Ft. Zumwalt West Tourney Recap

 Apologies for the tardiness of this entry. About midway through yesterday’s tournament, Coach Cerutti noted, “I can tell I’m older this year.” Were I young and hip (which, actually, I never was; well, I guess I was young once) I would have replied, “Word,” or “Truth,” or whatever happens to be the young hip expression du jour. Because there were numerous players within earshot I also didn’t respond, “No – uh – kidding.” I just said, “Me, too.” But better late than never (also not a young, hip, phrase, but at least an expression that’s actually older than we are).

To be honest, looking at the bracket for our third trip to the Ft. Zumwalt West JV Tournament at Ozzie Smith Sports Complex in O’Fallon, I might have predicted a 1-2 outcome. The day ended with that outcome but left me feeling a little disappointed. Not in the girls, but I just felt we had a real opportunity to walk away with the Consolation Championship Plaque and, as we entered the final game against St. Dominic, was hopeful, almost confident, that we could walk away a winner. And we came close.

Don’t misunderstand, there were lots of positives to come out of this tournament. We fell behind in each game, but battled back in each game to either tie or take the lead. We hung on in the middle game against Summit, when their coach (prematurely) pulled her starting pitcher (and catcher) and we rallied with 7 runs, added on 2 more after she re-entered her starters, and held on for a 9-6 victory. I don’t expect her to repeat that strategy when we face Summit again on Tuesday.

We played 20 of the 21 innings possible, which, on the JV level with an hour and a half time limit, is kind of remarkable and a testament to our pitchers not walking lots of girls or getting into many deep counts. 

With injuries, illness, and absences we were a little short-handed, although we’re kind of used to that; we played almost all last season with 11 players, and occasionally just 10. The girls just bowed their necks and went to work, not giving less than their best until the last out closed out the day. This is a fine group of young women and it’s a pleasure to work with them.

We had a large parent contingent out to cheer their players, and that’s always welcome. The umpiring was, um, a little uneven but I appreciated our girls and fans for living up to our high expectations for sportsmanship.

So here are the box scores and some pictures the kids took during the day.

 

First baseman Emmy Gary keeps her composure to corral a loose ball and get the out at 1.

Coaching girls is different. Just sayin'....

Pitcher Olivia Leaver gets the easy out at first.

Getting ready to fight for the Consolation Championship v. St. Dominic

Players, please note. The Summit runner is getting a TERRIBLE jump!

BaileyAllen rounds third, heading for home on Morgan Lawrence's triple.

Maddie K had a double in each game. Here she becomes better acquainted with second base as Summit changes pitchers.

Coach Cerutti and Caitlyn Boyle

Should make someone's cover photo for some social media platform, don't you think?

Freshman Bailey Allen  signals 2 outs to her teammates.

Pioneer Revenge: Kirkwood 6, Webster 5

Sorry this is late. I needed time to decompress, not just from this game but the season – which is kind of still ongoing. Congrats to the varsity for their thrilling 2-1 (10 inning) win over the SJA Angels (who apparently abandoned them) in the first round of the district tournament.

So how much sleep did I lose after this season-ending loss? Well, some, for sure. Lots of “What ifs….” some involving coaching decisions (Might there have been a better order? Should I have walked that #8 batter {who was really the Pioneer #4 who was late to the game} in the bottom of the seventh? Should I have put some pressure on with a couple 1-out bunts?), some involving umpiring (over which I have no control, but when the Kirkwood coach notes on what would have been Strike 3 “that’s been a strike all day [and it had been]” that then turned into a flared windy single by the eventual tying run with 2 out….

Despite Myah King serving as a one-woman wrecking crew (4 for 4 and her fifth shot over the boards into a strong wind), Caitlyn Boyle giving her those runs to drive home, and stalwart pitching from TK, Kirkwood kept creating new paths to tie the score and eventually push across the winning run in one of the most exciting games of the year.

Well, turnabout is fair play and Kirkwood scored two in the bottom of the seventh to erase the run we scored in the top of that inning to regain the lead, ending our winning streak at 10 games and sending us to Serendipity with a final record of 20-2, which looks pretty darn good when you see it in black and white. And if you’d told Coach Cerutti and me in August that we could “settle” for 20-2 or take our chances, I’m pretty sure we would have said we could “settle.”

But we also wouldn’t have wanted to miss this season with these girls, no matter the record. You can look for a season wrap up later this weekend or early next week, but this was my message in the post-mortem and the fitting last words for the last regular blog post of 2018: “I.Love.This.Team.”

Five in a Row -- Hancock Tournament Champs

Looking at the brackets for Saturday’s Hancock Tournament there was some hope that both Orange and Black would be playing for plastic in the final game. We didn’t play each other, but Orange did have a shot at the Consolation Bracket trophy. Unfortunately, the host Tigers came back to score four runs (with two out) to snatch that plastic.

Our road was smoother, although it looked fraught because Notre Dame had salted their roster with a varsity pitcher. I thought that our second game would actually be the championship tilt because of that and because I doubted Valley Park, a small school with a pretty good program, could have enough to compete.

With Nic Rikand in the circle, we made short work of the Lady Gators from Gateway Science, a (relatively) new school and nascent softball program, 17-2. Taylor Knapp muscled up with her first home run and catcher Sarah (Sockeye) Sammon cleared the bases with a triple to close out the scoring in the bottom of the second in this mismatch.

For the first inning and two outs into the second, the game against the Notre Dame Rebels (who apparently have no understanding of irony in mascot choices) the game was as advertised. Then Myah King, to paraphrase that famous country western song, “ripped out their heart and stomped that sucker flat” with a monster HR well over the 215 foot fence. There was no rebel yell after that. We added five more runs in the third and Notre Dame surrendered. Six runs each in fourth and fifth shut the door behind the combined shutout of Taylor Knapp (who picked up her 16^th win) and Nic Rikand, 18-0.

In the championship contest we faced a school we’d never seen, the Hawks from Valley Park. Although we were initially told there would be no time limit, that was contradicted by the umpiring supervisor when we were briefly delayed when one of the Blue became ill. That rule reversal seemed to discombobulate the VP coach, although by that time it seemed to me she needed to worry more about the run rule than the time limit; a line drive double play with the bases loaded prematurely ended the second inning, but our run total was still 14 after three innings. The Hawk pitcher struggled with the strike zone which slowed the game to a crawl. In any case, the final closed after three and a half innings, 14-4, and we had our fifth straight Hancock championship.

It may be time to move on, although I expect we will come back to the pack next year, but if we continue to have 3 teams, this tournament probably makes more sense for Orange, which showed it could compete. Just one of the many decisions we need to make about the program in the weeks and months ahead.

A couple more notes before sharing box scores (including, New This Year! a composite box for the three games) and some more Karen Smith pictures. As is our tradition, our lineup is statistical, not strategic. The girls with the fewest plate appearances over the course of the season bat at the top and the girls with the most at the bottom. That has been questioned in the past, but one of the reasons for our success has been that we have a depth to our lineup that few JV squads can match. Game after game we have generated offense from the bottom of our order – no easy innings for the opposition. Our other advantage is that we have catchers. It's one thing to have a pitcher, but catchers who can save wild pitches, avoid passed balls, and throw out runners trying to steal is a tremendous asset. Marko and Sockeye provided that for us, and Emmy Gary showed she’s much more than competent as an emergency #3 receiver.

We still have two games to go, including the season finalé against the Pioneers at Kirkwood on Tuesday, but this team has been remarkable. Not just its 19-1 record, but in their support for teammates and cohesion, their love of the game and each other. It’s been a remarkable year. I’ll revisit this in the season wrap up, but this also seems an appropriate time to mention it.

Nicola Rikand won her second game, makes the throw to first on a tap back to her.

Welcome back, Zoe Weik. This is how a bunter/slapper gets that run home from third -- and herself to first.

Myah King's bomb (her fifth overall, fourth over the fence) broke a scoreless tie and Rebel Hearts.

When you're happy for your teammate. Love those smiles.

No option to ask for the headphones and instant replay. Caitlyn was called out. She wasn't. It didn't matter.

Sockeye Sammon easily beats the throw home. Blue got this one right.

Taylor (Don't Call Me Swift) Smith continues to drive the ball. And the search for a good nickname goes on....

Sarah Sammon lays down a perfect sacrifice bunt against the Valley Park Hawks in the first inning.