Team Archive

Tournament Talk

October 23, 2006

The Renegades Gold team went 5-0 in the Batbusters October Showcase in Huntington Beach the weekend of Oct 21-22. It was a good start for the team in their first weekend of actual play in the fall season. Four of the five teams they beat attended Gold Nationals in Oklahoma City this past August and the 5th one was at 16U Nationals, so the competition was good.

Game 1: Renegades 5 NJ Inferno Gold 4. Shae Bass allowed only 3 hits but an error and a couple walks allowed 2 unearned runs for Inferno. For the Renegades, Ashley Estepa was 2 for 3 with a double, while 6 other players added a hit including a triple for Maile Guerrero.

Game 2: Renegades 2 Strike Zone (Ford) 1. Shae threw with much more command in this game with a 1-hit gem. The lone Strike Zone run scored on a botched pick-off play allowing a runner to score from second. Lauren Morizi and Rosie Gonzales accounted for the only 2 Renegades hits, but several other hard hit balls created errors allowing for an unearned run. The first run was scored on a perfectly executed 1st and 3rd steal by Amanda Omahen and Lauren Morizi, who had walked and reached 3rd on a wild pitch and a ground out.

Game 3: Renegades 5 WA Sidewinders 2. Christy Cavano and Kylee Krings combined efforts on the mound for a 6-hit victory. Cavano also tagged a 2-run double to right center as the Renegades bats started to come alive in this game with several hard shots. Estepa, Morizi, Danielle Balough and Nicole Wolfe also added line drive hits offensively.

Game 4: Renegades 4 CA Grapettes 1: Brittany Balough and Christy Cavano combined for a 2-hit victory over a very good hitting Grapettes team. The Renegades bats stayed hot putting together an 11-hit attack led by Lauren Morizi’s 2 for 3 effort with a double. Ashley Estepa led the game off with a triple over the right fielder’s head and Alyssa Schott and Danielle Balough both hit shots off the left center fence that were only inches from going out. Chelsea Bemis, Cavano, Guerrero, Omahen and Wolfe also added base hits.

Game 5: Renegades 5 SC Jets 3:Britty Balough left one pitch in the wrong place and gave up a 3-run HR in the 4th inning of this one, but pitched a great game around the one mistake pitch, holding a very powerful and quick Jets offense to just 4 hits. She made up for it in the 5th with a HR of her own, a towering solo shot to center field for her first Gold HR!! Chelsea Bemis added a triple while Morizi, Schott, Cavano, Wolfe, Gonzales, and Omahen all added singles, Omahen’s being a clutch 2-RBI shot through the middle in the 3-run third inning. The San Diego Renegades Gold team qualified for the 2006 ASA Gold Nationals in their first qualifier of the summer. After successful outings in the USA Athletics Summer Kickoff Tournament (5-1) and the Las Vegas JO Showcase Tournament (4-1), the Renegades traveled to beautiful Lancaster, CA for the Region 14 Gold Qualifier.

The Renegades started play Friday night with a 6-1 win over a good Cal Thunder team, then notched their second win on Saturday with an 8-1 victory over Minors Gold. The critical game and big match-up came at 7 a.m. Sunday morning when the Renegades met with Marty’s Corona Angels for a rematch from last year’s Region 14 Qualifier 1-0 loss to the Angels. With back to back triples in the top of the second, the Renegades jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but gave the run back in the bottom of the frame. Things didn’t look good after a rocky bottom of the 4th when the Angels scored 3 runs to take a commanding 4-1 lead. But the Renegades girls showed their strength and character by jumping all over 2 Angels’ pitchers in the top of the 5th, scoring 5 times to take a 6-4 lead. The Angels came back in the bottom of the 5th with a lead-off single followed by a double to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs, but Mel Owens got a huge strikeout for the first out, a one hopper right back to her for the second out and on a full count pitch, froze the Angels’ big left-hand hitter for a called 3rd strike and the final out to kill the rally. The Renegades added 2 more in the top of the sixth to secure an 8-4 victory over the Angels. In the 4th and final game, it took a few innings to get the scoring going, but the bats were still hot from the first inning and the San Diego Renegades cruised to an 8-1 victory over the SoCal Breakers to earn their berth to the 2006 Gold Nationals, going through the bracket “the easy way” in four straight games. Congratulations to all the players for a job well done!!

Our San Diego Renegades Gold team recently undertook a very worthwhile project. Tina Ziegler got the ball rolling by asking all the players and their families to purchase items to put in "care" packages for the Marines in Phil Bemis' (Chelsea's dad) unit in Iraq. Phil is a Gunnery Sergeant on his third tour in Iraq in 3 years. The guys there don't always have the benefit of the comforts of home and appreciate many things we take for granted, things like gum and candy, magazines, clean dry socks and even baby wipes as they don't always get a chance to shower on a regular basis. The girls on the team also wrote short thank you letters to the guys, showing their appreciation for all these guys are doing in the not-so-glamorous line of duty.

Tina coordinated the efforts and with the help of some of the other moms, collected and packaged enough items to send plenty of goodies to not only Phil and his buddies, but were also able to put together a nice package for Air Force Staff Sergeant Dorian Guerrero, brother of Maile Guerrero, who is also deployed to Iraq as part of a special task force of both military and civilian personnel. We have received word from both guys that the guys in their units greatly appreciated the packages and will be responding to the girls with letters of thanks. Below are some pictures sent to us by SSgt Dorian Guerrero of his unit in Iraq. I'm very proud of the efforts put forth by all the girls on this team and by Tina and the other moms who worked so hard to put it all together.

Tom Peronto, Manager
San Diego Renegades Gold

Updated 09/30/07