Dominant pitching lifts Central
By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

Central's Angela Gillis (1) chases down West's Annie Betancourt (10) when Betancourt was trapped between first and second base. Below, West's Bianca Leal keeps her body in front of a sharply-hit ball to maintain control of the play. Photo by RUSLANA LAMBERT

Gates and the entire Central team stayed loose throughout Tuesday’s game against the West. And with such dominant pitching, why not? Central’s staff threw another one-hit shutout Tuesday, beating the worn-out West All-Stars 7-0 and moving to a 3-0 record for the Senior League Softball World Series.

“When you’ve got music like that — rhythm, the beats — that’s fun,” Gates said after the game. “You don’t have to be all tense. You have to have fun.”

After 19 days on the road, traveling from Southern California to Montana to Lower Delaware, the West players committed four errors on Tuesday and didn’t show their true selves, the team’s manager said.

“They’re a good team,” West Manager Jerry Mendoza said of Central. “But we faced better teams in divisionals. We’re not playing to our potential. A lot of the girls are tired and really homesick.”

Angela Gillis struck out seven West batters, allowed only one hit and no runs in seven innings Tuesday, throwing the second shutout for Central in as many days. Olivia Findley and Dani Campbell combined for a one-hit shutout in a 12-0 win against the Netherlands on Monday.

“I threw a lot of drop-balls,” Angela Gillis said. Pete Gillis, Central’s manager and Angela’s father, said that the team had studied game film of West before the game.

“They had a tough time with the low, outside pitches,” Gillis said, adding about his team’s pitching in general, “We have four good pitchers. It’s hard to find time to get all four in.”

Angela Gillis’ sister, Maria Gillis, allowed only one run in Central’s tournament opener Sunday against Southwest.