Hood River Little League’s 9/10 girls All-Star team traveled to Scappoose last week to compete in the annual state all-star tournament. The girls, who qualified for the tournament by going undefeated the week prior in the district tournament, had a tough draw and ended up facing the first-, second- and third-place finishers in the opening rounds.
Although the 0-4 showing was disappointing, coach Chris Zorza says the girls still had a great tournament and held their own against some very tough teams.
“We got probably the worst draw of the tournament and ended up in pool play with three of the top teams,” he said. “The kids and coaches still had a blast, and it was great to see how we compared against some tough competition. We were in every game; we just made little mistakes that cost us runs.”
The girls opened with a game against La Grande, which went on to win the tournament.
“They had probably the best 10-year-old pitcher I’ve ever seen,” Zorza said. “She was incredible. It was quite the experience for the kids to be a part of that level of competition.”
Team members were Aunika Yasui, Reese Leiblein, Celilo Brun, Grace Guertin, Kyla Zorza, Mikayla Matthews, Rylee Kona, Molly Routson, Jessa Nickelsen, Mollie Ritoch, Taylor Beam and Bella Moore and coaches Zorza, Jason Kona and Chris Nickelsen.
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