|
July 7, 2002 - The Spring Klein Hawks won the ASA U16-A Houston Metro Championship Saturday evening
at Burroughs Park in Tomball. They defeated the South Houston Mystixxs by a score of 5-3.
Both teams won automatic berths to the U16-A National Championship Tournament being held
later this summer at Sioux Falls, Iowa.
The Hawks reached the Championship game by defeating Cy-Fair Storm Thursday night by a
score of 6-0. Friday night, the Hawks beat the Cruisers 5-3 in a tie breaker. In a second
Friday night game, the Hawks shut-out the South Belt Texas Explosion by a score of 8-0.
Saturday morning the Hawks shut-out the South Houston Mystixxs 8-0.
The Mystixxs reached the Championship game by defeating the Spring Klein Sliders in their
Thursday night game by a score of 6-1. They then beat the Katy Express. They went to
the looser's bracket after losing to the Spring Klein Hawks 0-8. In a Saturday afternoon
game, they beat the Katy Cruisers 7-2.
In the Championship game, the Hawks scored first in the 3rd inning. Morgan
Catrett started
the inning off with a walk. Brette Reagan hit a hard grounder to the right side of the pitcher
who barely got the glove on the ball and deflected it to the 2nd baseman. Brette was already at 1st base by the time the 2nd baseman got the ball. Shannon Neal popped up to the catcher for
out No. 1. Stephanie Estrada then hit a line drive up the middle that loaded the bases. Brie
Romere flied out to the center fielder. Then Corey Race delievered a grounder in the crease
between the short stop and 3rd baseman. Morgan scored on the play to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Emily Prather drew a walk which scored Brette. Stephanie Estrada scored the 3rd run when a pitch
deflected off the catcher's glove when Melanie Smith was at bat. Melanie ended the inning with
a pop-up to left fielder Danielle Betancourt.
In the 4th inning, the Hawks added two more runs. With one out, Morgan Catrett walked. Brette
Reagan then hit a line drive double over the left fielder's head. Morgan scored from 2nd base on
the play. Shannon Neal then hit a a ground ball to the short stop who threw to 1st base to get
the 2nd out. Meanwhile Brette broke for 3rd base. The first baseman fired to 3rd but the throw
was late. Then Stephanie Estrada hit a line drive over the 2nd base bag that Brette scored on easily.
At this point the Mystixxs made a pitching change. They replaced Lauren Garza with Krista Sitka,
the 3rd baseman. Krista walked Brie Romere and then Corey Race grounded out to the 3rd baseman,
Danielle Betancourt. Danielle was moved to 3rd during the pitching change.
At this point it looked like the Hawks were going to win the Championship game with another shut-out!
But in the 6th inning, the Mystixxs responded with an awesome offensive attack! With one out,
Krista Sitka ignited the offensive with a line drive single over the left side of the infield
that got by the left fielder. Krista took advantage of the error and reached 2nd
base on the play. Lauren Muse then hit a triple over the left fielder's head. I thought it was going out! Krista
scored on the play to make the score 5-1. Jennifer Walsh hit a line drive between the 2nd
baseman and 2nd base bag. Lauren scored. Lindsey Ferguson then hit a hard grounder that went between
the legs of the Hawks short stop and also the right fielder's legs. Jennifer scored to make
it 5-3. Lindsey ended up on 2nd base. Stephanie Myers then hit a Texas Leaguer that fell in for
a base hit behind the short stop. While the short stop was trying to find the ball, Lindsey ran to
3rd base. The short stop found the ball and threw to the 3rd baseman Brette Reagan who tagged
Lindsey out for out No. 2. Stephanie advanced to 2nd base on the play. The next batter popped-up
to the catcher to end the inning.
Melanie Smith pitched the whole game for the Hawks. She had 6 strike-outs, walked nobody and gave-up
9 hits. Melanie threw some impressive low rise balls to strike-out the No. 9 hitter in the 7th inning.
Melanie was 4-0 in the tournament.
Lauren Garza pitched the first 3 2/3 innings for the Mystixxs and Krista Sitka pitched the remaining
2 1/3 innings. Lauren walked 5 batters and gave-up 6 hits. Krista was shaky when she came in and
pitched to the first batter who she walked. She then settled down and pitched fine relief. She had 2
strike-outs, walked only that first batter and gave-up one hit. She worked the corners with her
fastball and the batters were swinging over her drop ball.
Brette Reagan, Stephanie Estrada and Corey Race led the 7-hit Hawks attack. Brette had a single in the
1st inning and a double in the 4th inning. Stephanie hit two line drives up the middle in the 3rd
and 4th innings. Corey singled in the 2nd and 3rd innings. Morgan Catrett hit a single up the middle in
6th inning. She also drew two walks.
Lauren Muse and Krista Sitka led the Mystixxs 8-hit attack. Lauren hit a single up the middle in the
1st inning and the triple in the 6th inning. Krista hit singles to left field in the 1st and 6th innings.
Danielle Betancourt hit a double to left center in the 7th inning. Kim Chavez, Jennifer Walsh and
Stephanie Myers all hit a single. Kim hit a line drive single over the 2nd base bag in the 3rd inning.
Jennifer hit a line drive to right center in the 6th inning. Stephanie Myers hit a Texas Leaguer behind
the short stop in the 6th inning.
After the game, College Sports Exposure interviewed the Hawks manager Marty Pierucci.
We learned that prior to the tournament Marty and the Hawks thought that the Hawks had
a good chance to win the tournament because although the Katy Cruisers was the only
team in the tournament that they had previously played, they had played them very
competitively. Marty said, "the Crusiers were considered one of the top U16-A teams
in Houston entering the tournament."
Marty believed that the Hawks won the Championship because of several factors. He said,
"pitching was a big factor." Kara Patronnella won the 2nd game and Melanie Smith won
the other four games. Melanie shut-out three teams in the tournament. Marty said, "Melanie
has been with the Hawks for 2 years and has developed into an "A" Division top notch pitcher
and proven herself. When the Mystixxs, scored 3 runs in the 6th, Melanie didn't get rattled."
Hitting was another factor. In ASA Metro, a game ends if a team leads by 8 runs
after the 5th inning. This is called winning by the "Run Rule." The Hawks "Run Ruled"
two teams in winning the tournament.
Brette Reagan, the Hawks third baseman was another factor. Brette impressed me
on one play in the 4th inning. The Mystixxs Stephanie Myers hit a hard grounder that looked
like it was going to find the crease between the 3rd baseman and short stop. Brette dove,
laying her body out on the ground and made the catch. She jumped up and fired to first to
get the out. Brette was one of the Hawks hitting leaders throughout the tournament.
Marty finished by saying that "some key players struggled in the tournament but other players
that normally don't produced picked up the slack." It was a team effort!
If anybody wishes to help sponsor the Hawks or Mystixxs trip to Sioux Falls, please contact the
managers directly or send me an e-mail and I will give you their contact information. An
out-of-state tournament usually cost more than $10,000.00 for a team. It is becoming more
difficult each year for the girls to raise the funds necessary to compete at
this level!
|
