Bruisers, Zebras claim holiday division titles

The Red White and Bruisers, a 12-and-Under team from South Huntington Beach Girls Fastpitch Softball, came up big in extra innings Sunday to win their division at the Long Beach Turkey Tournament.

The squad used an eight-run outburst in extra innings to rally past the previously undefeated Cypress Chaos, 13-5, in the tournament final and put a cap on a successful winter ball season.

The Bruisers won five of their six tournament games played last weekend, including all on Sunday.

With the championship game deadlocked at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cypress came up with a lead-off triple, but Kelsey Bartlett, who went on to be named MVP of the tournament, sent down the next three batters to send the game into extra innings.

The Bruisers then exploded for eight runs on nine hits in the top of the eighth to take command. Melanie Coyne, Dana Kerins and Kendra Hennegen had two hits each, and Bartlett, Sarah Wood, Jillian Martinez, Logan Vournas and Kalie Bartimore-Smith had multiple RBI for the Bruisers.

The Red White and Bruisers are coached by Greg Vournas, Mike Coyne and Dan Kerins.

Cypress 3, Bruisers 1

Sarah Wood had two singles, and Jillian Martinez and Dana Kerins also singled, but the Bruisers fell to the Chaos in the opening round of pool play.

Bruisers 14, Long Beach 4

Kelsey Bartlett, Jillian Martinez, Sarah Wood and Dana Kerins each had multiple hits as the Bruisers romped past the Mean Machine.

Bruisers 6, Cypress 0

Kelsey Bartlett notched a four-hit shutout and Jillian Mar- tinez, Sarah Wood, Lindsay Stovall and Natalie Bramlett provided key hits as the Bruisers shut down the Cypress Atomic Rage.

Bruisers 6, Cypress 4

Melanie Coyne collected two RBI and Jillian Martinez scored twice to help ease the Bruisers past Hello Good Bye, another team representing Cypress in the tournament.

Bruisers 10, Buena Park 3

Jillian Martinez and Sarah Wood each pounded out three hits and scored three runs, and Lindsay Stovall also knocked in three runs to lift the Bruisers past the Fire in semifinal round action. Kelsey Bartlett, Logan Vournas, Dana Kerins, Kendra Hennegen also had hits for the Bruisers. Phoebe Puerner made key contributions on defense for the Bruisers.

In other softball action:

The Zebras, a 14-and-Under team from South Huntington Beach Girls Fastpitch Softball, won their division title at the Long Beach Turkey Tournament by defeating the Los Alamitos Incognito, 5-3, in the final.

In the final over Los Al, Victoria Galasso, Megan Romero and Yiselle Breceda collected RBI for the Zebras. In five games, the Zebras defense, led by pitchers Romero and Shannon Nye, allowed only 10 runs.

The team, coached by Mike Romero, Lou Bronsard and Mike Coyne, concluded winter ball play with a 15-5 record.

Zebras 5, Cypress 5

Amber Bronsard, Kelsey Granger and Katherine Her- mann had key hits and Courtney Dial had multiple RBI as the Zebras battled Cypress to a tie.

Zebras 3, Los Alamitos 1

Victoria Galasso and Avery Ingram connected on home runs as the Zebras beat the Los Alamitos Show Stoppers.

Zebras 6, No Doubt 1

Zebras 8, Long Beach 0

In elimination play, the Zebras sent home fellow South Huntington Beach team, No Doubt, and blanked the Long Beach Batatudes, 8-0. In the two wins, Stephanie Coyne went four for six and Victoria Galasso, Katherine Hermann, Courtney Dial and Rachel Vitale drove in runs.