In fact, twice last week Southern needed just four innings to claim victories over a team of players from Sunnyvale Metro and Sunnyvale National. The Southern all-stars impressed in all phases of the game--pitching, hitting and defense--during a 23-3 win on July 6 and a 15-2 triumph the next evening at Sunnyvale Middle School.

Southern will return to the site on July 16 to vie for the Section 5 crown, squaring off with District 39 winner Gilroy in another best-of-three series.

"This is just the second Southern softball all-star victory in about 20 years," said Bob Kinder, District 44 softball director, adding, "that is, with all Southern players and not a combination with other leagues."

Southern pitchers Erin McGeoy and Maddy Casto dominated Metro/National. In the decisive Game 2, McGeoy allowed just two hits and three walks, while striking out 10 batters. Casto had been overpowering in the opener, firing a 1-hitter and earning all 12 outs on strikeouts.

Casto's ability to fire pitches past opponents helped her strand nine Metro/National runners, many who reached on walks. Sara Cohen, who belted the only hit off of Casto, scored one of her team's three runs in Game 1 and drove in another. Erika Fushiki and Regi Nunes also scored for Metro/National.

Southern, which benefited from 18 walks and eight errors, received key hits from Casto, McGeoy, Hailey Perkins, Amanda Delfino and Rebecca McKinley. Perkins, Delfino and McKinley all had three RBIs and Casto had two. Adding fuel to the Southern fire was aggressive base running, demonstrated by Jessica Roey's five stolen bases and four runs.

In Game 2, Southern doubled its hit count to 10. Perkins was 3 for 4 with three RBIs. Doubles by Delfino and McGeoy were the only extra-base hits in the game. Katie Moss, Bailey Gienger, McKinley, Casto and Roey all had singles for Southern.

Perkins was Southern's top run producer in the series, knocking in six and scoring six herself.

Haley Rickard, after a good relief performance in Game 1, pitched all four innings for Metro/National in the final game. Her control was good, walking just four batters while striking out eight.

Rickard and Jessica Morris scored the only runs for Metro/National. Nunes and Heidi Reeves-Messner had the lone hits against McGeoy.

Other Southern players that contributed to the District 44 title were Megan Andrews, Taylor Fulton, Courtney Haight, Lauren Ivers, Morgan Robinson and Lauren Sarberenyi. Manager Tom Mortensen and coaches Michael Ivers and Tony Delfino lead the team.

The Metro/National squad, managed by Mitch Cohen, included Annamarie Boling, Cohen, Fushiki, Katelyn Gonsalves, Morris, Harley Neff, Nunes. Wendy Ortiz, Hayley Rebholtz, Rickard and Victoria Temores.

Metro all-stars alive

All three Sunnyvale Metro all-star teams survived the first week of District 44 baseball tournaments, and each squad entered the second week facing elimination with each outing.

Metro's major all-stars sandwiched a pair of lopsided wins around a shutout loss during the first week. First they whipped Los Altos 13-2 on the strength of Jared Dinges' pitching and Tyler Meeken's three-run homer in a four-inning opener. After a 7-0 loss to Briarwood, they spanked Mountain View 15-0 behind the pitching of Dinges and Jack Forney and a two-run home run by Calvin Nuti-Van Vorst.

Strong pitching efforts by Davis Messer and Brandon Farrell keyed the 9-10 all-stars' two wins. Messer struck out nine batters in five innings of work in a 9-6 triumph over Homestead. Farrell had the same stats when Metro dumped Briarwood 19-6. In between, Metro suffered an 18-8 setback against Los Altos.

Against Homestead Messer knocked in three runs with two doubles and a single. Nick Molina, who added one hit and two RBIs, bailed Metro out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. After taking the mound with two outs, his first pitch induced a ground out to secure the game.

Molina (two hits, two runs) and Nick Hoy (one hit, two RBIs) were the offensive standouts against Los Altos, and Bailey Owen was the batting leader against Briarwood. Owen, who reached base in all five of his at-bats, collected three hits, three runs and three RBIs.

Briarwood had a tough time dealing with the top of Metro's line-up--Owen, Messer, Molina and Daniel Chae. The foursome combined for 10 hits, 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs. Param Bhatter got into the act with a triple, three runs and two RBIs.

Metro's 11s topped Los Altos 3-1, but lost to Campbell 10-0. Derek Martinez pitched the distance in Metro's win, a game with all runs scoring in the first inning. Jason McCrorie's two-run double highlighted Metro's three-run rally in the bottom of the first. Kyle Madden and Russell Reed had two hits apiece in the win.

Serra's 11s are still alive, as they won their only game of the week 5-4 over Cupertino National in eight innings. Zachary James' single chased home Troy Hoffman with the winning run in the second extra inning.