Athletics Don’t Settle for the Silver Lining on a Golden Sunday

It was improbable, but not impossible.

Just ask Julie Watson of Saugus High.

The Southern California Athletics defeated two-time defending champion Gordon’s Panthers, 1-0 and 2-0, Sunday to claim the 18-and-under Gold Amateur Softball Assn. national title in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“It was pretty big,” Watson said. “I’m pretty excited.”

Watson, one of three area residents who play for the Athletics, received All-American honors for her performance.

The right fielder went 12 for 30 in 11 games and drove in the winning run in a 1-0 victory over the Florida Lady Bombers in an elimination game earlier Sunday.

The Bombers, the only non-California team to finish in the top five, placed third.

Gordon’s Panthers, led by All-American Oli Keohohou of Newbury Park, had won 18 consecutive games, including a 4-0 decision over the Athletics on Saturday.

But revenge was sweet for the Athletics, who finished second last summer.

“This team has always been very positive,” Coach Bruce Richardson of the Athletics told the Chattanooga Times and Free Press.

“They’ve been able to bounce back throughout the year. They just needed that one little thing to get them over the hump. I think that first game [Sunday] against the Panthers was the hump.

“After that, nobody was going to stop them.”

Third baseman Brittney Green of Simi Valley and outfielder Kelly Corneilson of Saugus also play for the Athletics.

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Marciea Ball of Lancaster High might have been apprehensive pitching against 16-, 17- and 18-year-old boys, but she certainly didn’t show it.

In the circle for Antelope Valley’s District 51 all-star team Sunday night, Ball struck out eight and gave up only two runs in a 12-2 victory over New Mexico in the opening round of the Big League softball Western Regional at Domenic Massari Park in Palmdale.

“She threw the hardest I’ve seen,” Coach Ray Beltrami said. “Basically, we knew she was a hard throwing pitcher and we wanted to bust them inside. That was our strategy and that worked out pretty well.”

Ball, who was 3-6 with a 4.29 earned-run average for Lancaster last season, allowed seven hits, but received tremendous offensive support against New Mexico, which started five boys.

Fueled by a two-run single by Lauren McDonald of Paraclete, Antelope Valley exploded for five runs in the fourth inning.

Keri Pulcifer of Highland had three hits and two runs batted in. McDonald had two hits and three RBIs.

The winner of the five-team regional hosted by Antelope Valley will advance to the World Series in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Sunday.

Antelope Valley is trying to reach the World Series for the third time in four years.

The regional championship game is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Domenic Massari Park.

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Shortstop Crystl Bustos, from Canyon High, and first baseman Sheila (Cornell) Douty, a graduate of Taft, provided the U.S. national team with a large chunk of its offense in winning its fourth consecutive Pan American Games softball title last week.

Bustos went 18 for 41 with 15 RBIs in the cleanup spot.

Douty, who batted cleanup for the 1996 Olympic gold-medal winning U.S. team, batted fifth and was 11 for 31 with six RBIs.

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Jessica Locke of Canyon Country claimed the gold medal last week at the Amateur Athletic Union track and field Junior Olympics in the sub-midget girls’ 1,500-meter run in Cleveland.

Locke, 11, who runs for the Valley Striders, was clocked in 5:09.

A day earlier, Locke finished second in the 3,000-meter race in 11 minutes, eclipsing the national mark by eight seconds.