When the dust cleared after the championship game of the Michelle Carew Classic last year, Rosary of Fullerton players were the ones with the highest honors. Photo: Harold Abend.
The 41st anniversary of the top tournament and grandmother of girls softball tournaments in California, and the 27th time it has been played as the Michelle Carew Classic, is going on this week at Peralta Park in Anaheim, and this year’s field is loaded.
Highly-ranked Fullerton (12-1) is ready to roll at this year’s Michelle Carew Classic and is currently ranked No. 2 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports rankings. The Indians are 1-0 since the latest rankings that were out on March 25 with a 4-0 victory over host Long Beach Poly. In that game, junior Katelynn Mathews threw a 3-hitter with 14 strikeouts. She’s 8-0 this season with a O.17 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 47 innings pitched.
Head coach Trevor Holton has several big bats in the line-up but the two top producers are Utah Valley-committed senior Hayley Brock and sophomore Kaylyn Yi. Brock is hitting .459 with to home runs, five doubles, 16 RBI and 17 runs scored. Yi leads the team with a .571 average with five doubles, five RBI and 13 runs scored.
Fullerton opens on Wednesday at 5:15pm against a Chino Hills (10-4) team that was No. 20 in the recent state rankings.
Fullerton has a 3-2 win over Norco at the Dave Kops tournament in Arizona but some SoCal softball analysts feel the favorite at the Carew still could be No. 3 ranked and preseason No. 1 Norco. Norco (9-2) also has a 2-0 loss to JSerra and has been idle since the last rankings. Norco was set to face Long Beach Millikan in its first tourney game.
Those two will not be the only two Cal-Hi Sports Top 25 teams to grace the Carew Classic field. Others include No. 10 Orange Lutheran, No. 13 Mater Dei of Chula Vista, and No. 19 Del Oro of Loomis will represent Northern California. Del Oro also is the team that won last year’s CIF NorCal D1 championship.
Remember admission is free and according to tournament director J.R. Bennett says the fields are in great shape despite some rain on Tuesday.
For tournament schedules and results, CLICK HERE.
