WARNER SPRINGS — The Warner Softball Tournament, which took place April 27 in Warner Springs, was the most recent competition for the seven small K-8 elementary schools and middle schools in northern San Diego County and southern Riverside County which participate in athletic tournaments with a different school hosting a different sport each month, and the Hamilton School girls won the Warner Softball Tournament while Hamilton’s boys took third place.

Hamilton, Borrego Springs Middle School, and Julian Junior High School had both boys and girls teams. Cottonwood Elementary School, Vallecitos Elementary School (Rainbow), and Warner Middle School had co-ed teams which played in the boys division. Pauma Elementary School (Pauma Valley) did not participate in the Warner Softball Tournament. Because the girls division had only three teams each school played two games against each opponent; Hamilton had a 4-0 record while Borrego Springs and Julian both ended with 1-3 records with Borrego Springs being awarded second place on the run differential tiebreaker.

“The girls did great. They hit the ball,” said Hamilton girls coach Jenny Villalobos. “Defense was awesome. Only a couple of errors between the four games.”

Lexi Holt swings for one of her home runs in the Warner Softball Tournament. Valley News/Joe Naiman photo

The games lasted four innings or 30 minutes, although the full inning was allowed to be completed if the 30 minutes had elapsed. A team was limited to five runs in their batting half of the inning. The teams pitched to their own batters; schools could either utilize a student or a faculty member as the pitcher. Each team had ten players on the field.

Hamilton’s girls competition began with a 10-1 victory over Julian. The Bobcats’ second game was a 9-0 triumph against Borrego Springs, whose nickname is also the Bobcats. The second game between Hamilton and Julian ended with a 10-0 score in Hamilton’s favor. The second game between the two teams called the Bobcats had the same 9-0 score as the first game with Hamilton scoring the nine runs.

“We worked as a team and I did well,” said Hamilton eighth-grader Lexi Holt.

Holt hit four home runs during Hamilton’s four games. Four other Hamilton players – Amaya Ambriz, Bella Barreto, Ishwish Rozon, and Danica Saul – each homered once. Hamilton brought fourteen girls to the tournament.

Each of the six boys or co-ed teams played four of the other five opponents. Borrego Springs placed first with a 4-0 record, Vallecitos was second at 3-1, and the Hamilton boys were 2-2 for third place.

“I thought it was good competition from all the other teams,” said Hamilton boys coach David Nelissen. “The kids played hard, and we did the best we could.”

Ishwish Rozon scores on Lexi Holt’s home run. Valley News/Joe Naiman photo

Hamilton had ten boys. The Bobcats’ first game was a 3-1 loss to Warner. Borrego Springs then defeated Hamilton in a 10-1 contest. A 10-2 win against Julian gave the Bobcats their first boys victory. Hamilton then handed Vallecitos the Vikings’ only loss of the tournament in a 4-3 game.

Cottonwood finished the tournament with a record of 0-3-1. The Cougars, who had eleven boys and five girls, began with a 4-1 loss to Vallecitos. The game between Cottonwood and Warner ended in a 5‑5 tie. The Cougars then lost 10-0 to Borrego Springs and 6-3 to Julian.

“Half of my boys had never played,” said Cottonwood coach Cindy Harris. “I’m very happy at how well they’ve improved.”

The tournament was played on the Warner Unified School District athletic fields, which are across State Route 79 from the elementary school, middle school, and high school campus. This academic year’s tournaments will conclude May 18 with a track and field meet hosted by Julian Junior High School and held at Julian High School.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia.com.

Joe Naiman