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26 | June 21, 2018 | Malibu surfside news sports
malibusurfsidenews.com
Youth Softball
Malibu Hornets sting West LA in 13-12 championship win
Lauren Coughlin, Editor
Three days after the Malibu
Little League Hornets’
June 10 championship win,
Amelia Goudzwaard, one
of the team’s coaches, is
still buzzing with excitement.
“We totally dominated,”
Goudzwaard said in a
phone interview with the
Surfside. “I’m so proud of
all of them.”
The team beat West
LA’s Elite Squad 13-12 in
the District 25 Southern
Californian Tournament
of Champions, thanks to a
walk-off triple from Anniston
Aragon.
Aragon, Olivia Berns,
Betsy Hopkinson, Tess
Hopkinson, and Jasmine
Bellamy all managed multiple
hits for the Malibu
Hornets, said Team Manager
Peter Hopkinson.
“Tyler Seashols led the
Hornets with four stolen
bases, as they ran wild on
the base paths with 12 stolen
bases,” Peter Hopkinson
wrote in an email to the
Surfside.
West LA led 4-2 the first
inning, but Malibu took the
lead in the top of the second.
The Hornets kept their
lead until the two tied 11-11
in the fifth.
“In the bottom of the final
inning, West LA scored
one off a contentious steal
at home that pulled them
ahead,” Peter Hopkinson
shared. “Then in the top of
the sixth inning, the Hornets’
nest erupted again and
Anniston Aragon tripled on
a 0-2 count, scoring two
runs and sealing the District
25 Southern Californian
Tournament Of Champions
title for the Malibu
Hornets.”
Goudzwaard said the
team knew what to expect
from the West LA team,
which the girls had lost to
The Hornets roster
Anniston Aragon
Jasmine Bellamy
Olivia Berns
Betsy Hopkinson
Tess Hopkinson
Raya Israel
Reghan Marlow
Tyler Seashols
Jocelyn Zabaldo
earlier in the season.
“There’s so many things
that went well in that
game,” Goudzwaard said.
“Our hitting really came
alive.”
Goudzwaard said she
saw continued hitting practice
pay off for players such
as Reghan Marlow, who
scored in the fourth after
singling on the first pitch of
the at-bat.
Goudzwaard, 16, who
has been helping out with
Little League coaching for
the past three years, plays
first base for MHS softball
MHS softball players Sophia Chaisson (back row, far left) and Amelia Goudzwaard
(back row, far right) pose with the Hornets after they won the District 25 Southern
Californian Tournament of Champions on June 10. Photo Submitted
but first fell in love with
the sport through Malibu’s
Little League program.
“Growing up, I just really
thought it [offered] a
great sense of community
because the friends I’ve
made through softball have
been my friends for almost
the past nine years,” she
said.
Sophia Chaisson, a rising
sophomore and softball
player at MHS, also helped
coach the team. John Zabaldo
also coached the
Hornets.
Next up for the Hornets
is the all-star tournament,
which was expected to start
June 16-17.
Rising to the
occasion
Yankees AAA best Orioles in
tourney play
RIGHT: The Yankees AAA team, coached
by Mike Matuszak, Ben Renzo and Brian
Pytlewski, beat the Orioles 15-4 in the
fifth inning of a recent tournament.
Players on the team are: Costes Jensen,
Chase Renzo, Caueh Carter, Gage Alger,
Nikau Webb, Everette Briggs-Arce,
Zachary Wiezorek, Nicholas Davis,
Jackson Blair, Asher Baranick, Greyson
Polatin and Sebastian Edwards.
Photo by Walter Davis