Posts Tagged ‘Marin Girls Softball’

Playoff redux: bridesmaid role for Tamalpais and Kim Scarsella

Monday, July 11th, 2011 by

Tam pitching ace Kim Scarsella

It’s true. History does repeat itself, much to the chagrin of the Tamalpais High School softball team and their star pitcher Kim Scarsella.

We chronicled the success of the team last year as well as detailing the outstanding personal performance of Scarsella, who earned all-state honors. That season was marred by losing to the Redwood Giants in the Marin County Athletic League finals, followed by a heart-breaking loss to Bishop O’Dowd in the finals of the North Coast Section Division 3 finals, despite the no-hitter pitched by Scarsella.

Fast forward one year and it’s the same tune, second verse. Tam faced Redwood again in the MCAL finals and fell short as Redwood’s 11 seniors finished their high school career with league titles in all four years.

Tam’s foray into North Coast Section playoffs had a familiar ring as well. In the second round, they faced MCAL rival Terra Linda. After the regulation 7 innings, Scarsella had a no-hitter, but the game was tied. After 8 innings, Scarsella still had allowed no hits. Terra Linda finally managed a hit in the ninth that led to the winning run.

The country and western lyric goes, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” You could forgive Scarsella if she adopted it as her theme song.

She earned first team all-MCAL honors, a fitting follow-up to her sophomore year, when she was named the MCAL Pitcher of the Year.
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SportsDashboards salutes Annie Boyer and the Redwood Giants

Monday, July 4th, 2011 by

The determination on Annie Boyer's face tells you all you need to know about why the Redwood Giants are once again MCAL champions.

There are a lot of words that describe Annie Boyer and her Redwood Giants teammates … but the one word that captures it all is champion.

When you talk about Marin County Athletic League softball, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is Redwood. They’ve won the last six conference championships, which means that the 11 seniors on this year’s squad never experienced an unsuccessful season.

It’s not unheard of for a high school athletic program to achieve similar dominance. The basic ingredients are a feeder program that starts to develop skills prior to high school and then a high school coach who can mold those talents into a cohesive team.

Redwood had the feeder program, with most of its players coming out of the Marin Girls Softball organization. And after six consecutive titles, the bona fides of coach Gary Casassa are unquestioned.
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Softball All-American Camille Gaito: as good as it gets

Monday, June 6th, 2011 by

Camille Gaito pitched the UCSD Tritons to the NCAA Division II championship.

The accolades and honors poured in for Camille Gaito this season. Most of them were for individual achievement. But the best honor is the one she shares with her University of California at San Diego teammates: NCAA Division II champion.

Gaito has been named Most Outstanding Player of the national championships, first team All-American by Daktronics in a poll of sports information directors, second team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, pitcher of the year in the West Region as named by Daktronics, and pitcher of the year in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

Statistics never tell the whole story, but Gaito’s stats confirm her domination of the Division II scene this year. She was second in the nation in wins by Division II pitchers while posting a 35-4 record, second in winning percentage at .897, fourth in earned run average at 0.75, and seventh in least walks allowed per 7 innings at 0.69. She eclipsed the UCSD marks for career wins (65), wins in a season (35) and appearances in a season (44).
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Camille Gaito paces UCSD Tritons to Tournament of Champions title

Monday, April 11th, 2011 by

Camille Gaito won 8 games in 8 days. -- Photo courtesy UCSD.

Camille Gaito and her University of California at San Diego teammates may wish all their games were played in Turlock, California.

In the Mizuno Tournament of Champions, which was held at the Cal State Stanislaus campus in Turlock in the first week in April, Gaito pitched in, and won, five games in three days as the Tritons went 6-1 while winning the tournament.

The following week, the Tritons were back in Turlock to play Stanislaus. They won three of four games, with Gaito getting credit for all three wins as the Tritons cemented their position at the top of the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings.

Gaito posted the second lowest earned run average in NCAA Division II softball last year, so it was hard to imagine what she could do as an encore. How does this sound? A 21-1 record and an ERA under 0.50 runs per game.
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SportsDashboards year-end salute: Organizations that make a difference: Marin Girls Softball and St. Mary’s CYO

Thursday, January 27th, 2011 by

Every organization that sponsors youth sports activities extends tendrils that reach into the future, providing for their participants some of the building blocks that can lead to a strong personal foundation as they reach adulthood. Marin Girls Softball in California represents the best that youth sports has to offer,

Naysayers of youth sports point to overaggressive coaches who have their teams run up scores against overmatched opponents. They cite out-of-conrol parents who scream at officials, coaches, the opposing team, members of their children’s team and, sometimes, even their own children. Their criticism consists of statements that life is not about who scored the most points, who won by the biggest margin, or whose negativity was heard over the satisfaction and contentment of the majority. (Continued below.)

Catholic Youth Organization programs offer bountiful opportunities for youth to test their skill and interest in a variety of activities. The basketball program at St. Mary’s of Manhasset, on Long Island, New York, epitomizes the best of these programs.

St. Mary’s offers playing opportunities for youth from the third grade through high school. Players can participate in intramural programs or try to qualify for a travel team that will play their counterparts from other CYO organizations. Part of the Nassau and Suffolk Archdiocese, St. Mary’s provides basketball opportunities for more than 900 youths. It’s how they do it that makes St. Mary’s special. (Continued below.)

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MGS players boost MCAL; girl athletes score better futures

Saturday, June 19th, 2010 by

This started out as a paean to Marin Girls Softball for the quality of training they give their players, as reflected in those players’ contributions to the Marin County Athletic League when they reach high school.

However, simultaneous with putting this post together, we became aware of the research of Betsey Stevenson, which puts the contributions of MGS, MCAL and similar organizations in a vastly different light. Girls sports programs have a positive effect on the futures of their members.

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Sports Dashboards Salutes: Camille Gaito

Friday, May 28th, 2010 by

Camille Gaito delivering a pitch for her UCSD team.

The numbers don’t lie: Camille Gaito is among the elite college softball pitchers in the nation, but that’s not the only reason Sports Dashboards salutes her.

The numbers are a good place to start. Gaito ended her season with a 0.96 earned run average while pitching for the University of California at San Diego. The Tritons play in NCAA Division II as a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

How good is 0.96? It’s third in the nation. Of the 300 pitchers that the NCAA tracked who pitched more than 100 innings this season in Division II, only two pitchers recorded lower numbers. For those of you into that kind of metric, it means that she is in the 100th percentile. She is among the creme de la creme. A pitcher nonpareil.

This season, she finished with an 18-10 win-loss record and her team was ranked 10th among all colleges competing in the Western Region.

The thing is, Camille Gaito is only a sophomore. When you’re already at the top, what more is there to strive for? Well, there are some individual honors that have eluded her and there are plenty of team accomplishments that will have to wait for next season.

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Mill Valley Wins MGS Seniors All-Star Tournament

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 by

The Mill Valley All-Stars nipped the San Anselmo All-Stars 12-11 in extra innings to win the Marin Girls Softball Seniors All-Star Tournament.

The Seniors are seventh and eighth graders and each team is a collection of the best players from several teams competing within their individual leagues.

The championship game was an exciting contest, with twists and turns to delight the fans of both teams. But one of the most interesting things about it was that it didn’t figure to be this compelling.

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Novato wins Marin Girls Softball Majors All-Star Tournament

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 by

The Novato All-Stars edged the San Rafael All-Stars 3-2 to earn the Marin Girls Softball Majors All-Stars Tournament championship.

Majors teams consist of girls in the fifth and sixth grades. The all-star teams are formed from the best players within each league.

The level of play in the semifinals and championship game belied the ages of the players involved. These girls definitely got game.

In the championship game, Novato scored single runs in the middle innings to take a 2-0 lead. Starting pitcher Dixie Thompson benefited from her battery mate, catcher Samantha Tong, who threw out two would-be base stealers in the early innings to keep San Rafael in check.

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SportsDashboards salutes Marin Girls Softball

Thursday, May 6th, 2010 by

The values of participating in youth sport groups are well known. A non-comprehensive list would include such things as developing cooperative skills through teamwork, dealing with the highs of winning and the lows of losing, learning sportsmanship skills, and experiencing camaraderie with teammates, coaches and family. Oh yeah, having fun comes in there pretty high as well. Some organizations are better at one facet of youth sports than others. But every kid benefits to some degree by participating.

Then there’s that more prominent facet of any sports program: the development of skills in the chosen sport. Some organizations misplace their emphasis, placing it on winning, rather than skills development.

That’s not the case with the teams that comprise the Marin Girls Softball League. Obviously, every team tries to win each time they take the field. But the emphasis is on skills development and the less tangible values of being a part of something special.

Exhibit 1 for this fact was the recent showdown between Marin County Athletic League powerhouses, Redwood and Tamalpais. The two high schools entered the game knowing that the winner would be tied with San Marin atop the MCAL softball standings. That’s enough drama right there.

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SportsDashboards Salutes: Kim Scarsella

Saturday, April 17th, 2010 by

Tamalpais pitching ace Kim Scarsella

As the honors mount, Kim Scarsella is our nominee to be the poster girl for the value of youth sports programs.

Kim is a mound mainstay for the Tamalpais High School Hawks, who sit atop the softball standings in the Marin County Athletic League.

Last week, Kim was cited by the Marin Independent Journal as the girl prep star of the week. It was an honor well deserved. But calling her the “star of the week” is an understatement of the magnitude of calling Mohammed Ali a fairly tough guy. Or saying Lady Gaga has a strange sense of style.

Kim Scarsella is more than a one-week wonder, she dominates a softball game the way the best pitchers do. Statistics never tell the whole story, but here are some numbers that hint at the exceptional season she is having:

During the week for which she was honored by the Marin newspaper, she defeated Terra Linda 6-0 while striking out 17 and then bested Novato 6-2 while chalking up 11 more K’s.

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