Douglas High School softball pitcher Erika Tapia came away with All-America honors at the Triple Crown Softball World Series in Park City, Utah several weeks ago.

Tapia, 16, daughter of Max and Lorena Tapia, had the type of tournament that caught the eye of several college scouts who plan on keeping their eye on her as she prepares for her junior season at DHS.

Tapia spent this past summer playing with the Tucson Impulse 93. She pitched in approximately 25 games and threw in four of the eight games they competed in at the World Series landing player of the game honors in two of the four games she threw. The Impulse 93 ended up finishing fourth out of 24 teams at the tournament.

Tapia’s Tucson coach nominated her to compete in a pitching competition at the World Series where the pitchers were asked to throw 10 pitches at a pitching radar. The pitcher who could throw the fastest over the 10 pitches would be determined the winner. Tapia was clocked at 61 miles per hour and ended up not only winning her division but the entire competition surpassing all the pitchers at the tournament.

Tapia’s mother, Lorena, said her daughter was competing against girls older than she was in the overall event. Erika was also asked to play in a special tournament all-star game which featured players from other teams.

As a result of her success at the World Series Erika has now been invited to compete in the Triple Crown USA tournament scheduled for next summer in New York. An estimated $2,000 is needed and the local family is now in the process of raising money in order for Erika to make the trip. The funds need to be raised by July 12, 2009.

“This was a tremendous experience for (Erika),” Lorena said. “Mentally and physically we’ve already seen a change in her. She has grown so much this past summer.”

Tapia, with the help of DHS softball coach Abe Grijalva, was put in contact with the Tucson Impulse coach. As a sophomore last year Tapia had a 15-6 record for Douglas High School and landed first team all-region honors.

“We contacted this team, they had a tryout for her and that was it,” Lorena said. “This turned out being a real good opportunity for her.”

Playing for the Impulse meant weekly trips to Tucson for practice not to mention playing on the weekends at various tournaments around the state.

Lorena admits it was hard at times on her and her husband and the rest of the family getting Erika to Tucson and back but looking back on the entire summer experience it was well worth it as the DHS pitcher had some success and is now drawing the attention of several colleges who would like her to come pitch for them once she graduates from DHS.

Erika said pitching at nationals was more challenging than pitching this past season for the Lady Bulldogs because the hitters were more disciplined and would not be so quick to go after “bad” pitches.

“I had to figure out their weaknesses really quick,” she said. “And I had to make sure they could not catch up to my fastball.”

Erika admits she was excited about winning the softball pitching event and a little surprised she was throwing as fast as she was.

“I had a lot of fun playing for the Impulse,” she said. “It was definitely a good experience for me.”

Tapia says when she steps into the pitchers circle this next season she is going to have a lot more confidence.

Erika says she also has learned a lot about team chemistry and how vital it can be towards helping or hurting a team.

 “Having good team chemistry is really important,” she said. “We all got along on the Impulse. We didn’t take criticism badly and when we did tell others what we thought they were doing wrong we took it as something good. We were always motivating each other.”

Tapia said there were some really good hitters at nationals and there was one hitter Tapia described who “was a beast.”

In the All-Star game several different pitchers threw each inning and she was selected to pitch the last inning of that game.

Prior to facing Tapia this particular hitter had hit several home runs previously off several different pitchers.

Tapia’s team was already losing at this point but the DHS pitcher said a lot of people at the game stopped what they were doing to see what she would do off her.

“They didn’t know I had pitched against her team earlier and she couldn’t hit me so I had a lot of confidence against her,” she said. “I knew her weakness so I threw her three pitches high and inside and struck her out.”

Tapia said the experiences she gained at nationals will only help her as she begins preparations for the upcoming softball season.

The DHS pitcher said her trips to Tucson would not have been possible had its not been for the help of some very generous supporters some of which include Maddux and Sons, McDonalds, Vertrees Welding and numerous family and friends.