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A Central Coast club softball team comprised of half San Luis Obispo County and half Santa Barbara County players (ages 18-and-under) has won a tournament in Colorado playing against teams from around the United States.
The I-5 softball team won its 18U division in the Triple Crown Colorado Sparkler tournament in its upper tier division field of 43 club teams that includes squads from Oregon, Texas, Utah, California, Washington, Illinois and others.
I-5 is an organization of softball teams based out of Santa Clarita with multiple teams in California.
Coach Jesse Acevedo said the Central Coast’s I-5 team won the title game 17-1 against the Washington Lady Hawks, a team from the Seattle area. During the event, they won nine of 11 games en route to the championship.
The tournament, held June 28-July 5, involves more than 1,000 teams from around the world in various youth divisions.
The Central Coast squad participated in an upper tier division for its age group called the Fireworks Power Pool division, among the top three levels for players 18 and under, he said.
“We’ve gone to this tournament three or four years in a row now,” Acevedo said. “We’ve done well, but this is the best we’ve ever done. And based on my research, I think we’re the first team from SLO County or Santa Barbara County to ever win out there. So it was pretty cool for them to go out there and do what they did.”
The team, made up of six San Luis Obispo County and six Santa Barbara County players, was led by Landrie Hinrichs, who’s entering her senior year at Mission Prep. Hinrichs, The Tribune’s SLO County softball player of the year, has committed to play softball at Cal Poly.
Hinrichs won four of the nine victorious tournament games as a starting pitcher, posting a 1.97 earned run average. Over the course of the 11 games, Hinrichs batted .484 with five home runs and 15 RBIs.
And recent Templeton High graduate, Jessie Branch, who has committed to play softball at Lake Erie College in Ohio, led the team in hitting with a .588, five home runs and 18 RBIs.
“As a team, we had we were awesome at the plate, and hitting the whole week,” Acevedo said. “As a team, we hit 20 home runs in the tournament.”
Other San Luis Obispo County players on the I-5 team are: Maggie Moore (Coastal Christian High), who’s committed to play at Gordon College in Massachusetts next year; Tegan Jay (who’s entering her junior year at Templeton next year); Kailana Howard (entering her senior year at SLO High); and Karly Ortega, a 2026 Arroyo Grande High graduate, who will attend Goldey-Beacom College in Delaware and play softball.
Other players on the team have played high school softball at Righetti, Pioneer Valley and St. Joseph in Santa Maria.
The team played in the PGF National Tournament in Huntington Beach over the weekend.
Mission Prep Alumna Commits to Seton Hall
In addition to other local players who have made their college commitments, Mission Prep graduate Violet D’Orazio-Lelli has committed to play softball in the Big East Conference at Seton Hall University next year, majoring in neuroscience.
D’Orazio-Lelli batted .317 with three home runs and 25 RBIs and eight doubles as a senior at Mission Prep, according to MaxPreps.com.
The 5-foot-7 utility player (who can play catcher, infielder and outfielder), whose hometown is Atascadero, will look back fondly playing four years of varsity softball at Mission Prep.
“I loved playing at Mission Prep,” D’Orazio-Lelli said. “I thought that all four years that I was there, the community of the team was so strong. I was always surrounded by players who wanted to be there and wanted to win and put in their best effort. And, I think especially my senior year, being one of three seniors, it was really special to be a part of that team.”
Mission Prep won the Division 4 CIF-Central Section softball title this year.
Mission Prep (18-16) beat South, of Bakersfield, 3-0 in the final, after finishing third in the Mountain League.
“To be able to see that all these girls have the heart to want to play, and end up winning with a small team, it just shows that it takes so much love and trust in each other, and it was really a fun season,” D’Orazio-Lelli said.
D’Orazio-Lelli, who currently plays on the Fresno Force club softball team, has played in tournament softball games and events in many areas around the country and even Italy.
“We just came back from the Colorado tournament, and on past teams, I’ve traveled to other places,” D’Orazio-Lelli said. “I played in Florida, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and I played in Italy.”
She said her high school, club softball and experience attending several softball camps helped prepare her for Seton Hall, which is located in New Jersey, and has an indoor practice facility for chilly winter months.
“One thing that stood out to me about Seton Hall is just that when I was there on campus and Coach (Angie) Churchill was talking to me, it just felt so like welcoming,” D’Orazio-Lelli said. “It didn’t feel like I had to prove anything. It just felt like a relationship had already bonded, and that was a really big part of the decision for me because there was no awkwardness. And another big thing, my dad (Gregory Lelli) went to Seton Hall, so I thought that was really cool.”
D’Orazio-Lelli, who also played tennis and soccer at Mission Prep and earned a cumulative 4.25 grade point average, said that she wants to be the best hitter that she can be. With power as a pull hitter, she has worked on hitting to the opposite field and said she strives to be productive and selfless.
“At the end of the day, I just want to be beneficial to my team,” D’Orazio-Lelli said.
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