
By Cole Kim
The softball title has made its way back to JFK!
The JFK Islanders won the IIAAG girls high school softball championship title Wednesday evening, beating the Academy Cougars 8-4 in the ‘If’ game at the Okkodo Field after Saturday’s normally scheduled game got pushed back due to rain.
“It was definitely a team effort,” explained Erynn Blaz, “We had to watch out for every pitch from Academy because we know they’re a really good team.”
The Islanders tallied up an impressive eight runs and held the Academy Cougars to just four runs with six innings of pitching from Pillar George. The stellar George was backed all night by a ready-to-go defense, with George ending the night with a total of eight strikeouts.
The JFK offense looked in top form – best it has in a while, getting 13 base hits, five of which were RBIs, and two runs were scored from sacrificial fly balls slugged by the biggest hitters.
“I just think that we played with all of our hearts, and everybody was supportive with each other, with me, the catcher, the outfield, the dugout was screaming their hearts out,” said JFK pitcher George.
Ashley Mendiola pitched all game for Academy as she has done all playoffs long.
Academy had a disastrous 3rd inning where the Islanders opened fire on the young Mendiola. George, Viannka Leon Guerrero and Olivia Iriarte cashed in hits with Iriarte notching a two-run double to give the Islander offense a big boost to take a 6-2 lead.
The Cougar offense struggled with consistency all evening, with four of their seven innings ending with runners on base.
Gameflow
The scoring got underway, by both teams, very quickly. JFK scored two runs in the first inning, Both of which were RBI doubles, one from Pillar George, the other from Olivia Iriarte. This made the score 2-0, Islanders winning. But when the Cougars arrived at the plate, they scored a pair of their own runs. These runs came from an in the park homerun hit by Aubrienne Esplana, making the score 2-2.
Enter the bottom of the third, the Islanders had their breakout effort, scoring a total of four runs. One of these runs came from a sacrifice fly ball, and the others came from a pair of RBI singles. The score was now 6-2, Islanders with a big lead.
The last two Islander runs came along in the fifth inning. One was another sacrificial fly ball, while the other run came from an RBI hit by Erynn Blaz
“The way we played tonight, I wouldn’t compare this game with any other games,” said Blaz.
The JFK defense just had to do their job for the remainder of the game to win it, and they did their job right, holding the Cougars to just two runs. Both of these runs came from RBI double hit by Ashley Mendiola prior to the final out.
The final score of the game was 8-4.
“I was very locked in, since the beginning of the day, I was ready. This game was all, could think about at school,” said George, about her eight total strikeouts over the Cougars.
The IIAAG softball season reached it’s conclusion in classic fashion, JFK bringing home the championship trophy for the second time in three years.
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GPS Sports Calendar
March 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for February
28th
Events for March
2nd
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL FINALS
Events for March
3rd
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
ISA GIRLS SOCCER FINALS
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL FINALS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL FINALS
Events for March
4th
35th RAINBOWS FOR ALL CHILDREN 3.5 MILER
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE FINALS
Events for March
5th
MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS ROUND 3
Events for March
5th
Events for March
6th
Events for March
7th
Events for March
9th
Events for March
11th
GSPN PRESEASON BOYS VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT DAY 1
Bank of Guam Block Party 5K
Events for March
12th
Events for March
13th
Events for March
14th
Events for March
15th
Events for March
17th
World Athletics Indoor Championships
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Events for March
18th
PAY-LESS KICK THE FAT 5K/10K
World Athletics Indoor Championships
Events for March
19th
Events for March
21st
Events for March
22nd
Events for March
24th
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Events for March
25th
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Events for March
26th
MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS ROUND 4
Events for March
26th
Events for March
28th
ISA GIRLS SOFTBALL
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Events for March
28th
Events for March
30th
ISA GIRLS SOFTBALL
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Events for March
31st
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Volleyball
VOLLEYBALL KICKS OFF BUSY 4TH QUARTER SPORTS

Volleyball
VOLLEYBALL KICKS OFF BUSY 4TH QUARTER SPORTS
COMING SOON …
- 4th Quarter Sports
QUICK HITS
Guam MTB National Championship: Edward Oingerang and Jennifer Camacho are your 2023 MTB national champions. Oingerang finished the course in 1:13:24 while Camacho won her second straight title in 54:08.
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Kobe Miyashita, with St. John’s coach Arvin Flores, was named the 2023 IIAAG Middle School Boys Volleyball MVP!