Announcement
"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.
