News and Announcements
WISCONSIN TWISTER'S SPRING/SUMMER 2010 NEWSLETTER #2
We would like to welcome more new Sponsors for the 2010 Season
We are fortunate to have so many returning sponsors for the 2010 season; AC Auto Repair, Neider & Knoll Dental S.C.,Warren Eye Care Center, The Cozy Inn, Educator’s Credit Union, Horizon Credit Union, Landmark Credit Union, the Old Timer’s Athletic Club (O.T.A.C), Raymond Elementary School,Raymond Baseball Association, and Dr. Randall C. Moles D.D.S. have returned and pledged support to the Twisters for the upcoming season. THANK YOU ALL!
We are excited to welcome our new sponsors in 2010; Neo-Brake Systems, Inc. in Milwaukee, Leo T. Jackson Memorial Fund established (to honor a Grandfather), Ruma Sports, located in Union Grove, the main supplier of uniforms and spiritwear worn by the Twister’s Organization, Horny Goat Brewery, Horny Goat Hideaway and the Sorenson family, Runzheimer International, Taylor Made Express, The Brickyard, Maass Excavating, Scan Group, Inc.
We appreciate the generousity of this year’s sponsors! We hope you will get an opportunity to come see us in action on the softball diamonds this summer. Finally, we also would like to thank Bill and Pam Gemmel, Twister Sponsorship Directors, for doing the important recruiting of our 2010 sponsors and community partners
Mark the weekend of June 5th and 6th to come out and cheer on the 10 and Unders (10U’s), 12U’s and 14U’s Twister teams as they participate in the 5th annual Spring Fling tournament being held at the Raymond School diamonds located behind the school on Hwy U(76th Street) and a few blocks south of 5 Mile Rd. in the Town of Raymond. Raymond Baseball Association has been gracious over the past several seasons, loaning the use of their fields and their concession area, for our wonderful season kick-off tournament. Over the years we have served the BEST concession food too, so come out to watch and have a burger or brat! This is our main fund-raiser for the year – and we hold our collective breaths each year watching the weather. Please send all your good thoughts our way that the weather cooperates again this year. We will have 4 teams entered into our tournament and wish them all great fun and success in their brackets. This is a great time to come out and watch the girls play and meet our families…they would all like the chance to thank you in person.
There will be raffle prizes from the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks and Milwaukee Brewers along with many other wonderful items.
Twister High School Heroics This season Twister players have been getting their names in the paper consistantly for all of their outstanding play and accomplishments.
Racine Lutheran’s High School team boasts several Twister players, and they all have been racking up stats and wins. Sam K. Junior, pitcher has several wins this season and broke her own record for strikeouts with 158 as of last week. She has kept Racine Lutheran in all of their games with her stingy defense. Junior Kim G’s bat has been hot all season, and she has hit for power, bunted, brought in runners on base, hit for the cycle and driven in dozens of her team’s runs scored. Sophomore Brianna Mallo has power numbers at the plate, hitting several home runs and extra base hits to bring up her RBI totals as well. Junior Izzy M. and Freshman Elizabeth S. have also gotten
Mention in the local press for their contributions on offense and defense. This team seems to have an awful lot of Twister-power. On their JV team, Heather S. and Devon H. are working hard to produce. Devon is pitching for the team as a freshman.
The Union Grove High School team has several notable Twister ties, with Brian J. coaching, Sophomore Amber J. playing 1st, Alecia F. catching, and Toni D. and Abagail S. are working on a trip up to varsity from their positions on JV. This team has been making waves in the Southern Lakes conference and look to go far into the playoffs with great defense, pitching and hitting. Emily J. who pitches for Sussex Hamilton High School has had a wonderful debut this season on the mound, and has notched some wins and some saves, and has added to her stats with several hits at the plate. Oak Creek High School is having a banner year and there are several Twister players leading that effort as well; Dana D. has pitched and won every game for the JV team, Lauren C., Megan S, Haleigh B are all starting JV and working hard on both sides of the ball. Freshman Ali Sneed starting 2nd base on Varsity has had some amazing home runs, also on Varsity, Junior Nicole Stefaniak SS and 2nd Base has been doing stellar on defense and running the bases. At Thomas More High School, Ali B. is leading the board in RBIs and batting average to help that team’s efforts. Amber R. who plays for Whitnall High School this year recently hit her first home run and has helped with her pitching begin the season 3-0. Aly P,, a senior, is having another outstanding season at South Milwaukee High School both on the mound and at the plate. Finally, Riley H. who is a freshman at Burlington High School has gotten to play up at Varsity a few games, and was put in to finish/save a game recently. She has had a great beginning to her high school softball career, and she also plays 2nd when not pitching. It will be fun to watch these players as they get near the end of the regular season and head into playoffs...we congratulate all of our High School players ~ thank you for keeping us in the loop!
Twister Coaches
The Twister coaches don’t always get much of the space in the Newsletter, but they are all the cream of the crop. Beginnning from the top, with Lou Aponte who does all of the training and coaching seminars to the newest assistant coaches…this is a group of people who give hours and hours of their time to work with the players and help them improve their softball skills. They all love the sport and the players, and they are able to communicate this enthusiasm to their teams and keep them positive even when the chips are down. TheTwisters have taken on many girls as projects over the years, even though other fastpitch teams might have turned them away. Our coaches find a way to include all of the players all of the time, and make these girls feel part of the team. Our Head Coaches for the 2010 seaon are; Brian Johnson 18U, Stu Feit and Guy DeCheck 16U, DiAnna Johnson 14U, Steve Baumgartner 14U, Rick Ballew 12U and
Monica Ballew 10U. They will head up coaching staffs with some of the best assistant coaches in the area as well. We believe that one reason all of the high school girls mentioned above have had so much success on the field is because of the amazing staff that works with these players all year round. Our coaches are the best to be found in the travel team arena and we thank them for their time.
Twister Player Congratulations
Jaelyn W. from Oak Creek has been tearing up the records for Track at her middle school. She finished 1st in the 55 and the 100 yard dashes recently. Another middle school Twister who has been working hard on her other sport, Ashley L. played for a basketball team that finished in 2nd place in the Wisconsin Basketball tournament. Great athletes!Congratulations (a little belated) to a local Twister player and hunter….she got her first buck this past deer hunting season and sent us
….congrats to Becca B. She can be seen rounding the bases this summer with the 10U team.
Highlights on Sponsors
We have several area sponsors who we would like to have an opportunity to highlight their business and fun facts about them all.
If you would like to see your company information highlighted in this newsletter please send me the information you would like to have included. Many of our sponsors have direct ties to the Twister organization, including Neo-Brake Systems. This company was started by Rick and Monica Ballew, head coaches of the 12U and 10U teams respectively. They have two daughters who also play for these teams,
And the younger daughter was the catalyst for beginning the 10U team for it’s first season. She did all of the recruiting and brought in an amazing number of great athletes to our team. They have promised an overview of their company’s business in a coming newsletter.
Another local family is in the brewing business and started the wildly successful Horny Goat Brewery and Horny Goat Hideaway. The Sorenson’s from this area have been great new partners, and hope to continue this relationship further. They have a daughter also playing on the Twister’s roster.
Warren Eye Care is a private optometric practice devoted to the care of patients of all ages. From a few days old to 100 years of age, we've cared for all types and ages of patients. ?We also have a surgeon in our office to provide any surgical eye care that our patients may need. Please take a minute to visit their website: www.warreneyecarecenter.com.
The Brickyard Company is located in Milwaukee and was started over 30 years ago by it’s founder Art Leinweber, and currently run by his son Nathan. This is a company who has been a generous sponsor in the past and we are really grateful for their return. They specialize in bricks and stone for commercial and residential construction and remodeling. This sponsor was brought to the Twisters by Glen Mikolajczyk, who has numerous construction related businesses ties. Maass Excavating is another construction business that was recruited by Glen, and they are located in Oak Creek and have over 30 years of excavation experience. Kurt Maass, owner, and Glen are also business partners in another company that has built 100s of condominium units over the past several years.
Leo T. Jackson Memorial was begun with donations given in Leo’s name by Twister families close to the Mikolajczyk family. Deb’s dad, Leo passed away in October of 2009, and these donations along with those from Callie and Megan (grand-daughters) made up this tribute.
Randy and Kitty Cole are community partners that should enjoy some of the recognition in this newsletter, because they have spent the
Past 20+ years donating their time to the Raymond Baseball/Softball Association. They have been instrumental in growing the area
Baseball and softball participation and improving the diamonds and concession area at Raymond school diamonds. They have spent years working to field the rec league teams and scheduling games/practices for the diamonds, and it is never-ending once the snow melts.
Just about anytime there are games being played you will find them up at the fields watching and helping work the diamonds.
Another community partner and a new sponsor this year, is Ruma Sports, located on Main street in downtown Union Grove. The bulk of their business is uniforms, spiritwear, sporting equipment, medals, trophies, and collectables. The Wisconsin Twisters get all of their uniforms and spiritwear from Rumas sports, as well as some of our helmets, softballs and equipment. We also use Ruma Sports for the tournament medals and trophies. We have been able to work closely with this team to design some unique and attractive uniforms for our players to wear on the field. We are glad to have them as our partner and our supplier. Check them out for other team gear – area high schools and some Green Bay Packers gear also available, as well as equipment.
The Wisconsin Twister’s are grateful to all of our 2010 Sponsors and thank them for their generosity.
The Twister’s thank The Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Brewers and the Green Bay Packers for providing raffle prizes in the past, and we also thank our local Amerigas for helping hold down our costs to grill food during our Spring Fling Tournament. This year we are adding raffle gifts donated by Milwaukee Admirals, Milwaukee Wave and Harley Davidson.
Sponsors are very important members of our organization and we realize that during a weak economy, your contributions are even more special. Thank you again, from all of our parents, players and coaches. Hope to see you and meet you sometime this summer!
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WISCONSIN TWISTER’S SPRING 2010 NEWSLETTER#1
Welcome New Sponsors to 2010 Season
We are fortunate to have so many returning sponsors for the 2010 season. Already, Warren Eye Care Center, The Cozy Inn, Educator’s Credit Union, Horizon Credit Union, Wendy’s, Landmark Credit Union and the Old Timer’s Athletic Club (O.T.A.C), Raymond School and Raymond Baseball Association, Dr. Randall C. Moles D.D.S. have returned and pledged support to the Twisters for the upcoming season. We are excited to welcome our new sponsors in 2010; Neo-Brake Systems, Inc. in Milwaukee, Leo T. Jackson Memorial Fund established (to honor a Grandfather), Ruma Sports, located in Union Grove, the main supplier of uniforms and spiritwear worn by the Twister’s Organization, Horny Goat Brewery and Horny Goat Hideaway
Wisconsin Twisters Host 5th Annual Spring Fling Tournament
Mark the weekend of June 5th and 6th to come out and cheer on the 10 and Unders (10U’s), 12U’s and 14U’s Twister teams as they participate in the 6th annual Spring Fling tournament being held at the Raymond School diamonds located behind the school on Hwy U (76th Street) and a few blocks south of 5 Mile Rd in the Town of Raymond. Raymond Baseball Association has been gracious over the past several seasons, loaning the use of their fields and their concession for our wonderful season kick-off tournament. Over the years we have served the finest concession food as well, so come out to watch and have a burger or brat! This is our main fund-raiser for the year – and we hold our collective breaths each year watching the weather. Please send all your good thoughts our way that the weather cooperates again this year. We will have 4 teams entered into our tournament and wish them all great fun and success in their brackets.
Wisconsin Twisters to Host 1st Annual Mid-Summer Bash
Get ready to end the summer season with the Twisters Mid-Summer Bash. This tournament will be running August 6th-8th at Raymond Diamonds. What a great way for our older levels 14U, 16U and 18U to end the summer season with a fun “Bash”. We are excited to be able to host this 2nd tournament and look forward to hosting 18 teams from the surrounding areas. Thank you Raymond Baseball Association for giving the Wisconsin Twisters such a great opportunity to give back to each level of play in Girls Fastpitch.
Welcome to our newest addition – the 10U team
We are quite excited to add a team of really young softball players – the 10 and Under team. The Twister’s have never had a team at this age level and think it is a great way to get girls started playing at a younger age, while learning the rules and skills correctly. This group of girls has a ton of character and charm. They will make you stand up and cheer when they take the field. They have their first organized tournament this spring in April at an indoor tournament in Madison. Good luck to them all!
Wisconsin Twisters Winter Tournaments continue to be great warm ups for the 2010 season
This winter all of the Twister teams were fortunate to participate in indoor tournaments held in Middleton, WI for the third year in a row. These winter games help new team members get familiarized with their teammates and coaches and the team bonding is always an important by-product of the experience. Twister teams have placed near the top and all were at least in the middle of the standings at the end of their weekends. The Twister girls played hard and had fun. We have some new coaches and enjoy watching them win their first games and hearing their motivational pep talks when they lose a tough one.
What’s Next for the Twisters?
Following the winter indoor tournaments all of our attention will be focused upon the approaching Spring Fling. We also have our teams registered in their respective summer double-header leagues and each team has several summer tournaments to prepare for. It’s a very busy time of year for our high school age players as they are heading into try-out weeks. Several players will be returning Varsity players on their H.S. teams and many freshman players are trying out for Freshman, JV and Varsity. We hope they all are successful during their try-outs and get to play on the team of their choice. We have a couple of past Twister players who have found success at the college level and will be playing NCAA fastpitch softball. Crissy A., one of the original Twister members, has gone on to play for St. Norbert’s, and Maggie P. will play at a college in southern Wisconsin. We hope that our Twister players’ high school teams have a great spring season and they all advance to State Tournament.
Twister Player/Coach Highlights
Lauren C. from Raymond Elementary School (14U SC team) has been tearing up the Spelling Bee circuit. She is headed to Badger Sate Spelling Bee as a multi-year winner from Raymond School. Besides her spelling success, Lauren has been informed that she has earned an invitation to the State Geography Bee in April. Please keep your fingers crossed for her to advance to the National levels. We have two girls Amber J. and Alecia F. from Union Grove H.S. Varsity who were invited to the Colorado Sparkler Tournament this summer to play on a National level All Star Team. Congratulations to them for being highlighted as young underclassmen prospects. There are two girls from one of our 14U team, Ashley S. (Franklin) and Jaelyn W. (Oak Creek) who will be competing in March Madness (Wisconsin version) with their local Basketball team… we wish them a lot of success during the tournament run. Another 14U player has been awarded a very exciting honor - to represent her school in Oak Creek as part of an exchange program with China. She will be travelling to China for several weeks in March and has learned enough of the Mandarin language to be able to communicate on the trip. Bon Voyage to Claire B. Coach Callie (14Us ) will be finishing her first year at UW-Stout where she plays NCAA tennis and has enrolled in a “Coaching Certificate” program beginning next season. Finally, we have Devon (14U) who has been ringing up trophys and awards in her family’s profession handling Show Dogs. She has competed all over the country and recently enjoyed success at the Westmister Dog Show and took a 4th in the first round as a Junior Handler. Her older sister who was also a Twister for several years competes and has won several awards. All in all we have over 70+ girls now playing for the Wisconsin Twisters. They are all very successful academically and in other sports as well as being remarkable softball players. We are proud of each and every one of them, and hope to have several more highlights to share in our next Newsletter. We continue to draw players from Raymond, Oak Creek, Union Grove, Burlington, Columbus, Sussex, Whitnall, Hales Corners, Racine, Waterford, Franksville, Caledonia, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Milwaukee and West Allis.
Wisconsin Twisters "BUDDY ME UP"
The Twisters again look for new ways to build confidence, relationships and learning opportunities for all of our players. The latest “Buddy Me Up” took place March 13th and was a unique way for our younger players to buddy up and learn from an older player. As our older players were able to connect with our younger players. Coaches took a step back and let the girls lead the way. The coaching staff would like to send out a "big" thank you to all of our players for their enthusiasm, attention and great leadership skills shown. We were impressed by all and encouraged by the connections that were made throughout each team level. Our next event will take place during the summer and we look forward to another opportunity to continue unique team bonding opportunities throughout the year~ Backyard "Sandlot Ball" this summer! All parents and coaches are welcome to join in "Sandlot Ball"
Major League Baseball and the Wisconsin Twisters to present “Pitch Hit And Run”
Lou Aponte (Twisters Founder) and Rick Ballew (12u Manager) will be holding “Pitch Hit and Run” on April 24th at Raymond Baseball Diamonds. This is open for any youth ages 7 and older. Major League Baseball has reached out to thousands of youth across the country. Many organizations join in this outreach and the Wisconsin Twisters are proud to take part. You may go to www.eteamz.com\wisconsintwisters for registration and clinic times. Check out MLB link http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/kids/mlb_pitch_hit_run.jsp to find out more about this great event.
The Wisconsin Twister’s are grateful
To all of our 2010 Sponsors and thank them for their generosity. The Twister’s thank The Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Brewers and the Green Bay Packers for providing raffle prizes in the past, and we also thank our local Amerigas for helping hold down our costs to grill food during our Spring Fling Tournament. We would like to recognize the on-going efforts of Bill Gemmel, Dave Chars and the rest of the Sponsorship Committee for their amazing work and enthusiastic approach. Bill Gemmels dedication and outgoing personality continues to bring in an array of sponsors. We thank you, Bill. This year Dave Chars has introduced our organization to a fund-raiser that is managed online and is perfect for the sports fanatic….like many of us. The first event we have taken tickets and sold for, is the March Madness NCAA college basketball tournament. When you purchase the tickets you get MP3 downloads as well as “chances” for NCAA brackets. We hope to have enough success and fun with this first trial, so that we can do the bigger fall NFL ticket cards. About ½ of the money spent on these tickets returns to our organization and we have chosen to give our players an annual fee rebate when they sell 10 tickets. Sponsors are very important members of our organization and we realize that during a weak economy, your contributions are even more special. Thank you again, from all of our parents, players and coaches. Come see us swing the bat!
Congratulations go out to Amber and Alecia.
The girls have been selected to participate in the 2010 Colorado Sparkler
"All-Star Games" in Colorado.
Congratulations to Lauren Chars 2010
Hello everyone,
CONGRATULATIONS GO OUT TO DEVAN KIPP!
FINISHING AT THE WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW TOP 8 JUNIOR HANDLER!!
Thank you to all the Twister Girls for helping out at the OTAC Spaghetti Dinner and July 4th Parade!!
We had around 28 girls from the Twisters who participated at the OTAC Spaghetti Dinner and 23 Twistes for Parade! What an amazing showing!! We can tell you that our sponsor OTAC were extremely excited with our girls and greatly apreciate your committment to giving back and helping out our surrounding communities.
From Your Community Director Bill Gemmel
Contact DiAnna with any updates on girls activities and accomplishments and we will highlight your story on
"Twisters Making News"
TWISTERS MID-SUMMER BASH! 14U-16U-18U
Wisconsin Twisters
THANKS TO ALL TEAMS, COACHES, PARENTS, FAMILIES AND PLAYERS FOR MAKING THE BASH A HUGE SUCCESS!
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MID~SUMMER BASH TEAMS
14U SUN PRAIRIE 4th Place Finish
14U WATERFORD FIREHAWKS 2nd Place Finish
14U WISCONSIN TWISTERS/DB 1st Place Finish
14U WISCONSIN TWISTERS/SC 3rd Place Finish
16U COLUMBUS XPLOSION 1st Place
16U GREENFIELD IGNITORS 3rd Place
16U MUSKEGO STORM 6th Place
16U WATERFORD FIREHAWKS 2nd Place
16U WAUKESHA FIREBIRDS 4th Place
16U WISCONSIN TWISTERS 5th Place
18U NEW BERLIN MAGIC WHITE
18U NEW BERLIN MAGIC RED 3rd Place
18U RAGE FASTPITCH 2nd Place Finish
16U SHOCKERS FASTPITCH
18U WHITNALL FALCONS
18U WISCONSIN TWISTERS 1st Place Finish
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Seasons
Sponsors
