Team Jensen pulls major upset in HCC softball tournament

By Bob Balgemann

REPORTER

Team Jensen finished third in a field of four during this year’s regular season of the Harlem Community Center baseball and softball summer program.

Team Hawkinson won the Coach Pitch Girls Softball Division championship with a perfect 12-0 record. Against third place Jensen they scored victories of 18-9, 15-2, 7-6 and 7-1.

But then the postseason tournament came around. And this is a time when anything can happen.

Hawkinson’s winning ways continued in the opening game with a 9-4 victory over Heatherman. Jensen scored a mild upset by defeating the second-place team, Smith, 11-10.

The surprise came midway through the round-robin event.

In what proved to be the championship game Brandy Jensen’s team stunned Hawkinson, 16-11. Then her girls put the icing on the celebration cake by knocking off Heatherman, 15-7, in the final game of the tournament.

Other HCC softball champions included Team Myers (4-0) in the Pee-Wee Girls Division; Team Bri McKnight (4-0) in the Midget Girls Division and Team Brassfield (4-0) in the Galaxy Girls Division.

All three of those winners were regular season champions in their respective divisions. Brassfield was the defending champion in both its division and tournament.

Team Jensen compiled a 4-8 record during the regular season and was the only underdog to claim a tournament title. Coach Jensen said that was “awesome, really cool” for her players and coaches.

The game was tied 6-6 after the first inning. Then Jensen went ahead and stayed there for the rest of the game.

“It was really a team victory,” she said. “Almost all of my girls hit really well. Balls were caught, which doesn’t happen that much.”

Girls 6-9 years of age made up this team, which was coached by Brandy Jensen, her dad and her husband. Over the years she said her dad coached her oldest son; her husband coached their middle son; and now she coached their daughter. Ray’s Alignments has been a team sponsor for the past 19 years.

Other champions

Three of the four teams that finished 1-2 in their divisions played for the various tournament champions, with the first-place winners claiming all of the titles.

Team Myers had one close game in the Pee-Wee Division, an 18-12 win over Brockett in the second outing. Coach Joe Brockett’s team handed Myers its only loss of the season, 13-9, back on June 30.

Myers won other preliminary encounters, 7-0 and 17-0, before toppling Triplett, 8-1, to take the tournament title. Triplett’s earlier wins were 20-6, 11-5 and 22-1.

In the Midget Division, eventual champion Bri McKnight scored 19-7, 21-9 and 22-4 victories before defeating Wilhelmi, 11-6, in the finals. Wilhelmi, who handed McKnight its only loss of the regular season, reached the title game with 7-0, 17-6 and 14-10 victories.

Brassfield took on Rodriguez in the Galaxy Girls opening game, which proved to be for championship, and won, 8-5. Back on June 6 Rodriguez, which finished 3-1 in the tournament, handed Brassfield its only loss of the regular season, 14-10.

Lawver finished in the middle of the tournament group with a 2-2 record while Byrne (1-3) and Lauer (0-4) rounded out the field.