BY KEN MORSE
CITIZEN’S NEWS
It’s been a very successful summer on the softball diamond for the Valley Fusion’s younger teams. The 12U team finished as runner-up in the Fast Pitch Nation Summer Nationals and the 10U squad won the Central Valley Fast Pitch League championship.
The 12U team, led by coach TJ Giambra, created a lot of excitement within the Fusion program, and they did it in style in a national tournament. After squeaking out a 2-0 win over PA Chaos on July 25, the Fusion put on their hitting shoes and busted out to a 15-1 win over NJ Ruthless and an 11-3 win over Empire State.
That brought on the CT Bombers and Peighton Giambra went out and pitched the game of the tournament, tossing a perfect game in a convincing 13-0 win. The Fusion went on to put three more games into the win column to finish the tournament with a 7-2 mark.
“Peighton was pretty excited,” said proud dad and coach TJ Giambra. “Actually we had some strong pitching performances throughout the tournament. Riley (Hite) pitched a great couple of games for us.
“As a team we had been playing really well leading up to this tournament. We lost a tough one to a really tough Rhode Island Thunder team. The girls came into this tournament pretty confident and we kept winning and the confidence just kept building.”
Giambra continued: “We played really well defensively. Our pitchers, all three of them, did a great job for us. Certainly a great way to finish a season and a great memory to have for all the girls.”
Morgan Luddy led a strong hitting performance, belting a home run in a 17-0 win over the Delco Diamonds on July 28. The Fusion had the pitching to carry them with Giambra going 2-1 and Hite posting a 5-1 record with a stingy 0.58 ERA.
Along with Luddy Giambra and Hite, the Fusion 12U players were: Mia Cunningham, Ayla Decrescenzo, Lila DiBona, Kaylee Goldstein, Morgan Miceli, Sofia Dankiefsen, Aylin Lahey, Sydney Delpo and Angelina Tottenham.
The 10U team, led by coach Jen Guarino, compiled a 28-9-2 mark to win the CVFL title. The Fusion U10 players were: Myla DeRosa, Maddie Montini, Gia Savarese, Leah Guarino, Paige Kovach, Gillian Wynus, Caralina Landolfi, Courtney Barton, Gracie Spring and Arabella Carboni.
