as BROOKE ROBERTS walked to load the bases, SIERRA SCHLICTING (2-3, RBI) worked the count against Henry pitcher MADISON JAMES before she drew the walk to score Cristinii for the RBI to take the 1-0 lead.

The Patriots now trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second were able to even the game as ANDREA WRIGHT drew a walk, SAVANNAH CHAPMAN advanced Wright to second on a sacrifice bunt, a couple of batters later CASSIE VAN TIL reached on an error by MOANA PISIA, Wright would advance to third and come in to score on the sacrifice fly by HANNA MCEWEN (2-3, RBI, R) to tie the score 1-1.

With the score tied, Dobyns was able to hold the Patriots in the bottom of the third inning as she set them down in order. With both teams even everyone knew in attendance knew runs between these two teams would be hard to come by and so when the Wolf Pack in the top of the third gained the momentum with a run to give them the 2-1 lead it was a huge swing in momentum. The momentum shift came when Dobyns on a 1-1 count blasted a solo homer over the fence which brought the cheers of the Wolf Pack faithful.

The Wolf Pack would hold the Patriots as Dobyns would cruise the next couple of innings into the sixth inning. This is when the momentum shifted in favor of the Patriots. Leadoff hitter DANI ROMERO (1-2, R) singled, she advanced to second on the sacrifice by JOSIE GONZALEZ. Next up came Wright with one out, she worked the count to 2-1 before she ripped a base hit to score Romero to tie the game at 2-2. It would be all the Patriots would garner in the inning but it was big because now it was back to square one for both teams.

Patrick Henry behind James was able to hold the Wolf Pack in the top of the sixth despite a runner getting to second before the threat was squashed. So heading into the final inning of the showdown, the race to see who would blink first would reach its climax.

Down to their final three outs, West Hills looked to do something and either win it or force the game into extra innings. They wouldn’t go down quietly as leadoff hitter Schlicting singled off James, next up was KENDALL MARINESI who was hitless on the day prior, she worked the count to 2-2 before she singled. With runners at first and second and no outs West Hills was definitely in business. However James had other ideas as she was able to strike out ALEX GUAY looking for the first out of the inning. So with one out and runners on PAIGE BOWLER (2-4) was able to lace a single which loaded the bases. Everyone in the stands for the Pack could feel the momentum shifting as they went crazy cheering. However this is when one of the craziest and more dramatic plays occurred. Dobyns stepped to the plate for West Hills with the bases loaded and only one out, she hit a ball to centerfield where McEwen for Henry caught the ball for the second out, Schlicting proceeded to tag up and takes off for the plate, McEwen after catching the fly ball rifles the ball home and on what some would call craziness the throw is perfect and the ball is caught by Caccamise, she applies the tag and Schlicting is called out to end the inning.

Patrick Henry would get their turn to do something and with the top of the lineup it was the best opportunity to score. Leading off for the Patriots, McEwen who was 1-3 on the day prior to the at bat in the seventh, fell behind in the count 0-2, however that didn’t matter as she laced the Dobyns offering for a single, she than showed why she is always dangerous on the bases as she proceeded to steal second base. So with McEwen on second up came ANYA VANDERSIP (1-3) who was hitless prior, she worked the count to 1-1 before hitting the next pitch for a single, moving McEwen to third. She was able to get to second base. The Patriots were in business as they had the go ahead run at third base and a runner at second with one out. Next up was CRISTIONA CACCAMISE (1-4, RBI) who was also hitless prior. Facing only one out and the winning run at third what happened next was something that was not probably expected. With an 0-1 count, Caccamise instead of swinging laid down a suicide squeeze and McEwen charging towards home beat the throw to give the Patriots a 3-2 victory.

The pitching matchup between Dobyns and James was pretty even but the decision went in favor of James as she tossed the complete game victory giving up 2 runs of which both were earned on 7 hits, walked 4 and struck out 6. Dobyns for West Hills took the hard luck loss as she went the entire game as well giving up 3 runs of which 2 were earned on 6 hits, walked 3 and struck out 2.

Patrick Henry 11, Rancho Buena Vista 1 – The Patrick Henry Patriots with the crazy comeback win against the Wolf Pack in the semis moved on to the championship game against the Longhorns of RBV who had defeated Escondido 6-0 in their semi-final game. The Patriots looked to repeat as Falcon Fiesta champions as they had beaten Scripps Ranch 21-2 the previous year in 2015. This time around they made it look easy again as they pounded the Longhorns 11-1 to win the 18th Annual Falcon Fiesta Tournament, Saturday (Apr. 2nd) and repeat as champions.

Patrick Henry got things rolling in the bottom of the first as leadoff hitter HANNAH MCEWEN (2-5, RBI, 3 R) reached on an error which would allow her to advance to second base. She would steal third base and come into score on a passed ball to make it 1-0.

Two innings later in the bottom of the third, the Patriot offense would explode for six runs to extend their lead to 7-0. Leading off CASSIE VAN TIL (2-4, 2 R) singled, she advanced to second on the error that allowed McEwen to get on base, ANYA VANDERSIP (1-2, R) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, CRISTIONA CACCAMISE (3-5, 3 RBI, R) knocked in Van Til with a single, DANI ROMERO lined out for the second out of the inning, JOSIE GONZALEZ (RBI, R) also got on after she was hit by a pitch which allowed McEwen to score, and to top it off ANDREA WRIGHT (1-4, 4 RBI, HR) blasted a grandslam shot over the left field fence.

The Patriots pretty much steam rolled over the Longhorns on both sides as MADISON JAMES shut down RBV offensively and it wasn’t until the top of the sixth when they finally got on the board with a run to make it 7-1. Patrick Henry would go on to match the run by the Longhorns with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning when like a broken record, McEwen singled, stole second base, advance third on a sacrifice by Vandersip and score when Caccamise knocked her in to make it 8-1. They tacked on three more runs in the seventh to round out the scoring 11-1. Leading off was Wright who was able to get to second on an error, she would be replaced by CAMRYN DEMKO (Run) as a courtesy runner, MAGGIE ZIMMERLY (Run) drew a walk, Van Til singled scoring Demko, McEwen singled, a couple of batters later Caccamise drove in Van Til. Demko and Zimmerly also scored in the inning.

James in the seventh for the Patriots put down the Longhorn lineup in order 1-2-3 to end the game.

James on the day went the full 7 innings, giving up the 1 run which was earned on 6 hits, 0 walks while fanning 6 Longhorns on the day.

With her domination James was named pitching MVP and also Wright was named MVP on the offensive side as they both made the all-tournament team.