Chili Peppers red hot, win title

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, a girls’ softball team from Huntington Beach Girls Softball Assn., survived a grueling schedule of games in a short period of time Sunday to win the annual Garden Grove Amateur Softball Assn. Fast-Pitch Softball Tournament’s 8-and-Under Division championship.

Eleven top teams from Orange County area participated in the event and included teams from softball chapters in North Huntington Beach, South Huntington Beach, Cypress, Garden Grove and West Garden Grove.

The tournament featured three pools with two games played in each pool. The top four teams from the three pools advanced to the semifinals and final.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers played four games in a span of nine hours, winning all four.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, under the direction of head coach by Ken Inouye and assistant coaches Matt Petermann and Peter Pitsker, are Tessa Pitsker, Allyssa Slater, Tracy Lee, Adeleine Petermann, Alexis Altshuler, Alyssa Horeczko, Callie Saccacio, Gia Razo, Kristina Inouye, Hannah Leou, Hannah Marshall and Jenny Hudson.

Red Hot Chili Peppers 1,

America’s Most Wanted 0

The Chili Peppers went undefeated in pool play and advanced to the semifinals, where they played America’s Most Wanted, an undefeated team from West Garden Grove. The Chili Peppers won, 1-0, to move on to the finals.

Red Hot Chili Peppers 8,

Purple Tigers 7

In the finals, the Chili Peppers met the Purple Tigers, the top team from South Huntington Beach Girls Softball. In an exciting game that saw both teams rally from big deficits, the Chili Peppers came back and then held on for a one-run victory to earn them the division title.

The Chili Peppers took a 2-0 after one inning but the Purple Tigers roared back for six runs in the second inning to take a 6-2 lead into the third.

The Chili Peppers responded by getting back two runs in the fourth to pull to within 6-4, and still trailed by that score entering the sixth inning.

It was there that a two-run home run by the Chili Peppers All-Star pitcher, Kristina Inouye, tied the game. For an encore, teammate Alyssa Slater, in her first season playing softball, followed with a solo home run to give the Chili Peppers a 7-6 lead.

A single by Gia Razo later in the inning brought in the fourth run of the inning for an 8-6 cushion.

The Purple Tigers weren’t through, though, putting runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth.

Chili Peppers shortstop Hannah Leou came up with a key stop as she smothered a hard-hit line drive and threw to first baseman Adeleine Petermann for the first out. A run scored on the play, allowing the Purple Tigers to narrow the gap to 8-7. Tracy Lee, the Chili Peppers catcher who caught 23 of the 24 innings played that day, caught a pop foul for the second out. With the tying run stationed at third base, Inouye struck out the final batter on four pitches to put an end to a wild final.

Other Chili Peppers making crucial contributions to the title run were Alyssa Horeczko, Alexis Altshuler, Tessa Pitsker and Callie Saccacio.

Purple Tigers tourney ride

The Purple Tigers of South Huntington Beach began the tournament with a 2-1 win over Americans Most Wanted of West Garden Grove. Kiana Pancino went the distance for the win.

In their second pool game, the Purple Tigers rolled past the Silver Strikers of Garden Grove, 7-2. Pancino threw three innings and recorded another win. In the semifinal round, they upended the Funky Monkeys of Garden Grove, 4-1.

Pancino pitched four innings and notched her third win.