Champions: La Cañada Wildfire Win Western Nationals

The La Cañada Wildfire didn't win districts, and they came up short of a title in last month's state softball tournament.

But they sure picked a good time to claim their first hardware of the summer. The Wildfire topped Norwalk by a score of 8-2 last week to cap a perfect run in the ASA Softball Girls "B" 16-Under Fast Pitch Western Nationals in Prescott, Ariz.

The Wildfire finished second at the district level and third in the state tournament behind champion Norwalk, but they recovered to knock of the state champs in the final two games of competition to bring the title back to La Cañada.

The Wildfire went 7-0 en route to the championship and were the only squad to drop fewer than two games during the tournament. LC opened play with a 9-6 win over the Fresno Range. The Wildfire then crushed the Arizona Avengers and Corona by a combined score of 29-0, before sneaking out a 2-1 win over the Lemoore Tigers.

The win over the Tigers was the Wildfire's closet call. LC then blanked a New Mexico squad, 4-0, and topped Norwalk 6-4 to advance to the championship clinching game.

The Wildfire scored a total of 58 runs in seven games. Michelle Grochow led the way with 10 RBIs including four in the championship game, while Olivia Leyva hit two two-run home runs and a double in the last two games.

The majority of the Wildfire's roster was made up of players from the La Cañada High School program, including one player from the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 champion varsity squad, Annie Monroe.

Below is the complete roster of the championship squad:

Brenna Gay (LCHS); Shelly Musso (LCHS); Maddy MacKenzie (LCHS); Olivia Leyva (LCHS); Katy Lee (LCHS); Annie Monroe (LCHS); Michelle Grochow (LCHS); Olivia Lam (LCHS); Clair O'Connor (CV); Shiyin Lim (CV); Kelly Berg (Pasadena Poly); Jenny Pegg (Temple City); Bianca Cockrell (Bonita High).

Coaches: Chuck Gunter (LCHS softball coach); Sam Gay; Tim Grochow; Jack MacKenzie.