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#1 Katrina Oviedo - ShortstopThe following commentary concerning the SoCal Wicked trip to ASA Nationals are brought to you by Coach Mike. Follow the team's adventures to Johnson City, Tennessee as SoCal Wicked - Limon goes on its quest for a National Championship.
Friday, July 28th – The day before we go. Today was the day to get everything finalized. Uniforms set out one by one and checked. Suitcases packed with spare clothes and necessities. Laptop. Portable DVD player. Portable CD player. iPod. Digital camera. Books. Check the batbag. Glove. Bat. Cleats. Helmet. Check the equipment bag. Liteflight and tennis balls for Coach Gus. Softtoss balls for Coach Tom. White batting practice balls for hitting off the batting tee. Check the air reservations. E-mail a reminder. Check the van reservations. Check the hotel reservations. Call and confirm with Best Western for the 10th time. Pack the Wicked notebook meticulously prepared by Coach Troy. Get a call from Coach Dave. Stop worrying Dave. Pack up the nets. Call Gus and remind him to bring tie wraps. Get a call from Carl - he needs the house address again. Get a call from Carl – can he park his truck in our driveway? Reina and Laura go out to buy some last minute clothes for the trip. Stop everything, it’s getting dark and Reina needs to go and pitch. Home again. Check suitcases. Check the carry-ons. Check the equipment bag. Check the bat bag. Check. Pack. Check. Pack. Worry. Set the alarm. Sleep. . . . What did I forget?
Saturday, July 29th – Picked up Ariel from her house, Jill cried. I think Troy cried too. Carl and Barbara got to the house right at 9:00 a.m. Loaded up and off to the airport. No drama at LAX (for once Reina was on time). In the airplane and off to Charlotte on time. Girls look great in their tank tops and warm ups. How did Gus and Heidi get into first class – no fair. Meals left something to be desired – pretzels and diet coke. On the ground and off to get the vans. Only took an hour and a half to get 5 vans and a car from Dollar (or was it Thrifty- Audrey is still not sure). Left the airport at 11:30 p.m. and on the road. Scout Gus led the way. Hit the nearest Wendy’s at 11:35 p.m. for dinner. Stopped at 1:00 a.m. at the Citgo for a pit stop, cup of coffee, chips, and beef jerky (now there’s a snack). On the road and to the Best Western. Arrived at 2:30 a.m. and in bed by 3:00 a.m.
Sunday, July 30th. Wake up call at 9:00 a.m. and down to breakfast. Lobby filled with softball teams from all over the United States. Typed last night’s report on my laptop and off to practice by 10:00 a.m. Report back later. Got to go.
Sunday, July 30th – Gave everybody a 9:00 a.m. wakeup call. Free breakfast buffet in the lobby. Not bad – scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, etc. Just like good old down home cooking. Off to the ball fields for practice at 10:00 a.m. Already hot and humid. Girls are dragging. Hard to function on 5 hours sleep in 80 degree temperature with 80% humidity. Water breaks about every 20 minutes. Some teams were scrimmaging, but we did a regular practice. Packed up at 11:45 a.m. and hurried back to the Best Western. Quick change into our baseball uniforms with red pants and off to lunch. Never had Sonic Burgers before. Seemed interesting but everyone eating in their own cars was not quite the “team meal” I had imagined. Did not realize there is no sit down eating at a Sonic. And it was not exactly what you could call “fast food.” Got past lunch and traveled over to the Holiday Inn for registration. Girls had to line up alphabetically, and present their ASA picture ID cards. Then they had to sign a form and have their signature compared to the signature on the card. I think they are working on finger print scanning for next year’s tournament.
2:00 p.m. and we were off to Opening Ceremonies at Freedom Hall. There were 112 teams and an estimated 5000 people in town for the tournament. Very crowed at the ceremony. Huge auditorium. The city had a fleet of 10 shuttle buses picking everyone up at the parking lot. Players were already trading pins. As the girls get off the bus there was a rush of frenzied pin traders clamoring to get new pins. Our girls were quickly immersed in the pin bartering business. From 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. the city officials tried unsuccessfully to get the crowd into auditorium. Once in we battled our way to the assigned seating area. Our squad of girls was split up several times by the marauding bands of pin traders, but in the end managed to secure their seating area. They even successfully mounted a counter attack and struck back at the traders with a barrage of Wicked pins. The lights finally dimmed and an array of city managers spoke to the crowd about how proud they were to host the tournament. The audience politely applauded. Finally, the keynote speaker, Dot Richardson, addressed the players. She was very inspiring, talking about her two Olympic Gold Medals and how she fulfilled her softball dreams. All the teams then marched across the stage, were introduced, and shook Dot’s hand.
Back to the hotel for a quick change into our Hawaiian wear. Misadventure getting to the luau. Our lead driver did not know the location had been changed and we showed up at the wrong location. Got back on track and made it to the water park. Had Tennessee chili burgers for dinner. Compared to Raging Waters the Wetland Water Park was a big pool with a water slide. Water felt good. Girls amused themselves in the end by giving to coaches wet hugs. Finally got back to the hotel about 8:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. curfew. This was a busy, tiring day.
Monday, July 31st – Dave and I met downstairs at 8:30 a.m. to go to the coaches' breakfast and draw. Tom would be in charge of practice at 10:30a.m. We could be playing as early as 3:00 p.m. today. When we arrived we hooked up with the Punishers and sat down and waited. They were saving seats for O.C. Batbusters, who showed up a little later. Coaches from Virginia Legacy also joined us. We exchanged softball gossip for half an hour before we got our breakfast. More softball gossip and an exchange of stories. It turns out that I know players that Reina played with in Long Beach back in 8U that both the Punishers and Batbusters know. Small world. Finally the draw starts. California goes first, but we were grouped with Region 11, not Region 14 because we qualified in Minnesota. After half an hour or so the California teams were finished, or were they? They left out four teams! The ASA Officials were frantic. They had teams who qualified last year placed in Regions where national tournaments took place instead of in Region 14. They had to call ASA headquarters in Oklahoma and then have a conference with those teams. Had any of them protested they would have had to start all over again. Fortunately, they all agreed to just be added to the draw at the end of the Region 14 draw and we continued. It went on and on. 112 teams had to be called one at a time. Each team’s coaches tried to write down all of the names in the proper places on the pool bracket sheets. It gave me a headache. It went on and on. Finally the 112th and last team was called up to draw – SoCal Wicked representing Region 11. It took 4 hours but we now knew that we play Orlando Park Sparks from Illinois tonight at 7:00 p.m. This is the same team that we were scheduled to play in Minnesota, but they pulled out when they qualified the week before by winning the Illinois State Championship. On the other side of the pool are the Fort Worth Batbusters and Sorcerers 92 from San Ramon, California. Meeting in the lobby at 5:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. and time to go and play. Everyone seemed nervous going out to the cars to go to the fields. This was it – our first game at Nationals. We were playing the Orlando Park Sparks, the Illinois State Champions. Not quite sure of where the park was. Not quite sure how to check in once we were there. Not quite sure were to warm up. Not quite sure about any of the tournament protocol. It was hot and very humid. Just getting set up and warmed up took its toll on the girls. They were dripping wet and we were falling behind in warm up. Coaches started getting grumpy as they urged the girls to hurry up. We were playing at the Bristol Whitetop Creek Park, just across from the huge Bristol NASCAR track and the Bristol Drag Strip. Park had four lighted fields, each with scoreboards. Official score keepers were in the two story “tower” in the center of the complex, one room overlooking each field. Telephones were in each dugout to call in lineup changes. After each inning of each game the PA system announced the scores of each game. It was quite impressive. The 5:00 p.m. game finished and we packed it up and headed to the dugout. Time to play ball.
We were home team. The Wicked girls circled up just before game time. They were pumped, too pumped. They did their cheers, and you could see the Sparks looking over and seeing our energy. Wicked took the field. The Sparks coaches went to the coaching boxes. They were both young women who had played college ball, and they had come to win. In the top of the first our energy haunted us. The sparks got a runner on first as we rushed a throw. A bunt, a wild pitch, and another nervous error led to a Sparks’ run. We came in down 0 – 1. Coach Dave was ready to explode inside the dugout, but as he met the girls outside he smiled and told everyone to take a deep breath and calm down. “Plenty of game left.” And the girls responded. Jocelin lead off with a single. Ariel put a bunt down and we were safe all around. Jocelin was thrown out stealing 3rd, but Megan picked her up by putting another great bunt down to put runners back on 1st and 2nd with one out. Reina came up and drove a 1 and 1 pitch screaming down the left field line for a bases clearing double, and Wicked never looked back. Alexa walked followed by an RBI single by Diane. Patty walked and Kaitlin cleared the bases with a two run single. After one inning Wicked led 5 – 1. Alexa battled through the rest of the game on the mound. The ball was sticky from the humidity. The mound had a hole in front of the rubber. The umpire’s zone was small, and she was too pumped up. But Alexa battled. In the second the Sparks cut the lead to 5 – 2 with another unearned run. A scoreless third. Then in the fourth Wicked broke it open. Jocelin reached first on a hustle play. Ariel bunted her over. Megan reached base on and error. Reina golfed an 0 – 2 pitch out of the dirt for an RBI single, her third hit of the game. Then Alexa put the dagger into the Sparks with an opposite field triple, her second hit of the game, to clear the bases. Brook ran for her and scored on a pass ball. Wicked led 9 – 2. Jocelin lead of the fifth with her second single of the game and eventually scored on a passed ball. Final score, Wicked 10 and the Orlando Park Sparks 2. The Wicked coaches had a group hug in the dugout, shook hands with the Sparks, and packed it up.
.The postgame meal was at the “Texas Roadhouse Grill.” We got there just before it was to close at 10:00 p.m., but they kept it open for us. While we waited, the girls did a line dance in the parking lot with one of the Birmingham Vipers. The parents laughed and cheered. They finally seated us in our own room. Most of the service had gone home already so we only had one server who did a great job of keeping a group of 37 pumped softball girls and parents happy. By the time we finished our meal and got back to the hotel it was almost 1:00 a.m. in the morning. Laura and I put Reina and Ariel to bed and went to a 24 hour Walgreens to process our photos. We took our time editing the digital pictures, and did not get back to the Best Western until about 2:30 a.m. Good night (or is it good morning?)
Tuesday, August 1st – It was a lazy morning that turned into a lazy afternoon. The girls and the parents rested as we prepared for our 7:00 p.m. game. As the time got closer the girls got read. Into the cars at 4:45 and off to the park. Playing at Bistol Whitetop Creek Park again, Field 2. The Sorcerers 92 were big girls and came in with a reputation as one of the top teams. We were visitors and cold not score in the first. The Sorcerers 92 struck first. They had some great hitters and took the ball to the opposite field well. They scored three in the first off or Reina. The second was scoreless. In the third the Sorcerers put 2 more on the scoreboard and Wicked was down 0 – 5. In the fourth Wicked fought back. Megan lead off with a single. Diane with two outs Diane drove in a run with an opposite field triple and then scored as Julia reached on an error. Patty then drove a hard grounder through the second baseman all the way to the fence. Now Wicked trailed 3 -5. Page came in to pitch and shut them down in the fourth and fifth and before giving up an unearned run in the sixth. Going into the top of the seventh Wicked was down 3 – 6. In the seventh Jocelin lead off with her second single of the game. Ariel followed with a hard hit ball booted by the shortstop. Megan then slapped a ball up the middle driving in a run. 4 – 6. Alexa knocked in Ariel with a ground out to second. 5 – 6. But that tying run was left stranded at third. Tough loss, but the girls fought back. As a team we are going to take this loss and learn from our mistake. After the team talk we went to Winged Deer Park for the elimination draw. Unfortunately, the draw was running 2 hours behind, and we sent the kids and parents home. We waited and waited and waited. Coaches for all teams were not happy with the process. Finally we got our game. 7:00 p.m. at Winged Deer, but we do not know yet who we play against. Games still happening at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, so the brackets are not complete.
Wednesday, August 2nd – Most of the parents and players slept in. We have another 7:00 p.m. game. A small group of girls go to a movie. Not much socializing. Jaime is back. Jacquelyn left with Laura at 2:45 a.m. to get Jaime in North Carolina and drop off Laura who was going home before going to Hawaii. It costs an extra $125 for Jaime to come out as Jacquelyn gets a speeding ticket from one of the Tennessee Highway Patrol Troopers. We find out that we will be playing the Illinois Windmills in the first round. At about 4:00 p.m. we get word that it was raining with lightning at Wingdeer. It starts pouring at the hotel. Gus, Jaime and I went down to the park to see what was happening. Everything was put on hold at Best Western.. We find out that everytime there is a close lightning flash there will be an automatic 30 minutes delay by ASA rules. Two delays had been put in effect, so the games were running an hour plus late. Elimination games are 7 innings, no time limit. Games finally start back up. When the 3.00 p.m. game finally finishes at 6:00 p.m., we call back to the team and get the cars rolling. Our 7:00 p.m. game finally starts a little after 8:00 p.m. Wicked batted first and was quickly on the scoreboard with a leadoff single by Jocelyn, and a triple over the right fielders head by Ariel. Megan laid down a sacrifice bunt and we were up 2 – 0. Alexa walked and eventually scores on Diane’s RBI single. 3 – 0. Alexa struggled with the humidity again in the first and gave up a run on two walks and a single as the Windmills cut the lead to 3 – 1. Wicked struggled with slower pitches for the next three innings. With the score still 3 – 1 Megan lead of the 5th with a single and went all home on two throwing errors. 4 – 1. Alexa regained her dominance striking out 7 through the fifth. In the sixth both Julia and Katrina had singles and scored on an error and Ariel’s fielders choice. 6 – 1. The Windmills scored on in the sixth. 6 – 2. Alexa opened the seventh with a single and eventually scored on Patty’s sacrifice fly. 7 – 2. Page came in to pitch and closed out the game in the seventh, 1-2-3. Next up. San Diego Legacy at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday.
Thursday, August 3rd – The day of the “Amazing Comeback.” SoCal Wicked 10, San Diego Legacy 9. We would like to apologize to the players and coach's of the Legacy team, this diary was never ment to bash any team we have played during our trip, it's just one parents way to let our family and friends back at home how he felt by what he saw during the game. You are a class team and again please accept our apology. Dave Limon and the SoCal Wicked coaching staff and Organization.
Friday, August 4th – “The Comeback Kids.” Wicked was pumped for their game with the Punishers. We still remembered being knocked out of the winners bracket at State. It did not start out well. The Punishers scored two in the first off of Alexa. However, it would have been worse if Diane did not make a running leaping layout catch in the gap in right with two outs and runners on second and third. The Punishers kept it up with another two runs in the third. 0 – 4 Punishers. In The fourth Wicked started to make its move. Patty and Jocelin walked and scored on Ariel’s single and an error by the leftfielder. Wicked down 2 – 4. Paige came on an pitch a scoreless fourth. Reina led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and scored on Julia’s sacrifice fly. 3 – 4 Punishers. With one out in the fifth the Punishers hit a shot into the gap in center. Jocelin raced back full steam towards the fence. She reached up in full stride and hauled down the ball as it about to arc over the fence. As she caught it she plowed through the fence and tumbled over, holding the ball over her head as the umpire called an out. No runs for the Punishers. Katrina lead off the sixth with a single and was bunted over by Jocelin. Ariel then ripped an RBI single to even the score at 4 – 4. With Ariel at second and the Wicked bench holding hands at the fence, Reina ripped another single up the middle to pull Wicked into the lead, 5 - 4. Paige shut them down again in the sixth. Wicked failed to score in the top of the seventh. Punishers up in the bottom of the seventh. First batter long fly ball to center – one out. Second batter long fly ball to center field – two outs. Third batter pop up to the catcher, and Wicked wins. Strong pitching performance by Paige who picked up the win in relief. Next up, Arizona Hot Shots 92
”No Comeback Necessary.” Because of rain delays, our 9:00 p.m. game with the Hotshots did not start until 11:00 p.m. After two scoreless innings Wicked scored four in the third with consecutive singles by Katrina, Jocelin, Ariel, and Megan followed by a sacrifice fly by Reina, and an RBI single by Julia. Wicked blew it open in the sixth with eight runs before taking an intentional out to end the inning. Hitting heroes included Jocelin with three hits and three RBI’s, Ariel with three hits including a double, Megan with two hits, Julia with two hits, and Katrina with three hits. Wicked had a total of 16 hits. Alexa pitched five innings for the win, with Paige closing it out in the sixth as Wicked mercied the Hotshots 12 – 1. Game ends at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Is this a Team of Destiny? We will find out tomorrow when Wicked faces The Next Level at 1:00 p.m. As of now there are only eight teams left in the winners bracket.
Satruday, August 5th. Now we know how the Arizona Hotshots 92 felt. After getting to the hotel at 2:00 a.m. the girls got as much sleep as possible. We were up at 9:30 a.m. and at the ballpark by 11:00 a.m. The girls were flat, but that is no excuse. TNL jumped on our pitchers for five runs in the first and another four runs in the second. The team managed only four hits in five innings. When Wicked failed to score in the fifth the game was called on the “runs ahead” rule. Final score, TNL 10 and Wicked 0. We were still in the tournament. Only 16 teams could say this at that point, and another 4 were eliminated before we played our next game.
The team rested and waited for the next game. At this point in time all games were back to back in the losers’ bracket. We had to play the winner of SoCal Dynasty and Center Grove Xtreme, Indiana. Xtreme won and we got ready to play. Wicked jumped out to a 1 – 0 lead in the first with a leadoff single by Jocelin, sacrifice bunts by Ariel and Megan, and a clutch single by Reina. Xtreme came back in the top of the third to tie the score 2 – 2 with a towering homerun off fat fastball by Reina. Whoops! Reina made up for it with another RBI single to drive in Jocelin, who had the second of her three hits to start up the inning. 3 – 2 Wicked. Wicked exploded in the fourth for five runs with a single by Jocelin, a triple by Megan, a double by Reina, and singles by Kaitlin, Patty, and Brook. Reina pitched a complete game. Final score Wicked 8 and Center Grove Xtreme 3. Now there were only eight teams left in the tournament. Wicked is in the Top Ten at Nationals
Wicked changed fields to play the Tampa Bay Mustangs who had just beaten the SoCal Athletics. The Xtreme girls were big, but the Mustangs were even bigger. To counter the big sticks of the Mustangs, Wicked used its secret pitching weapon, our mighty mite Paige. Paige used a variety of “junk” pitches; curveball, screwball, drop curve, and her famous 30 M.P.H. alley-oop changeup. When the Mustangs expected “in,” Paige threw “out.” When they expected “fast,” Paige threw “slow.” Paige kept the Mustangs completely off balance. After three and a half innings the score was tied 0 – 0. Wicked led off the fourth with Reina’s double to the gap in left. Katrina then delivered a two out triple to right. Patty followed with an RBI single to put Wicked in the lead 2 – 0. Ariel hit her second double of the game in the fifth, but Wicked failed to score. However it was not needed as Paige gave up only one more hit and faced only ten batters in the last three innings. Final score, Wicked 2, Tampa Bay Mustangs 0. Now there were only six teams left at the ASA National Championship.
The next game started at 9:30 p.m. and Wicked had to face the Sorcerers 91 who were knocked out of the winners’ bracket by the Smashers. Alexa drew the starting pitching assignment. Alexa struck out two batters. Score after one inning 0 – 0. Wicked cut down a runner at home on a squeeze bunt. Score after two innings 0 – 0. Megan gunned a runner out at first. Score after three innings. 0 – 0. Julia hauled in a pop fly. Score after four innings 0 – 0. Jocelin caught a screaming line drive in center. Score after five innings 0 – 0. Diane caught a long fly ball in right. Score after six innings 0 – 0. With two outs and a runner on third the Sorcerers hit a long fly ball over Diane’s head in right. She raced back to the fence and caught the ball full speed as she crashed through the barrier. Score after seven innings 0 – 0. Wicked failed to score in the eighth with a runner on second with the international tie breaker rule in effect. In the bottom half of the inning, the Sorcerers moved their runner to third on a bunt, but failed to score as Megan snagged a line drive with two outs. Score after eight innings 0 – 0. With a runner on second Julia reached first on a bunt single. Katrina then drove them both home with a bases clearing triple. Patty followed with an RBI single and Wicked broke the ice and led 3 -0. But the Sorcerers were not ready to give up. A one out double drove in a run. A single and a walk loaded the bases. Then a long drive into the right field corner appeared to clear the bases for a Sorcerers’ win, but the ball bounced over the fence for a ground rule double leaving runners on second and third with the score tied 3 – 3. Alexa struck out the next batter. Julia fielded a grounder and threw the runner out at first. Score after 9 innings 3 – 3. In the tenth Wicked bunted their runner over to third. On the next play disaster struck as the runner was hung up, and put out after a grounder back to the pitcher. Wicked failed to score. With two outs and the bases loaded the Sorcerers managed to bring the winning run home. Final score, Sorcerers 4 and Wicked 3 in ten innings. The dream of a National Championship was over. The “Little Team the Could” fell short. There were tears of disappointment in many of the girls’ eyes as they shook the hands of the Sorcerers. But there were no hard feelings. The girls all realized that they had participated in a great softball game, and had lost to a very good team. As the third base umpire left the field she told coach Dave that she was going to tell her friends who were college coaches about the outstanding players on both teams. A host of spectators came to tell the girls not to hang their heads; that this was one of the finest softball games at any level they had ever seen.
Coach Dave gathered the girls up out in the pitching circle. He and all of the other coaches told them how proud they were of how they played. He talked with tears in his eyes about how much they had matured as players and as young women. As the coaches talked about what the team had accomplished, the girls tears began to turn from tears of disappointment to tears of happiness (well, mixed with some disappointment). The coaches reminded them of all of the hard work the team had put in over the past year, and how they came out of nowhere to finish 4th in the State Tournament, they second toughest tournament in the nation. The team then flew out to Minnesota and won the Region 11 Qualifier to earn a trip to Nationals. There were 112 of the strongest teams in the United States entered in the ASA 14U National Championship, and 106 teams went home before SoCal Wicked did. This was a team that never gave up, that never stopped trying. Nothing will ever take away what the team accomplished. SoCal Wicked finished 5th in ASA Nationals. Then Coach Dave held up the 5th place Trophy. The girls reached out and touched it. It began to really sink in what they had accomplished. The players and coaches lined up, and the parents took pictures of the team, and of the individual girls with the trophy. It was almost 12:30 a.m. as we finally packed up and went back to the Best Western. Teams dream of finishing in the Top Ten at Nationals. SoCal Wicked finished 5th in the Nation. Great job girls. Practice starts the first week of September.
"SoCal Wicked Qualifies For ASA Nationals"
Let me tell you a story of courage, determination and all out desire. Our journey starts out last week when the SoCal Wicked girls went to play in our own State Tournament. With 62 teams entered into the tournament we knew that it was not going to be easy to get to the finals, but the girls played hard and got through the first 2 days undefeated. Come Sunday morning the team had to face the Artesia Punishers, a great team in itself and they came to play as well. We got off to a slow start and with some great pitching from the Punishers we fell to them with a 2-0 loss.Now, not to be out done, the girls cinched up their laces and dug deep down inside to find what was in them to finish the day, they knew they had to face 2 more of the best teams in SoCal to get their ticket to the big show. The girls took the field to face the Smashers and after 8 long innings came out the winners, and waiting for us to finish, was Crunch.
With all 60 teams gone and Wicked and Crunch still standing, the game started for all the girls and their quest for the all elusive 3rd place. Now it's been a long day for both teams, you can see it in their eyes and both teams were running on nothing but pure determination. The battle was hard fought with our girls giving it their all, digging deep to grab whatever they had left, but in the end, our girls took 4th.
Now the story doesn't end there, it's just beginning because that weekend our girls found something in them that they have always been looking for, DESIRE. That next weekend the girls took off to Rogers, Minnesota to give it another shot and they brought with them that courage, determination and desire that I mentioned at the start of this story.
With their tools at hand and Saturday morning here they started to do what they do best, play softball. First up was Andover Black from Andover, MN, beating them 21-0. Later that afternoon we met our new friends (picture right), Lakers Gold from Prior Lake, MN, we beat them 5-0 and for the last game of the day and our first elimination game we faced ESC Red from Des Moines, IA, beating them 16-2. Coming back Sunday morning we had to face our friends from Prior Lake again who had just beaten O.C. Dynasty from Fullerton, CA, we brought our best to the game sending them back to play O.C. Dynasty one more time. Our friends were tired and try as they might and with our girls cheering for them, Dynasty came out the winner.
The Championship game was now set, two California teams playing for the right to go to ASA Nationals. O.C. Dynasty and SoCal Wicked two teams that have met many times before, but never in a situation like this. For most of the game, Dynasty kept it close, they jumped out the first inning with 1 and we answered back with 1 of our own. With the score tied for the next few innings the girls came back with a 3 run inning making the score 4-1, going into the 7th. Dyansty tried to do their best to get some runs and even at one point had the bases loaded, but in the end they were only able to get 1 more, ending the game with a 4-2 victory for Wicked and a berth to the ASA National Championships.
To the people running the tournament, thank you, you did a wonderful job and you made us feel very welcome in your city. To the many friends we made during the weekend, keep playing hard and we'll see you all again on the dirt. To the Lakers, you girls are the absolute best, nothing but class all the way and thanks for all of your support in the end, we'll see you soon.
To all of the SoCal Wicked parents, thank you for all of your support because without that we never would have been able to finish this wild journey. Wait, did I say finish, I meant begin.
