St. Louis Diamond Cats

From the Belleville News Democrat:

DUPO -- Dupo pitcher Ashley Meagher's secrets to success are hard work and hot dogs...

...Meagher has been selected as the Belleville News-Democrat's Small-School (Class 1A and 2A) Softball Player of the Year in voting by 12 metro-east coaches.

Meagher compiled a 43-28 record over four seasons for the Tigers.

"I couldn't ask any more of her for four years,' Evers said. "She has been starting since she was a freshman, and she got better every year.'

Meagher went 3-1 as a freshman in spot duty behind No. 1 pitcher Johanna Ladyman. For the next three seasons, Meagher was the Tigers' No. 1 pitcher.

She saved her best season for last, posting a 20-8 record with a 1.56 ERA this past spring.

For the rest of the article, click on the link in the headline above!  Congrats, Ashley!

 

Who would have thought that we would have ANOTHER tournament rained out before we could finish?  The Cats played well on Friday and were looking forward to games against teams we don't regularly play on Saturday and Sunday.  The girls decided to play tough against the Illusions and show them that we really can play ball as we run-ruled them 11 - 0.  Then we pulled off a close one with the Schellert Chaos and won that one 2 - 1.  We went home looking forward to our games on Saturday with the Flames and Lightning, but the weather man did not cooperate.  After some thoughts of a rain delay, the tournament folks realized that the tournament could not be completed and the girls ended up with a weekend off.  Everyone had a good July 4th holiday, but we would rather have been playing ball!

 

Well, the Cats had moments of greatness, but could not quite pull it off this weekend.  A lack of hitting and some key errors led to 2 losses against the Illusions in the double elimination bracket at Metros.  The girls played well on Saturday and managed to get out of the heat by winning their first two games and getting a straight shot into Sunday's bracket play.  After that, though, the Illusions rained all over our parade and beat us in two close games.  We did not look like we were ready to play on Sunday and just did not put good defense and run production together.  Good effort, girls and congrats to the Illlusions for playing good ball this weekend!

Diamond Cats go 6 - 0 to win a championship in the KC Heartland Exposure Classic!  The girls played great defense, hit well, and got some great pitching from all four of our pitchers.  Ashley M and Kristin pitched Friday and Saturday to give us 3 pool play wins!  Lindsay and Brittany arrived Saturday evening to help us get our 3 bracket wins!  We had a great time in KC as usual, and played some great softball.  We thank the Mid-Mo Ricochet, Pride, KS Renegades, Shockwaves, Wahoos and Rockers for some exciting games.  Good job, Cats!

Cats win the NSA Summer Slam at Ozzie Smith's!  The tournament did not finish on Sunday because of the rain, but since this was a qualifier, they determined the winner based on pool play and the Cats were 3 - 0 in pool.  As the only undefeated 18U team, they were awarded the win!  We played some good games and it took a tie breaker to beat the Outburst, but the girls pulled it out.  As seems to be the trend this year, we got to the field on Sunday only to get rained out before we could finish our game.  Good job, Cats and maybe soon we can play a whole tournament with no rain!!!