Bishop is MVP as Heat's 8-Year-Olds Capture Tourney

The ’s 8-and-under Gold traveling fastpitch softball team won the three-day Rebels Classic in Rohnert Park last weekend for its first championship of the summer.

The Heat beat the host Rohnert Park Rebels 5-0 in Sunday’s title game behind the hitless pitching of Courtney Simonetti and Melissa McNair -- who combined for four perfect innings and nine strikeouts -- and a five-run second inning in which all runs were scored with two outs.

Alexis Bishop, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, singled to open the decisive rally, and McNair and Summer Lake reached to load the bases for Tereza Shea, who hit a full-count, two-out, two-run double to left field to break the scoreless tie.

In the semifinal game, the Heat beat the San Mateo Slammers 2-1, scoring both runs in the first inning and receiving solid pitching from Kayla Simonetti and McNair.

Bishop and Shea also pitched in the tournament, which saw the Heat play five games and beat the Petaluma Steal Breeze 7-0 and San Mateo 5-1 in round-robin play. The Heat’s only loss was to Rohnert Park 3-0 in the round-robin opener.

Siena Escandon-Capanna turned in one of the tourney’s finest defensive plays, making an on-the-run catch in right field. Kayla Simonetti also made an impressive play, going deep in the hole at shortstop to make a backhanded catch.

Jianna Franklin, Kelsey McIvor-Tingle and Zoe Matheson also contributed on both offense and defense.

The Heat’s next tournament is this weekend in Santa Clara.

10B Gold

With two victories, the Heat's Gold team had its most successful tournament of the summer in Rohnert Park last weekend.    

On Saturday afternoon, the Heat fell behind the Pacifica Fusion 5-0 before its first at-bat and quickly responded with four runs in the bottom of the first on RBIs from Sierra Melendez and Olivia Matheson.

The Fusion increased its lead to 8-4 in the top of the second, but strong pitching from Gianna Marino and Emily O'Brien limited the damage.  

In the bottom of the second, Caitlin Dwyer started a two-out rally with a single and scored on a triple by Alea Escandon-Capanna. Consecutive hits by Chloe Winnett, Melendez, O'Brien, Amanda Simonetti, Matheson and Kendall Scheiner then propelled the Heat to a 9-8 lead, which Melendez saved by striking out the side in the third.

On Sunday, the Heat again fought back against the Santa Rosa Victory to earn its first Sunday win of the summer.  

The Heat jumped out to a four-run lead in the top of the first on RBIs from Melendez and Matheson.  

Despite a strong start from Melendez, however, the Heat trailed 7-5 going into the top of the third.  

Alex Neller led off the third with a hit and later scored on a groundout by Dwyer. Later in the inning, Winnett delivered a two-out double to drive in Marino and Escandon-Capanna and give the Heat a one-run lead going into the bottom of the third.  

With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, the Heat sealed the win with a sparkling double play when Neller snared a line drive to left and threw to Escandon-Capanna, who relayed the ball to Matheson, who tagged out the runner from third attempting to score.

The Heat travel to Incline Village this weekend.

12B

The Heat 12B team had an impressive 8-2 win over the Petaluma Steal Breeze during its participation in the Rebels Classic in Rohnert Park.

Sarah Bailey’s bases-loaded triple to right field broke the game open, giving pitcher Sarah Calabrese a nice cushion with which to work.

Tehya Wheeler, Libby Peterson, Emily Kibbe, Madison Perryman, Carrie Plotkin and Molly Dwyer also provided some offensive fireworks in the win.

The Heat suffered losses to the host Rebels, Napa Roadrunners and Marin Blue Angels in the tournament. Jenna Clark pitched brilliantly in a 2-0 loss to Napa, helped by Dana West’s slick fielding in the infield.

“Winning our first game Saturday was a big confidence builder going into next week’s tournament at Incline Village at Tahoe,” noted coach Paul Perryman.