St. Louis Diamond Cats

Cats have a good tournament and manage to hang on to win the championship!  After getting in only 1 game on Friday and then having the huge storm blow in, we were glad to get this tournament in.  Saturday evening was a bit of a mess with the running like crazy to get everyone there at 6 pm, but we pulled it off on Sunday by winning all 4 games we played.  Thanks for great games to the Energy, Chaos, Fusion Gold, Illusion, and Excel.  Kudos to KAA for getting the games in!

Cats have a successful weekend in our first Gold tournament of the season.  We went 5 - 3 - 0 and beat some good teams.  All of our losses were to teams that made it to the top 8, and our final game was with the only other St. Louis team still in the tournament, the Chaos, and they went on to win it all!  We had some really good games, some just ok games, and some games we wish we could have back, but all in all it was a good outing against the best competition we will face all year.  Good job, Cats!  Congrats to the Chaos for a great tournament!

Sarah earned 2nd team all-conference in the D-3 SLIAC conference.  She was also named co-MVP of the Maryville Saints softball team!  She had a great freshman season and I am sure Maryville is looking forward to what she can do next year!  We are glad to have her back in teal, black and white for the summer!!!

JJ earned the Scholar Athlete award from Principia.  What a great accomplishment!  Not only a superb athlete, but a great student, too.  Mizzou will be getting the whole package when JJ arrives on campus in August!

Congrats to both girls!  We are all proud!

From the West County Suburban Journal: 

Don't let Jenna Marston fool you.

On the surface, she's just your mainstream, all-American 17-year-old.

With a backpack slung over her right shoulder, jeans, sweatshirt, and well-worn tennis shoes, she could be any number of girls strolling the Principia campus.

With a friendly smile and easy manner, Marston is greeted by many as she makes her way to an afternoon's practice.

She re-emerges and, after crossing either the chalked lines on ball diamond or the painted stripes on a basketball court, she becomes anything but normal, or typical, or average.

There is a quiet determination and a silent obsession about her work in the classroom and in the athletic arenas. There is drive, determination, and an unquenchable thirst for improvement.

"She doesn't like not being able to succeed. She loves to succeed and is relentless in the pursuit of it," Principia softball coach Ken Leavoy said. "Sometimes, it's hard to believe that there are kids like her with that type of work ethic who are humble and demanding."

This approach has made her one of the best softball players in the St. Louis area, a three-year starter on the basketball court, and unflappable in crossing the gender line and playing baseball.

It is that same approach that earned Jenna Marston the Suburban Journals of West County Female Athlete of the Year.

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

The Cats start another tournament out with a loss!  In a game that took 2 international tie breaker innings to decide, the Cats could not quite close it out.  The Fierce got some good pitching and our bats are not quite rolling yet.  The Cats managed to make it a game and send the game to tie breaker on a homerun by Meghan.  The score of 3 - 6 doesn't really reflect how close the game was.

The 2nd game of the tournament had the Cats breaking out their bats and beating the Venom 11 - 0.  Lindsay threw a no-hitter and would have had a perfect game except for having given up one walk.  It was a well-played game and gave the players some confidence heading into the first game of the double-elimination bracket!

The 3rd game was our first bracket game of the season.  The Cats hit and ran well, beating the Insanity 12 - 0 in 3 innings.  JJ was a double short of hitting for the cycle and led off the game with a homerun.  Lauren was 6 for 6 in stolen bases, and Lindsay and Brittany only gave up 1 hit between them.  It was a good game to get our bats going and get some innings in on the dirt.

Sunday was a typical spring Sunday in St. Louis...rained out!  We are off till Mother's Day weekend.  Let's keep up the good work and Go, Cats!