Canyon comes up short against Sheldon in title game (video)

HUNTINGTON BEACH - Sheldon of Sacramento entered the Nike Faster to First Classic with a huge target on its back.

The Huskies came in ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN RISE and they had reached the finals of the prestigious softball tournament last season, but they lived up to the hype, taking out all of their opponents and beating Canyon, 2-0, in the championship game on Saturday night at the Huntington Beacch Sports Complex.

Cal-bound Jolene Henderson proved to be as good as advertised for Sheldon. She pitched every inning of the tournament for the Huskies and didn't allow a single run.

She had back-to-back no-hitters in the quarterfinals and semifinals. She allowed no hits and struck out 11 to beat El Modena, 4-0, on Friday, and came back with seven strikeouts and another no-hitter against Camarillo on Saturday afternoon to get the Huskies into the finals.

“Our team just surpassed any expectations people had of us,” Henderson said. “Everybody just wanted to beat us, but they didn't. I think everybody comes excited to play us and it just makes us play better and it makes the teams we play, play better. It's more competition for us and it just makes us better in the long run.”

Canyon got a hit in each of the first three innings against Henderson in the finals, but that's when she would bear down and come up with her best pitches.

Canyon's best chance to score came in the top of the second when Briana Gwaltney tripled off the fence in left-center field to lead off the inning. Tayler Van Acker followed with a come-backer up the middle and Henderson was able to get Gwaltney in a run down. Then Henderson struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Henderson got stronger from that point on. She ended up retiring 15 of the final 16 batters she faced and she struck out seven of the final 10 Comanches that went up against her.

Canyon ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth after Henderson led off the inning with a double. Amber Glenn came in as a courtesy runner for Henderson and got moved to third on DeJanee Moore's sacrifice.

MeShalon Moore hit a dribbler to the right side of the infield that got booted by canyon's second baseman to allow the first run to score. The Huskies had runners on second and third after an error by Canyon's shortstop. MeShalon Moore scored on a wild pitch by Canyon's Cheyanne Tarango.

That was all Sheldon needed with Henderson in total command of her pitches and throwing in the high 60s.

Canyon reached the finals by beating Esperanza, 4-3, earlier in the day, but the game came with some controversy. The game was called in the sixth inning because of the 1-hour and 50-minute time limit, but the Aztecs believed Canyon used some stalling tactics.

Esperanza went on to beat Camarillo, 4-3, in eight innings in the third-place game. Most of Esperanza's team stayed to watch the end of the championship game and enthusiastically support Sheldon.

El Modena was another county team that had a strong showing in the tournament. The Vanguards ended up beating Rodriguez of Fairfield, 4-3, in the seventh-place game.

El Modena's Samantha Mazza committed an error in the outfield that allowed two runs to score to tie the game, but she redeemed herself by driving in the game-winning run with a single in the sixth to lift the Vanguards.

Lauren Chamberlain belted a walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh to give El Toro a 3-2 triumph over Valencia of Valencia, ranked No. 12 in the nation, to get into the ninth-place game.

But the Chargers ran into Stanford-bound Teagan Gerhart, who pitched a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts and she hit a homer in Norco's 1-0 victory over El Toro.

Gerhart pitched a no-hitter with five strikeouts for Norco, ranked No. 4 in the nation, in a 2-0 victory over Pacifica earlier in the day.

In another big-time matchup, No. 38 Ayala of Chino Hills knocked off No. 5 Hart of Newhall, 5-4. Nikki Chavez went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Nani St. Germain went 1 for 3 with two RBIs and Natalie Martinez went 2 for 3 with two runs to lead the Bulldogs.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com