Five Cities 14U Screaming Eagles softball wins National Championship

The Five Cities 14U Screaming Eagles softball team out of Loomis did something that no team from USA Softball of Sacramento has done before; win a national championship for the region. "It's a huge honor for sure," Screaming Eagles coach Harry Jones said. "I was happy for the girls because I knew what we went through to get to this season. We had many moments of them becoming a team and gelling together and they never quit and that's what makes me the most proud, being a part of that and setting a standard in the Norcal region for other organizations to emulate." On Sunday, the Screaming Eagles defeated Monterey Park Sports Club (MPSC) Riot Gold, the Southern California champions, 11-4 to win the title at Butterfield Park in Corona, California. The Screaming Eagles won five other games in bracket play over the prior three days and faced six Southern California B and C division teams throughout the tournament. "Those teams were no joke and it was literally like playing legitimate high school girls who threw fastballs and we had a little bit of difficulty getting our bats going in terms of timing," Jones said. "We had to rely on small ball and our defense was absolutely flawless, which kept us in games." Five Cities started double-elimination bracket play with a 16-4 win over the Rocklin Thundercats on July 28 before winning two one-run games on Friday against Norco 14 Rec and Escondido Extreme. On Saturday, they dominated Torrance 13-1, which set them up for Sunday against Monterey Park Sports Club in the semifinals. The Screaming Eagles were down three different times in the game and trailed by three runs in the seventh inning but came back to tie it and won in extra innings. AnaMarin Hemings pitched the entire game for the Screaming Eagles and got the game-winning hit. Hemings was helped by Jenise Gibson on the coaching staff who called all of the pitches. They would go on to defeat Monterey Park Sports Club once again in the championship game later that afternoon. Throughout the tournament and the season, the Screaming Eagles were led at the plate by Taryn Cleek who had a .615 batting average with eight home runs and 69 runs batted in. She also came in to pitch and killed multiple rallies on the mound. Cleek is coming off of a great freshman season at Bear River High School where she led the Bruins with a .571 average and eight runs batted in. "Competing against older players made me stronger all around and I felt more comfortable hitting against the faster pitching," Cleek said. "The Nationals tournament was so surreal, the fact that we went and beat them was unbelievable. I will never forget the moments of winning in extra innings and our team coming together as one." Cleek is one of two girls on the team already in high school and the other 11 are in middle schools across the Auburn and South Placer areas. The other high schooler who contributed to the team was Placer High freshman Olivia Thornton who had a .593 batting average with 36 runs batted in. The Screaming Eagles finished their season with a 50-5-1 record and three of their losses came in an A level tournament leading up to the Western Nationals. They have won six other tournaments throughout the season since March. "We do have some girls who are leaving and aging out and when we had a team meeting yesterday after the game it was emotional because we knew there'd be a handful of players that wouldn't be on that team anymore," Jones said. "We will still have a majority but knowing there are kids who are leaving is the sad part."