Nine young softball players from Malibu hit the diamond and grabbed All-Star Tournament titles last month.
Malibuites Julia Carroll, Tess O’Neill and Maddox McKeever played for West L.A./Malibu All-Star’s nine- and 10-year-old team, and helped guide the squad to a California District 25 All-Star Tournament Championship on June 28.
Six players from Malibu — Janet Ann Purtell, Chloe Dyne, Sydney Morrison, Karis Hughes, Rachel Oronoz and Sophia Chaisson — played on the West L.A./Malibu 11- and 12-year-old team. That team also won a District 25 championship.
Retiring Malibu Little League softball coach and organizer Russ Purtell said the girls played well during the tournaments that were hosted by the North Venice Little League.
“Winning two District 25 All-Star Softball Championships in the same day made me elated,” he said. “I have been running softball for Malibu Little League for five years, and I would have never believed we could have achieved such a feat.”
The nine- and 10-year-old All-Star team beat North Venice, 16-8, in order to win the title. Before the championship game, the West L.A./Malibu team beat Culver City, 13-9 on June 20 and North Venice, 25-4, on June 21.
The 11- and 12-year-old All-Star team began their championship run by beating Culver City/Culver Marina, 10-0, on June 20. The West L.A./Malibu team beat North Venice, 26-0, the next day. The team lost to Culver City/Culver Marina, 10-9, on June 28 and then bounced back to beat Culver City/Culver Marina, 20-10, to win the championship later that day.
Purtell said his daughter Janet Ann had four hits in the championship game and got the pitching win.
“This was really critical to our tournament success since our pitching had struggled in the previous game that we lost,” he said.
The coach said that during the title game, the Malibu players stood out. Morrison, the shortstop, got a hit and drove in two runs. Janet Ann, the third baseman and pitcher, hit a double to drive in Sydney for a point. Then, West L.A. teammate Erin Boutwell hit a double that drove in Janet Ann for a run. Dyne followed that by hitting a double to score Boutwell. Dyne scored later.
“My Malibu girls in the heart of the batting order just kept producing game after game,” he said.
After the title runs, the two All-Star teams were defeated by the Westchester Del Rey softball teams in last week’s Section 4 All-Star tournament. Both West L.A./Malibu games were beat 2-0 in three game series.
“[Westchester Del Rey] regularly represents the Little League Western Region in the Softball World Series so there is no shame in losing in straight sets to this team,” Purtell said.
Purtell said Malibu Little League’s softball season was a bit of a struggle due to a decline in drop-in players from 68 in 2014 to 52 this season. However, he said there was some good play on the field.
“I felt better when I watched our AA girls hit the ball really well,” Purtell said. “And then our AAA team went undefeated in April and May, including winning the District 25 Spring Tournament.”
