Aurora – The Rocky Mountain Lobos won their second straight Rangeview Softball Tournament with a 3-2 victory Saturday over the Pomona Panthers at Olympic Park.
Less than two weeks after beating Pomona 4-3 in 14 innings in nonleague play, the Lobos improved to 10-0 with their third win of the day and fifth of the weekend.
Junior shortstop Jamie Winsor drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, capping a three-RBI performance, and making a winner of junior pitcher Cory Berliner. Berliner pitched all seven innings for Rocky Mountain, allowing just six hits and two runs. Berliner improved her record to 6-0 and recorded 10 strikeouts, giving her 71 in 49 innings in 2005.
“She’s pretty much a stud,” Winsor said of Berliner. “She always seems to get the job done.”
Pomona (8-2) seemed headed for avenging its only loss behind a strong pitching performance by Jen Brock until hitting trouble in the final inning. Brock recorded six strikeouts, mostly by utilizing a nasty changeup. The Panthers scored two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead on RBIs by Megan Hamilton and Mona Booco.
“Cory (Berliner) is more of a hit-her-spots pitcher,” Lobos coach Mike Crockett said comparing his ace to Pomona’s. “She throws hard, but she places the ball. Jenny (Brock) is more of a power pitcher. She throws it real hard. She throws a heavy ball.”
“It was a really gutsy performance by her,” Pomona coach Jim Biddle said of Brock. “She was suffering through back pain but she didn’t even tell me.”
Brock worked out of trouble in the fourth, when the Lobos had runners on second and third with none out before Brock recorded a strikeout and induced a fielder’s choice and infield flyout. The Lobos finally did get a run across in the fifth on an RBI single by Maureen McDaniel to take a 1-0 lead.
Pomona responded in the sixth, then Winsor won it.
“She works hard,” Crockett said of Winsor. “I had her in the right spot with runners on second and third. I knew if she made contact, she’d score those two and that’s what she did. She came through in the clutch.”
The win by Rocky Mountain was its third of the day, following a 9-1 victory over Ranum, and a 6-2 win over Dakota Ridge. Pomona advanced to the championship game by defeating East and Cherokee Trail, each 8-0.
In the third-place game, Cherokee Trail defeated Dakota Ridge 10-4 in six innings to improve to 8-2.
