Chargers Finish 2007 in Third

Cypress finishes their season with a 52-6 record.

Cypress ended their season Sunday morning.

May 20th, 2007

Chino Hills, Calif. - The Chargers did not give up when their all-American starting pitcher and number two hitter sophomore Alyssa Gutierrez injured her knee two days before the State Tournament. They did not give up when they lost to Mt. Sac 2-8, or when head coach Brad Pickler was ejected mid-game after two questionable calls in the same inning or when they found themselves down two runs in the fifth against Cerritos in the elimination game Sunday morning. In a year that was destined to just not be their year, the Chargers never gave in and fought till the end going down swinging in a loss to Cerritos 2-3 to end their season. The loss eliminated Cypress from their bid for a repeat and finished the Charger season in third.

Cypress started the game swinging with a solo home run from freshman shortstop Ashley Boyd in the first at-bat of the game giving Cypress the 1-0 lead. The Charger offense stalled from there and the Cerritos bats took over. Just a half inning later, the Falcons put up three runs on four singles and a sac fly taking over the lead and putting the Chargers behind one run. Cypress was in for a long inning in the fifth. With two outs retired, sophomore first baseman Brooke Pefley started a rally with a double to right. Sophomore catcher Gabrielle Woody was up next and took a pitch deep down the right field line that was called foul despite Charger arguments that it was fair. Woody came up with an RBI single instead scoring Pefley and cutting the Falcons lead to one. Woody came out running attempting to steal second but was called out in another questionable call ending the Cypress rally.

The Chargers had one last shot to keep their season going at the top of the seventh. After one out, Cypress mounted a come back with back to back singles from freshman designated player Caitlin McGrath and Boyd. With the tying run at third and the winning run at second, Cypress could not bring them home with two straight fly outs stranding the runners and ending their season. Freshman Sydney Rae Woolley absorbed the loss finishing the season with a 17-2 record. Woody pitched the majority of the game at five and two thirds innings allowing no runs and six hits.

Several Cypress players were honored with all-Tournament honors. Boyd earned the Best Hitter award with a .643 average over four games collecting a double, a home run, and four RBI for a .929 slugging percentage. Sophomore center fielder Jade Espinoza also made the all-tournament team after batting .455 over the weekend. Woody was the third Cypress player named to the all-Tournament team with three RBI over the weekend including a double and a home run.