Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Sports
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By Dick Sparrer It was something of a slow start for the Strikkers girls A division 12-and-under fast-pitch softball team. But as head coach Dean Antolin knows, it's not how a softball team starts that's important—it's how it finishes. And the Strikkers have come through with some rather impressive finishes of late, winning three straight tournaments in June—one of them a national qualifier. The Strikkers rolled to a title in the Tracy Express Liberty Tournament with five straight lopsided victories. The local girls topped the San Jose Sizzle 6-0, the Marin Blue Angels 13-0, the Tracy Express 8-2 and 19-0 and the Sacramento Dynasty 14-0. The championship earned the Strikkers a berth in the National Softball Association tournament set for July 20-27 in Plano, Texas. The title was the third straight for the Strikkers in June. The club opened the month with four wins at the Hayward South County Invitational (beating the Fairfield Tornadoes 9-2, the San Jose Sizzle 5-1, the Fresno Xplosions 4-0 and the Marin Blue Angels 11-2) and two weeks later won the Sunnyvale Twin Creeks Pepsi Challenge with four wins in five games (blanking the Monterey Mad Dogs 2-0, beating the San Jose Sizzle 5-4, losing 7-0 to the Newark Strike Zone 7-0, taking the Mad Dogs again 3-2 and topping the Strike Zone 3-1). The squad struggled through its first four tournaments, finishing second in Elk Grove in May but posting a .500 record. The Strikkers turned things around in June. The team is made up of girls from Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, San Jose and Santa Cruz. Members of the team include Audrea Lopez, Lindsay Zullo, Sammy Antolin, Jaclyn Gordon, Brittney Rivas, Stephanie Lacek, Saryn Rorie, Tina Keys, Alyssa Walker, Soula Ellenikiotis and Lauren Maslak. The coaches include Dean Antolin, Tess Antolin and Joe Walker. |
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