West dominant in the circle for 14U Platinum champion Firecrackers Brashear-Oakes

IRVINE – It should be an attention-grabber when a pitcher hurls a five-hitter in a championship game, especially when their coach says the outing was not indicative of their best stuff.

A couple of colleges have begun to take notice of Cassidy West, the right-hander who took the Firecrackers Brashear-Oakes to the promised land in the 14U Platinum bracket of the Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals.

West posted a 0.69 earned run average in PGF, polishing off her tournament with a complete-game effort in an 8-1 victory over the Birmingham Thunderbolts 2003 at Bill Barber Park’s Deanna Manning Stadium on Saturday.

Firecrackers coach Robert Oakes said that West has netted a couple of college offers during the tournament alone. West named Missouri and BYU among those schools.

If her exploits with the bat were not enough, West belted a home run to left field in the top of the sixth inning. The Firecrackers went into the frame with a 7-1 lead, so West was able to enjoy the home-run trot. As she rounded third, she brought her hands up to her mouth, motioning that she was hungry for more.

“It was like, ‘We’re eating,’” West said of her home run celebration. “That home run felt pretty good.”

Since a 1-0 win under the international tiebreaker in the first round, the Firecrackers’ bats had come through for their pitcher in a big way. They plated two runs in the first inning of Saturday’s title game, with Bella Martinez and Charlotte Forniss picking up the RBIs.

Shelbie Valencia added a two-run single in the fourth, extending the Firecrackers’ lead to 5-1. A pair of errors allowed two more runs to come home in the fifth, opening the score to 7-1.

“Giving Cassidy a lead, letting her settle in, was big,” Oakes said. “I think that was a big key factor because early on, she didn’t have her good stuff.

“Yesterday, she pitched six innings, struck out 11 girls and faced the minimum. Today, as good as she was, she’s been better. For Cassidy, the sky is the limit for that girl. She is a great player.”

Amanda Gull went three for four with a pair of doubles to pace the Firecrackers’ offense. Corissa Sweet also had two hits.

Catcher Riley Hull had a single and double to lead the Thunderbolts.

The Thunderbolts were short-handed on pitching in the tournament. Taylor McKinney pitched every inning in bracket play until the title game, a point that was made when her coach, Lowell Barron, called her his hero in a postgame trophy presentation.

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner