Softball Teams

They will be traveling by land, not sea, but three teams from the Oxnard Mermaids Slow-Pitch Softball League will head to Texas next week. On Monday, the female softball teams will depart for the Pony Slow Pitch National Championship Tournament in Burleson, Texas. The games begin Thursday and last through Saturday. Oxnard will be represented by a 13- and 14-year-old team, a 15- and 16-year-old team and a team of players ages 17 to 19.

Championship weekend BASEBALL Friday at Dodger Stadium Southern Section Div. 3: Bonita vs. Alhambra, 1:30 p.m. Div. 2: Aliso Niguel vs. Garden Grove Pacifica, 4:30 p.m. Div. 1: Corona vs. Newbury Park, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at UC Riverside Div. 7: Granada Hills Hillcrest Christian vs. Firebaugh, 10 a.m. Div. 5: Paraclete vs. Woodcrest Christian, 1 p.m. Div. 6: Lancaster...

It has been a strange turn of events. Cal State Fullerton's baseball and softball teams made it to their College World Series last season. Each got off to good starts this year and has been ranked high nationally. Suddenly, however, both fell into slumps in the final weeks of the regular season. "For a while, I wondered if there was something in the water," softball Coach Judi Garman said.

To the UCLA softball team, the nagging pain and embarrassment had gone on far too long. After missing the Women's College World Series two of the last three years, in 2007 and again in 2009, a UCLA program decorated with 11 national championships was devastated. "We felt sick the whole summer and fall," said senior Megan Langenfeld, a finalist for the national player-of-the-year award. The Bruins (45-11) channeled all of that frustration into a spectacular weekend of softball, sweeping Louisiana Lafayette (45-18)

Eight of the nation's top 25 college softball teams are entered in this week's PONY Invitational tournament at Cal State Fullerton. The 16-team field includes No. 1-ranked Arizona, which is 25-0 for the season and 4-0 in the Pac-10. Arizona, which won the PONY title last season, also won the national championship. Other ranked teams are Fresno State (No. 2), Washington (5), Oklahoma State (14), Oklahoma (15), Cal State Northridge (18), Southwest Louisiana (19) and Nevada Las Vegas (23).

Two of the city's softball teams that captured national titles last year are poised to defend their titles next month. Both a 12-and-under and a 10-and-under team from Simi Valley have clinched spots in the Amateur Softball Assn.'s Southwest Regional Championship, the final stop for recreation players and the equivalent of a national tournament. The tournament is scheduled Aug. 5-9. Games will be played in several cities depending on the age group. The older girls will play in Fort Carson, Colo.

Orange County's three top-seeded softball teams, Mater Dei, La Habra and Woodbridge, will have road games in the next round of the Southern Section playoffs. Mater Dei plays the Pacifica-Cerritos winner in the Division 5-A quarterfinals Thursday. Pacifica and Cerritos had their first-round game suspended by darkness with the teams tied 0-0 after 20 1/2 innings. La Habra (23-2) plays at Fontana (18-4) in a 4-A second-round game Tuesday.

Several of the country's best collegiate softball teams will converge on Cal State Fullerton's new softball complex this weekend for the 16-team, double-elimination Pony Tournament. The second-ranked Titans will be the favorite, but they'll be challenged by Nebraska (No. 4), Fresno State (5), Utah (6), Arizona State (7), California (8), Cal Poly Pomona (9), Northwestern (12) and Pacific (15). The tournament begins Friday at 9 a.m. and will continue through Sunday afternoon's championship game.

Coach: Neils Ludlow School: EL CAMINO REAL Ludlow led El Camino Real to its seventh City Section title in his 10-year tenure. The Conquistadores wrested the title from two-time defending champion San Pedro with a 4-0 victory in May. Student: Michelle Brown School: HIGHLAND Position: IF Brown, who will play for Utah, is Highland's first softball player to earn a scholarship. Brown batted .420 with 29 RBIs, seven doubles, two triples and two home runs. She was recruited by several colleges.

The nomadic West Valley Girls Softball League, which sued the city because it doesn't have permanent playing fields, abandoned its part-time fields Thursday, a day after gunfire sent players diving for cover during a game. Police, meanwhile, continued to search for the gunman who opened fire Wednesday at the Canoga Park High School field from across the street, wounding two young men. Officials now believe an earlier fight in a nearby alley was unrelated to the attack.

Each game before she makes her first pitch, Miranda Tamayo bends low and, using her finger, draws a heart with the number 10 in the middle. That was the jersey number Brianne Matthews wore for the Mater Dei High softball team, and to Tamayo it has a double meaning. She considers No. 10 to be her team's 10th player on the field. "Every time I pitch," Tamayo said, "she's with me." Matthews was 16 when, on Feb. 25, she was found dead at the Anaheim apartment she shared with her mother and younger sister.

Granada Hills 2, Carson 1 (12 innings) Top contributors: Rebecca Patton of Granada Hills struck out 19 and gave up five hits. Carson's Audrey Devoe broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 12th inning with a single to right field, driving in pitcher Crystal Maas. The scoop: With two out and two on in the bottom of the 12th, Granada Hills' Valentina Salinas hit a run-scoring single and Joanna Meir scored the winning run on the play because of a fielding error.

Coach of the Year: Melissa Chavez, El Dorado Took over the program at mid-season after previous coach was arrested and guided it to the Division II finals despite defections by two starters. She also was honored in 2002 after guiding Golden Hawks to unexpected title before resigning to begin a family. *--* P Jordan Taylor, Valencia So.

The losing team made the news Monday in Olympic softball's gold-medal game. It scored a run. With Crystl Bustos hitting two shots that would have dented the outfield fence had they not sailed over it, and with the international queen of softball, Lisa Fernandez, pitching a four-hitter and diving home to score a run, the United States women did what anybody with two eyes could see they were going to do. They won -- easily.

The U.S. women's softball team, as much a lock for a gold medal as any Olympic team since Michael Jordan's Dream Team in Barcelona, has been extraordinary in its togetherness. And not just on the field of play. From the beginning of an event that is contested with seven preliminary games leading to a four-team playoff today and Monday, this team of Olympic veterans has been uniform in one theme: The U.S. needs to be aware that the rest of the world is catching up fast in this sport.

There was unexpected drama in women's softball and expected dominance in women's basketball here Friday, as each U.S. Olympic team furthered its image of invincibility. The softball team actually allowed an opponent to play a full regulation game against it, rather than having the game called after five innings because the lead was seven runs. It was only the third time in seven preliminary-round games that a team went the distance against the U.S. And the U.S.

As national Little League officials Friday were defending their ban against boys playing on girls' softball teams, the American Civil Liberties Union was stating its intention to file a lawsuit next week to have the ban lifted in California. The ban is designed to create more opportunities for girls in softball, said Creighton J. Hale, national president of Little League, because "our board felt that the (softball) program was being dominated by boys."

The New York Yankees of softball, the U.S. Olympic team, won their sixth consecutive game here Thursday, beating Greece, 7-0, and continued rolling up impressive statistics: * For the fifth straight game, the Americans gave up one hit. * They remained unscored upon and now have outscored opponents, 38-0.