Coming off a CIF-SS Championship season, the Los Alamitos High softball team is looking to replace several key graduates from last year’s team. The Griffins are young, but Head Coach Rob Weil said he is very pleased with the progress of the players who are taking over this year.
The Griffins opened Sunset League play with an 11-1 win over Fountain Valley on Thursday, led by the pitching of Jaliane Brooks and Faith Pulsifer. Brooks, a freshman, came into her own late last season and anchored the pitching through the championship run.
Brooks, along with Pulsifer, a senior, gives the Griffins two solid pitchers that Weil said will keep the team in every game this season. Pulsifer also adds power at the plate. She hammered a two-run double against the Barons.
The Griffins had taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning, on a sacrifice squeeze by senior catcher Jordan Castrellon. In the third, the Griffins broke the game open with a five-run rally, with doubles by sophomore shortstop Aspen Natori and senior third baseman Alexis Galicia. Sophomore Ryann Velazquez capped the rally with a home run. Galicia was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs. The Griffins recently returned from the Tournament of Champions in Bullhead City Arizona, where Weil said the team played very well.
“We’re growing, I mean, we grew a lot the last two weeks at Bullhead, we really came into our own,” Weil said of the team’s progress.
The Griffins are at Huntington Beach on Thursday, at 6 p.m. and will host Newport Harbor on Tuesday, at 3:30 p.m.