Jessica Acosta
Age 15 | School Central Union High | Grade 11
EL CENTRO — The 16-and-under Athletes Mercado softball team finished second overall in the 16-U Premier National Championship tournament, which took place July 29 to Aug. 4 in Anaheim.
Helping the A’s finish second in the nation with an overall record of 6-1 was Jessica Acosta.
Acosta, 16, anchored at second base and batted for .467 throughout the tournament in the No. 2 slot in the lineup for her team.
Along the way to the championship game, the A’s had two shutout wins: a 2-0 win against Impact Gold and a 1-0 win against the Georgia Firecrackers.
In the tournament’s championship game, which was nationally televised this week on Fox Sports West Prime and was played at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, the A’s fell short against the Birmingham (Ala.) Thunderbolts, 4-1.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Acosta explained. “If you compared players to players, we were pretty much even the whole way. But when it came down to it, we made a couple more mistakes than they did, and they got a little more key hits. All in all, we played pretty well.”
As a personal strategy during the tourney, Acosta tried to estimate and figure out any tendencies her opponents had.
“So I see how many times have they’ve thrown this pitch, how many times has this person hit the ball to this place,” the 16-year-old said. “Since I bat second, the girl that bats before me is also a lefty like me, so if I saw that she threw her three outside pitches, I’m going to look for an outside pitch, or if she threw her a rise ball,
I’m going to try to lay off that pitch. So it’s really looking ahead and planning, so when you get into the box you have a plan.”
Acosta had been playing in the Premier tournament since she was in the 12-U division. Throughout her five years of playing in the tournament, Acosta admitted the 16-U was the most intense she’s experienced.
“Every year the pitchers get better, the players get bigger, faster and stronger,” Acosta said. “So this year was the hardest.”
Acosta, who just began her junior year at Central Union High and her second season starting at second base for the school’s softball team, verbally committed to play softball for the University of Mississippi once she graduates from CUHS.
In the tournament, Acosta enjoyed that she got to see other players throughout the nation that she’ll be playing against once she’s at Ole Miss.
“It was really cool because on the rosters, we get this pamphlet and it shows where everyone is going to school,” Acosta said. “So I could be playing other girls that are going to the SEC, like Tennessee or LSU, and it’s like, ‘Oh, when I get to college, I’m going to be playing against these girls.’ And it’s also a cool experience because the girls on my team I’m also going to be playing against in college.”