HotShots Winning Streak Ends at 22 in Championship Game

The Pleasanton HotShots had their 22 game winning streak snapped in the championship game of the Pleasanton tournament. The HotShots rolled into the championship game with a lot of confidence as they had won via the mercy rule in four out of the five previous games throughout the tournament. They accomplished this feat with their normal recipe of great pitching by Georgia Bloom, Haley Douglas, and Zoe Price and great defense led by Brittany Hillman and the usual cast of characters. The bats were also smoking hot heading into the championship game as well. Lauren Ayers was the leader of the hit parade all weekend. She finished 12 for 18 and even when she got out, she hit the ball hard! She had quite a great weekend at the plate and in the field. Her defense at third base was stellar as she made numerous diving stabs and other fine plays. She was complemented both at the plate and in the field by Britannia Bloom who was 9/20 at the plate and earned a blue ball for a fine defensive play in the field while playing first base. Alex Herman also had a great weekend by making a few nice catches in the outfield and hitting .454!

In Pool play, the HotShots knocked off the Livermore Smoke 5-1 on Friday night. Georgia pitched a complete game and Britannia led the offense going 3/3 including a triple and two runs scored. They followed that fine effort up with a trouncing of the Ceres Sizzle by a score of 9-0. Ayers was 3/3 with a double and 2 runs scored and Zoe Price as 2/3 with a double and 2 runs scored to pace the HotShots. The third pool play game was against eventual champions, SF Angels. Ayers and Carli Kachel were the offensive stars in this game and Haley Douglas was in control in the circle as the HotShots won 10-1. Next up was Charlie's Angels who went down by a score of 12-3. Zoe Price led the HotShots on the mound and she was helped by the other members of the pitching staff as Haley Douglas and Georgia Bloom were both 3/4 at the plate.

Sunday's games are single elimination championship play. The HotShots started off as they ended the day on Saturday with another convincing win. Douglas and Price pitched a 13-0 shutout of the Ceres Sizzle. Hits were plentiful this game as one would imagine. Allie Price got two hits and Alex Herman got on base a couple times as well. The biggest blow however came off the bat of Georgia Bloom who hit a monsterous home run in her only at bat. Georgia had a great weekend at the plate going 6/10 including 3 doubles.

Unfortunately, the HotShots ran into a buzz saw in the championship game. The SF Angels pitcher tied them up all game long. The HotShots had a couple rallies going, only to be quashed by a few fine defensive plays by the Angels. The Angels coach said this was their best game of the year and they needed it in order to beat the HotShots. Georgia pitched a fine game holding the Angels to one run, but that was one too many as the HotShots weren't able to get on the board. Ayres reached third in the 4th inning after leading off with a double, but was left on third after Ismail smoked a line drive right to the shortstop to end the threat. Then in the 5th, Allie Price reached third and Alex Herman was on second when Hillman crushed a shot right at the left fielder. Had the ball been 5 feet one way or the other, the game would have been opened up in favor of the HotShots. Unfortunately, that was the last threat that the HotShots could manage. All in all, it was a good weekend.

The HotShots finalize their summer play next weekend when they play in the Pacific Challenge Series at the Pleasanton Sports Park.