Bonanza storms to win in Davison tourney

Ray Brewer

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 11:34 a.m.

The weather was so unbearable Wednesday afternoon that Bonanza pitcher Christy Carrasco couldn't feel the ball leave her hand.

Gusting winds produced a wicked, cool breeze at the Flamingo Softball Complex for the final round of the Fred Davison Memorial Softball Tournament.

But Mother Nature couldn't stop Carrasco and the Bengals. The sophomore pitcher struck out four and yielded just three hits in Bonanza's 6-2, five inning victory over Royal High School from Simi Valley, Calif., in the tournament's Silver Division title game.

The teams agreed to call the game after five innings due to the weather conditions.

"Everyone was freezing," Carrasco said. "By getting through this we know we can battle anything. It can't get much worse than this today."

Bonanza went 3-0 on Wednesday to win the title, posting a 4-2 win over Monte Vista, Calif., and a 6-1 victory over Hawthorne, Calif., en route to the championship round.

"The girls just love to play and enjoy being with each other," Bonanza coach Cheryl Speer said. "You have to give the girls credit for staying tough."

Against Royal, Bonanza would take advantage of three second inning errors to score five unearned runs and never look back.

Sara Bausher had the big hit for the Bengals, connecting on a two-run single to score Kelly Glass and Jaime Kohnke.

Bonanza didn't allow Royal's offense many opportunities to get back into the contest. The California team scored its only runs in the fifth and final inning. Stephanie Thomas had a run-scoring single for Royal.

The Bengals, who placed second in state last season, know how important the victory was.

"It's a great (confidence) builder," Carrasco said. "We have won back-to-back tournaments (the first being the St. George Warmup three weeks ago) and we are really picking it up."

In other action, Chaparral won by forfeit against Bonita Vista, Calif., in the Bronze Division title game while Bishop Gorman lost to Carson, Calif., 17-10 in the Red Division final. Cimarron-Memorial defeated Lowell, Calif., 9-4 to win the White Division title game.

Silverado defeated Durango 7-4 in the Gold Division before losing to Helix, Calif., 8-5.