Amato pitches Cougars softball to tourney title

Technically, Danielle Amato is the No. 2 pitcher for Coronado's softball team.

On Tuesday, the Cougars freshman looked as if she could be the ace for almost any team.

Pressed into double duty because of an injury to staff ace Lee Harrison, Amato responded with two gems, tossing four shutout innings in the Cougars' final pool game and then firing a six-hitter to help Coronado (23-2) to a 6-1 win over Monte Vista (Calif.) in the Black Division championship game of the Charger Invitational at Big League Dreams.

"She really came through for us," Coronado coach Missy Krueger said of Amato. "We had to rely on her. Not bad for a freshman."

Amato threw 20 innings in four games in the two-day tournament and allowed just the one run in the title game.

Harrison injured her foot running the bases Monday and played third base in both of Coronado's games Tuesday.

"(Amato) hasn't pitched this much for us this year. We've relied on Lee," Krueger said. "She got four out of five wins for us, and that's huge for us. The girls know that if we have to make a change in the middle of the game that there is another pitcher."

Against Monte Vista in the title game, Amato allowed only one runner to safely advance past second, striking out two and getting 10 ground-ball outs in a game that was called in the sixth inning because of a time limit.

The lone mistake Amato made was on a 1-1 pitch to Monte Vista's Megan Sears to start the fourth. Sears crushed the ball over the left-field fence. Amato gave up two singles later in the inning but worked out of the jam holding a 2-1 lead.

Coronado finally gave Amato some breathing room with three runs in the fifth on Katie Cochran's RBI double and two errors. The Cougars tacked on a run in the sixth when Morgan Yuhas' sacrifice fly plated Amanda Garrison.

The Cougars grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second. Emily Hendrix scored on a two-out throwing error, and Garrison's infield hit brought in Kim Dawson.

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.