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Nov. 3, 2001 - Houston Independent Teams (H.I.T.) held the first H.I.T.
Fall Festival Tournament at Dyess Park in the Cy-Fair area on Nov. 2, 3 & 4.
H.I.T is one of the oldest Texas-based girls fastpitch
organizations in Texas, and the only one specifically formed for, and committed
to, expanding and enhancing college scholarship opportunities for young ladies
through competitive softball.
The Cy-Fair Intruders Gold won the Tournament.
Gulf Coast Breakers finished 2nd and the Texas Comets finished
third.
Another feature of the tournament was the "Senior Games." The "Senior Games" started at 2:30 pm on
Saturday. The games were two hours long. The interest by the seniors was so great that three to four "Senior Games" took place at the same time.
As the name implies, only seniors played the game. Somewhere between 30 to 40 college coaches were present to check out the seniors before
Nov. 14 - 21 National Signing week.
College Sports Exposure scouted the game on field No.1. One team was coached by the Texas Thunderbolts (team 1) and the other team by High Voltage (team 5).
The High Voltage scored two runs in the first inning. Kristina Swart of the High Voltage slapped a ground ball between the 3rd baseman and short stop and used her speed to out run the throw to first. Melanie Lynch of the Cy-Fair Intruders and Kingwood High School then hit a double to right field that moved
Kristina to third base. Lauren Boone of the Texas Comets hit a grounder to the 2nd baseman who threw to first base to get the first out.
Kristina scored and Melanie moved to third. Kelly Patton hit a ground ball to the short stop (Alissa Rios of Kaos). Instead of throwing the ball to first,
Alissa ran at Melanie who was going home, freezing her. Then she ran after Melanie and tagged her for out number two. It was a great defensive play! Megan Griffin of the Force then hit a single to right field. Kelly Patton scored on the next single to make the score 2-0. Jacque Thorton of the Avengers ended the inning by flying out to the first baseman.
The Thunderbolts tied the game up at 2-2 in the fourth inning. Jeanice Philister of the Sluggers drew a walk. Amber Adams of the Sluggers then
singled on the 1st baseline. Jeanice scored to bring the score to 1-2. Lauren Dobson of the Texas Thunderbolts and Westfield High School replaced Amber at first. Amber Lero of the Comets then bunted and reached first base on
a throwing error. Lauren Dobson reached third base on the play. While Kandy Sheffield of the Kaos was batting, the catcher fired to 3rd base to catch Lauren Dobson off the base. The throw hit Lauren's helmet and went into foul territory. The home plate umpire awarded Lauren home plate
which tied the score at 2-2. Sheffield was hit on the toe by a pitch and awarded first base. She stole 2nd base. The next batter popped out to the 2nd baseman for out number one. Audrey Lero was thrown out at the plate trying to steal home for out number two. The next batter then flied out to the 2nd baseman to end the inning.
Dana Gonzales of Beaumont Blast and team 1 made a spectacular play in center field in the 3rd inning. Errica Rodriguez of High Voltage and team 5 hit a line drive that look like it should fall in for a single. Dana dove on her belly to catch the fly for the out.
After the play by Dana, Mandy Chastang of the Montogomery County (M.C.) Elite reached first on a throwing error by the short stop. Then Kristin Rupp of M.C. Elite hit a
high bouncer over the pitcher's head. The short stop, Alissa Rios caught the ball behind the pitcher and made a nice toss to the 2nd baseman covering the bag for out number two. With Kristin on 1st from the fielder's choice, Kristina Swart singled to right field. It look like team 5 was threatening to score again, but Alissa Rios caught Melanie Lynch's grounder and threw her out at first to end the inning.
The pitchers switched out after two innings. Errica Rodriguez of High Voltage and Deer Park High School pitched the first two innings for team 5. Kristin Rupp of M.C. Elite pitched the next
two innings. The spin and consequent ball movement on Errica's curve and drop ball was impressive and apparent from the stands. She face 6 batters, struck-out one and gave up no hits
and no walks. Kristin Rupp was equally impressive. College Sports Exposure radar Kristin fastball and screw ball at 59 mph and her change-up at 40 mph. Kristin had pitched in a game right before the "Senior" game. Kristin faced 9 batters and gave up one hit and a walk. Both runs were un-earned since they resulted from throwing errors.
Lauren Dobson of Texas Thunderbolts and Kirsten Atkinson pitched for team 1. Lauren faced 10 batters. She had a strike-out
and gave up 4 hits. Lauren had just finished pitching a game prior to this "Senior" game.
Kirsten Atkinson of Kaos and Sweeny High School pitched the next two innings for team 1. She faced 8 batters and gave-up one hit.
College Sports Exposure radar Kirsten throwing her fastball at 58 mph and her screw at 53 mph.
Team 5 hitting attach was led by Kristina Swart who had two singles and Melanie Lynch who hit a double. Megan Griffin of the Force and Shara Smith of Beaumont Blast also had singles.
Team 1 did a remarkable job of manufacturing runs. Amber Adams of the Sluggers was the only player to get a hit.
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