Sorcerer 18 Gold - Mumma

Today, six teams earned berths to the 2008 ASA Gold Nationals at the Western Territory Qualifier in Seattle, WA: NW Bullets Gold, Corona Angels Red, SoCal Pumas, comBat Panthers, SoCal Choppers, and Valley Breeze Gold.

In the 73-team double elimination tournament, 13 other Northern California teams were eliminated from competition.  The All-American Sports Academy and the Strike Zone were eliminated today, while the Bears Gold, NorCal Shockers, Sorcerer Gold - Pete, Flames, Salinas Wildcats - Elyssa, Salinas Wildcats - Dan, West Bay Nuggets, Strikkers, San Jose Sting - Fano, Lady Sharks - Sawyer, and the California Breeze were eliminated on Saturday. 

Also, this weekend in Oklahoma City, 61 teams competed in the Hall of Fame Gold Qualifier for 2 berths, which were awarded to Texas Glory and Sudden Impact - Sheldon.

Next weekend, 7 regions will hold their qualifiers, the last qualfying events of the season. After this weekend, no other qualifying events are open to California teams. 

Northern California will be represented at the 2008 ASA Gold Nationals by the Sorcerer Gold - Mumma, the San Jose Sting - Perales, the Lady Sharks - Barrera, and the California Grapettes.

Congratulations to the Sorcerer 10U team for qualifying for ASA 10U Nationals on July 28 to August 3 in Bloomington, IN.

We look forward to seeing you on the 18U team in a few years!

Sister team Sorcerer Gold Pete wins the Louisville Slugger Independent Day - Louisiville Bracket Tournament, to complete a Sorcerer sweep in 18U competition this weekend in Boulder.

Congratulations Sorcerer!

With a sequence of 3 consecutive come-from-behind victories, Sorcerer won the prestigious 80-team Louisville Slugger Independence Day Tournament in Boulder, CO in their first attempt. Sorcerer scored 68 runs including 7 homeruns in 12 games.

Sorcerer began the tournament with 4 wins and 2 losses in pool play, earning Sorcerer the second seed in their pool. Sorcerer recorded victories over the Michigan Finesse (6-2) with a homerun by Kayla White, the Pennsylvania Blazing Angels (17-0) with a 2nd inning homerun by Kayla White, the New Jersey Inferno (7-1), and the  So Cal Explosion (7-4) with a 5th inning homerun by Mississippi State-bound Courtney Moore (extending her streak to 6 consecutive events). Sorcerer suffered losses to the Oklahoma Jitterbugs (0-1) and the Illinois Sharks (5-6).  

On Saturday morning, Sorcerer began single-elimination tournament play, with a 6-0 victory over the Missouri Renegades led by pitcher Amanda Summerford.

On Saturday evening, Sorcerer faced North Carolina-bound pitcher Constance Orr  and the North Carolina Lady Blues who were riding high from just defeating the OC Batbusters.  Unbeknownst to Sorcerer, Orr had led her Butler High School (Charlotte, NC) team this year to a #2 national ranking by StudentSportsSoftball, with 22 wins and no losses. Sorcerer rose to the challenge, and defeated the Lady Blues by a score of 2-0.

On Saturday night, Sorcerer faced Arizona-State bound pitcher Dallas Escobedo of the Arizona Hotshots [Qualified]. While her 70+ MPH pitches were impressive, Sorcerer managed to score 5 runs to defeat the Hotshots 5-4.

On Sunday morning, Sorcerer faced Team Florida [Qualified] in the quarterfinal round. Sorcerer quickly leapt ahead and scored 3 runs, punctuated by a 4th inning homerun by Breana Kostreba.  But in a disastrous 5th inning, Sorcerer gave up 3 runs to allow Team Florida to tie the score. As time ran out, neither team had scored again, sending the game to an international tie-breaking (ITB) inning. In the bottom of the 8th, with an ITB runner on 2nd base, Stanford-bound Maya Burns blasted a shot into center-field, bringing in the winning run, and advancing Sorcerer to the semi-final round.

Late Sunday morning, Sorcerer faced Notre-Dame bound pitcher Jackie Bowe and the Illinois Beverly Bandits [Qualified] in the semi-final round.  The Bandits demonstrated their power at the plate by scoring 3 runs early in the game.  But Sorcerer showed true grit, and fought back to tie the game 3-3 on  homeruns by Cal-bound Jordan Wallace in both the 2nd and the 4th innings. Sorcerer added another run in the 3rd inning, and 1 more in the 4th, to advance to the championship game.

For the tournament championship, nearly exhausted from 11 games in 5 days, Sorcerer faced Texas A&M-bound pitcher Rebecca Arbino and long time rival and nemesis the Corona Angels coached by Marty Tyson.  The Angels scored a run in the first inning.

Sorcerer bats came alive in the 4th inning; a double by Breana Kostreba brought in Maya Burns. With little production from the starters, but sensing an opportunity, Sorcerer coaches entered Harvard-bound Whitney Shaw to pinch hit. Shaw had been sidelined after an ugly collision two games earlier that injured her surgically repaired knee.  Despite the pain and with a noticeable limp, Shaw was ready, and responded to the call with a 3-run blast over the left-center field fence. [Sadly, Whitney tore her ACL again in the collision, and will undergo immediate surgery. The Sorcerer family wishes Whitney a speedy recovery.]

"Honestly, I was just trying to hit it really hard," Shaw said. "When I got up there I was just like, if there's one thing I can still do it's hit the crap out of the ball. That's all I was really thinking about." 

The Angels answered in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer of their own. In the next inning, the Angels loaded the bases. With one out, Arbino smashed a line drive down the middle, but with a fantastic catch, Cal-bound Jordan Wallace snared the ball, threw it to second base for the out, and seized the momentum from the Angels.

Sorcerer held the Angels scoreless in the 6th and 7th innings for the 4-3 win and the tournament championship.

Samantha Albanese pitched 11 innings with 4 strikeouts over 4 games. Oregon-bound Jessica Moore pitched 28.5 innings with 31 strikeouts over 9 games. And, Fresno State-bound Hannah Williams pitched 29.5 innings with 19 strikeouts over 8 games.

Congratulations Sorcerer on an exceptional Boulder tournament debut!