Official Site of the Corona Angels 18Gold - Howard

The Angels 18 Gold squad already had an automatic berth into the prestigious tournament. That team's sister squad earned one of four available berths Sunday afternoon at the regional qualifier at Diamond Valley Lake Community Park.

This Angels team, coached by Kim Howard, bounced back from an earlier loss to defeat the SoCal Raiders (Valencia), 3-0.

"(Angels director) Marty Tyson has always set the bar high, and we're honored to represent the Angels organization," Howard said. "This team played 16s last year. Marty chose to elevate us, and we're just trying to meet that challenge."

Destinee Levesque, who comes in from Reno, Nev., to compete in tournaments, tossed a four-hit shutout to pick up the win for the Angels. On the final out, she fielded a ground ball and raced to first base to beat the runner.

Levesque struggled with her command in an appearance earlier in the day and was lifted after walking two batters in the first inning. She had no control issues during the final game against the Raiders, her old travel ball club.

"I definitely was motivated," Levesque said. "I didn't have it in that earlier game, but I'm glad I came through here."

Britney Rodriguez had three hits and drove in all three runs for the Angels. Her solo home run in the first inning gave the team the early advantage it desperately wanted.

"We needed an early lead to take some of the pressure off," said Rodriguez, who plays high school ball at West Covina South Hills. "I saw a good pitch there and just hit it well."

Rainey Gaffin, who lives in Colorado, might have had the biggest hit of day for the Angels. With the team down to its final out and trailing by two runs, Gaffin crushed a walkoff three-run home run that led to a 6-5 win over TNL (Temecula).

The other three berths went to Courage (Yorba Linda), Diamonds (Calabasas) and Pure (Huntington Beach). Courage has three players from Corona Santiago's recent title-winning team.

Courage won five straight games to earn its berth.

"It's been a great couple of weeks," said Lauren Sweet, one of the Santiago players on the Courage team. "Last year we went down to the final game in loser's bracket. It was great to take care of things early and not have to worry about qualifying until the end."

Reach Eric-Paul Johnson at 951-368-9530 or ejohnson@PE.com