The essence of bigness

Glendale - Around the Barstow softball team Julianna Montona is simply known as "Big J."

The knickname comes from her 5-foot-11 height and her big personality. Saturday the knickname was reinforced when she came up in a big situation and delivered.

Montona led off the bottom of the 7th inning with the game tied, 5-5, against LA Valley at the Glendale Softball Tournament. Montona battled off a multitude of pitches before she connected and sent a blast to left center for a game winning home run. And as she crossed the plate her teammates were there to celebrate the dramatic victory.

"She battled and battled and then delivered," said coach Tim Syrek. "It was a Hollywood moment."

Barstow won the game 6-5 and finished the weekend 3-1.

"It was a tough weekend," Syrek added. "We did a lot of really good things and had some struggles. It was good to start playing and see where we need to improve."

Barstow opened the tournament Friday with a 2-1 loss to Oxnard. The Vikings battled back to beat Moorpark, 3-2, and then opened Saturday with an 8-1 win over Santa Monica. Alyssa Figueroa earned the win against Moorpark and Santa Monica. Vivien Gutierrez picked up a save against Moorpark and a win over LA Vallley.

Natalie Medina homered against Oxnard. Alyssa Zambrano had four hits on Friday and three more on Saturday. Kiki Hicks also homered on Saturday. Cheyenne Armstrong had four hits on the weekend.

Barstow heads to San Diego Grossmont on Saturday.