Senior striker Jen Abel broke the Pacific girls career record with her 179th goal, one of four she scored Saturday in Kadena’s regular-season finale, a 5-2 victory over FC Vic sa le at Kadena High School’s upper field.

The record of 178 was set by Abel’s sister, Dianne, last season. Jen Abel also tied her Pacific season record with her 70th goal — something she said she wasn’t really trying to do at the start of the season.

“I wanted for me to have one record and for her to have the other,” Jen Abel said.

But as the season went on, and after she had returned home to Okinawa for summer break from college, Dianne said she wanted Jen to break the record. “That would be so cool,” she said. “I want her to do it.”

“Records are there to break and show what you can do. It’s all good,” Jen said.

Kinnick wins Kanto baseball tournamentThe last time Kinnick reached the championship game of the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools baseball tournament, 10 years ago, the Red Devils suffered a no-hit shutout at the hands of American School In Japan.

“Well, we got plenty of hits today,” coach Kyle Siftar said after Kinnick totaled 16 in a 14-7 semifinal victory over Yokota and 12 as the Red Devils beat ASIJ 8-6 in Saturday’s title game at St. Mary’s International School.

Josh Preston paced Kinnick by going 7-for-9 in the two games with seven RBIs, including a bases-clearing double in the first inning that “set the tone” for the Devils in the championship game.

It was a long way to the top for a team that last year fielded mostly freshmen, but played its way to an 18-2 overall record, 12-1 in DODDS-Japan play.

“This is huge,” Siftar said. “The whole community has rallied around us. We’re loving it.”

Osan repeats baseball title; Seoul softball returns to topFor the second straight year, the Osan American Cougars stand atop the DODDS-Korea baseball heap. The Seoul American Falcons returned to the girls softball throne after a one-year absence.

Seoul American won three makeup games on Friday, then another on Saturday to complete an unbeaten regular season (9-0). Osan ran its record to 8-0 by shutting out Taegu American 10-0 in Saturday’s season finale at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul.

Falcons coach Julian Harden credited an influx of “new talent that did well,” citing new shortstop Lindsay Clark and second baseman Maria Garcia, along with pitcher Christine Spann, whom he said “neither Osan nor Taegu could hit.”

“We’re a really young team, we only lose two seniors, so we’ll be tough for years to come,” Harden said.

DODDS-Korea teams were frustrated by having as many rainouts as games played, Osan coach Rick Mitchell said.

“When you’re undefeated, you love that, but we really wanted to play more games,” he said. “We had just as many wins as we had opportunities to play washed out.”

Kubasaki, Kadena win district baseball, softball crownsMichael Bennett’s bat proved to be the big difference as Kubasaki broke Kadena’s four-season stranglehold on the Okinawa Activities Council district baseball championship.

Bennett singled in the winning run to cap a seven-run seventh inning as the Dragons rallied past the Panthers 11-10 on Friday. His two-run homer in the third inning proved to be the difference as Kubasaki won the best-of-three series 2-0 with a 2-1 victory over Kadena on Saturday.

Kadena won the OAC district girls softball title for a fifth straight season, beating the Dragons in their best-of-three series 7-2 on Friday and 6-4 on Saturday.

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