The Golden State Athletic Conference is proud to announce the 2023 Softball Tournament will begin next week, May 1st – 3rd at the OC Great Park in Irvine, California. Hope International will be the host of this year’s tournament with games beginning May 1st at 12:00 PM with the championship game being held May 3rd at 3:00 PM. An if necessary game will be held at 6:00 PM the same night if the team with no losses was to drop the championship game. The four qualifying teams are as follows.

Hope International will host the tournament and has secured the 1st seed. The Royals are sitting #24 in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll and finished out their GSAC season with an 18-6 record (35-12 overall). Allie Puente has been lights out for the Royals in the circle. Puente comes in third in the NAIA as she has an overall 0.60 ERA and first in wins (25) and strikeouts (335). Emma McCraw, Kassie Puente, and Emily Puente lead the offense for the Royals as they look to keep the bats hot. The regular season champions and newly appointed head coach Alex Mascarenas have high hopes for a successful run in the postseason for a shot at the GSAC Tournament title.

The Firestorm of Arizona Christian are your second seeded team for this year’s tournament. ACU had a very respectable year going 15-9 and securing a second seed bid this tournament season. With a final season sweep of Vanguard University, the Firestorm reached a 30 plus win season for the first time since 2019. Claire Buckley and Taylor Schleisman lead the team with the hot bat holding the top numbers in batting average all year long. Savannah Smith seeks to continue her victorious season in the circle with the help of her impressive defense behind her. The Firestorm will take on the Warriors of Jessup University Monday at 3:00 PM.

The third seeded team are the Warriors of Jessup University. The defending tournament champions earned a postseason bid with an end of the season sweep of Menlo College. The Warriors look to the big bats of Sarah Giles, Sam Lorge, and Aaliyah Pineda to stay hot come this postseason. The stellar performances in the circle of Terra Goetz and Serena Navarrete and deep bullpen arms of Katie Blankenheim and Bella McFarland have helped lead the Warriors back to SoCal for a postseason bid. The Warriors look to keep the momentum going from their end of the season sweep and bring the same energy to Irvine to bring the tournament title back to Rocklin!

Our fourth and final team in this year’s tournament are the Lions of Vanguard University. The Lion’s are very familiar with the intense competition as they were runner ups last season, making it to the championship game. Bianca Morales and Kaylee Williams lead the leader board in both fielding and hitting for the Lions. Brianna Williams also looks to continue her success in the circle come this week and hopes her team is right behind her to do so as well!
Vanguard will face Hope International at 12:00 PM on Monday to start off the 2023 conference tournament.
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Monday, May 1
Game 1           Seed #1 Hope International vs. Seed #4 Vanguard – 12:00 pm
Game 2           Seed #2 Arizona Christian vs. Seed #3 Jessup – 3:00 pm
 
Tuesday, May 2
Game 3           Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 12:00 pm
Game 4           Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 3:00 pm
Game 5           Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 – 6:00 pm
 
Wednesday, May 3
Game 6           Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 – 3:00 pm
Game 7           If Loser Game 8 has just one loss, two teams will play again at 6pm