Lake Shore Lightning 10u

Rain washed out the 17th Annual Midway Invitational in Wilmington, Delaware. The Lightning were the defending Tournament Champs and a strong field had assembled to compete for this crown. Included in the field were the South Jersey Rage and the Philadelpia Spirit. The Lightning lost to the Rage in the Semi-finals of the Firebird Face Off and the Rage lost to the Spirit it the finals. Next up is the June Jamboree to be played in the Lightning's backyard at Bodkin Park in Pasadena.

An April 24-25 weekend journey to the Garden State proved fruitful for the Lightning. The Firebird Faceoff gave the girls an excellent opportunity to test their skills against an excellent field. Going 2-1 during pool play Saturday, the Lightning dominated the Sharks of South Jersey and the Panthers of New York. Their lone defeat came at the hands of the West Jersey Witches in a hard played game that ended with the Lightning down 1-3. Sunday's championship play found the Lightning seeded in the fourth spot. The girls once again showed off their abilities handily beating the Jersey Intensity. In the semi-final game that followed, the Lightning took on the top seeded girls of the New Jersey Rage. In a riveting game that went 2 extra innings the Rage finally prevailed. In the end the Lightning found that they could lace up the cleats with any team they've seen so far. For a team that has returned only 4 players from last year, this year's Lightning have proved themselves to be an excellent squad.

The Lightning played some inspiring softball as they travelled southwest to Vienna, Virginia, for this weekend's tournament. Once again the Lightning finished in 3rd place. While finishing the tournament with an even 3 wins and 3 loses, two of the loses came against the tournament champion Baseliners from Sterling, Virginia. The third lose came against the Blue Jays of Fairfax, Virginia whom the Lightning also beat once during the tournament. In addition to beating the Blue Jays, the Lightning easily handled the Fire from Takoma Park, Maryland (15-3) and the Blaze from McLean, Virginia (7-1). While the final statistics are not yet available, the team looked particularly strong at the plate, on the bases, and in the circle. If there was an area of weakness this weekend it came from the normally strong defense which expeienced a few mental and physical errors that cost the team some runs. Megan and Melanie were both strong from the circle, walking few batters, striking out their share, and making the opponents put the ball in play. Cara stood out in the batter's box this weekend batting around .700 and scoring at least 7 runs (tops on the team). Bridget, Melanie, and Megan were characteristically strong at the plate, anchoring the line-up. Next up is a trip north to Wilmington, Delaware, June 5-6.

Excelling in every aspect of their game, the Lake Shore Lightning completely dominated their opponents and claimed a confident victory at Georgetown, Delaware. Out scoring the opposition 50-5 over 5 games the outcome of the tournament was really never in doubt. While many, many players had career tournaments, some achievements of note include: Tournament MVP, Megan, pitching 2 no-hitters while giving up just 2 runs on 4 hits and 6 walks over 13 innings and batting a tournament high .667. Gabby sparkling behind and at the plate crushing 3 home runs, 2 doubles and 2 singles. Her weekend included a team high on-base-percentage of .692 and an amazing slugging percentage of 1.636. Melanie's stellar pitching performance. Over 13 innings of work she gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks while recording an amazing 30 of 39 outs by stike out. Additionally, the team celebrated with the newest member, Sarah, who collected her first hit of the tournament season, a sharply hit ground ball down the third base line. The defensive highlight of the tournament came during the third inning of the championship game. After a lead-off single the Pottstown Lightning player stole second base. With no one out the next batter hit a sharp ground ball to Melanie at shortstop. Fielding the grounder cleanly, Melanie looked the runner back toward second base as long as she could but finally turned and fired a throw to Emily at first base. The perfect throw and catch were just in time to beat the runner racing down the line for an out. But as soon as Melanie let go her throw, the runner on second sprinted for third. Not wasting a moment of time, upon catching Melanie's throw, Emily gunned the ball back across the diamond to Brianna who was stationed at third base. With the runner baring down on her, Brianna caught Emily's perfect throw right in front of the base at the same moment the runner slid in. As the dust cleared, the umpire checked to make sure Brianna had possession of the ball and then signaled that the runner was out. A 6-3-5 double play. A more perfect defensive play could not be found on any major league diamond anywhere. All in all it was a very successful weekend for the ladies of Lake Shore. Next weekend they return to the same softball complex for the Heat at the Beach tournament. Click on the games at the bottom of the Home Page to read game by game summaries.

In what proved to be the most competative tournament of the season, the Lake Shore Lightning battled their way through three stellar teams to claim the champion's trophy.

Pool play Saturday was altered by wet fields from a Friday storm, but once the infields had been racked and the kitty litter spread (to absorb moisture) the games got underway. Divided into two pools of four teams each the Lightning found themselves in the toughest of the draws. First taking on the Vienna Stars, the Lightning took a hard fought, extra inning, 9-8 victory.

The win sent the Lightning up against the Bayside Blues, who had beaten the Baseliners, 4-3. In a battle between friendly rivals who had yet to meet up this season, the Lightning used superb defense and timely hitting to claim a 5-4 victory and the number 1 seed from their pool.

The two victories Saturday allowed the Lightning the luxury of not needing to play until 2pm Sunday afternoon. By the time they took the field most of the teams in the tournament had already headed for home. First out were the Gainesville Lightning and Damascus Hurricane, who lost their 9am games to the Vienna Stars and Baseliners, respectively. The 10:40 games found these same Stars and Baseliners heading back to Virginia after losing to the Blue Jays and Bayside Blues, respectively. In the first semi-final game of the day, which started at 12:20pm, the Bayside Blues put down the Maryland Stars, 5-0.

The Lightning took the field in the second semi-final, at 2pm, against the Blue Jays of Fairfax, Virginia. The two teams had split a pair of games the previous weekend in Vienna, Virginia. In a hard fought contest the Lightning prevailed 3-2, with a two out, bottom of the seventh (final) inning rbi single. The victory sent the Lightning into the Championship game against the Bayside Blues.

Scoring 9 runs in the first three frames the Lightning put the Blues on their heels. Although they fought valiently, the Lightning's excellent pitching and strong defense was simply too much for the Blues to overcome. In the end the Lightning were victorious, claiming a 9-5 victory and the tournament Championship.

Statistics of note for the weekend include: Brianna--5 stolen bases, Melanie and Megan--homeruns, Melanie and Erika--triples, Megan and Melanie--2 doubles each, and Brianna and Erika--doubles.

Next weekend finds the ladies from Pasadena traveling back to Delaware for that states PONY Championship.