HLL 8 Year Old Softball Invitational Team
Manager: Mike Pilot
Coaches: Drew Dobler, Steve Hardiman, Danny Murphy
Team Mom: Gina Hardiman
Scorekeeper/Announcer: Sheri Hull
The 8 Year Old Softball Invitational Team will be participating in the Mechanicsville Little League 8U Machine Pitch Softball Tournament starting July 22nd.
Pool Game #1 vs. Atlee – Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wow! On one side, you had Atlee, a seasoned tournament team that practices year-round, is coached by the Hanover High School softball coach, and was picked as the pre-tournament favorite to win it all. On the other side, you had Huguenot, a team less than two weeks old, that has never faced a pitching machine, and that was told they would lose 20-0 after four innings. But the girls from Huguenot played their hearts out and came together and pulled out a 9-9 tie after six innings in a very exciting game.
Our offense was led by Emily and Bridget who each had 3 hits. Aubrey had 2 hits, and Grace, Riley, Caitlin, Madison and Carlie each had one. In any other game, we would have had more hits, but Atlee’s defense was unbelievably good. All 10 girls from Huguenot made contact at the plate and put the ball in play at least 2 times each, which is truly remarkable for our first game. Emily, Aubrey and Bridget each scored twice, and Grace, Riley and Carlie each scored once. Bridget and Katie each had 2 RBI’s, and Riley, Emily, Aubrey, Caitlin and Madison each had one. All the girls ran the bases extremely well.
Our defense was outstanding. Emily led the way with 4 put-outs – 2 thrown to Grace at 1st, 1 thrown to Katie at 2nd and 1 thrown to Carlie at 3rd. Emily also caught a line shot in the air to end the game. Katie had 3 put-outs – 2 thrown to Grace at 1st and 1 thrown to Emily at 2nd. Riley had 2 to put-outs thrown to Grace at 1st, and Caitlin added 2 unassisted plays at 3rd. But the best play of the game may have come from Aubrey while catching. An Atlee batter hit a weak grounder in front of the plate and Aubrey sprang out from her position, grabbed the ball and fired it to Grace at 1st for an out. Something you just don’t see at this level. Bridget also played stellar behind the plate. Grace had a tremendous game at 1st base, catching everything that was thrown her way, and made not 1, but 2 great catches on pop-ups in the field. Sarah, Madison, Bridget and Carlie all made great plays in the outfield holding Atlee runners.
The coaches and parents could not have been more proud of how well all the girls played tonight.
Congratulations Girls! You really did awesome!!
Next up: Mechanicsville on Friday night.
Pool Game #2 vs. Mechanicsville – Friday, July 22, 2011
The 8u Huguenot girls played another thrilling game against the strong hitting, seasoned team from Mechanicsville. It was a game that featured numerous lead changes, 30 combined runs scored, and several outstanding defensive plays. In the end, Huguenot lost in the last inning, 16-14, but played an unbelievable game.
Our offense tonight was led by Emily and Katie who each had 4 hits, and by Riley who had 3 hits. Aubrey, Bridget, Caitlin and Carlie each had 2 hits, and Grace, Madison and Sarah each had 1 hit. That’s 22 hits – not fielder’s choices, not errors, but hits – which is simply spectacular. All 10 girls once again made contact and put the ball in play at least 3 or 4 times. In fact, we had 40 total at-bats and only 1 strikeout. Riley scored 4 times! Emily, Katie, Caitlin and Madison each scored twice, and Grace and Carlie each scored once. Aubrey and Sarah led the way knocking in runners, as each had 3 RBI’s. Bridget and Carlie each had 2 RBI’s, and Riley, Emily, Katie and Caitlin each knocked in one. A tremendous offensive showing from the girls from Huguenot!
Mechanicsville pounded the ball all night, but our defense was again outstanding. In addition to fielding ground balls, we caught 4 pop-ups and 2 line-drives in one game! The coaches couldn’t recall 6 catches in the air all season. Emily led the way by catching 2 of the pop-ups and both line-drives. Emily also added 2 put-outs thrown to Katie and 2nd. Katie had 3 put-outs thrown to Grace at 1st, and also caught one of the pop-ups. Riley had 2 put-outs thrown to Grace at 1st. And Grace once again played outstanding at 1st base, and caught the other pop-up. Aubrey, Bridget and Caitlin did a great job at catcher, especially in the heat. Sarah, Carlie, Madison, Caitlin, Bridget and Aubrey all made several very nice plays in the outfield as it seemed the ball was hit very hard out there all night. We did a great job out backing each other up and quickly getting the ball in, limiting extra bases by the Mechanicsville runners.
Congratulations girls on another hard-fought, well-played, great game!
Next up: Elimination game against Caroline on Saturday morning.
Elimination Round – Game #3 vs. Caroline – Saturday, July 23, 2011 – 8:30 am.
The 8u Huguenot girls came to play this morning, despite having played late into the night on Friday. It was once again very hot, but our fielding was hotter. We had to be there very early, but our bats were certainly awake. There was donuts and drinks for all, and the support the team received from the parents was awesome! It all added up to a thrilling 14-10 Huguenot victory over a very good team from Caroline that simply wouldn’t quit until the very last out.
Our offense this morning was led by Riley, who had, not one, but 2 homeruns! Riley also added a single for a total of 3 hits. Emily and Katie each had 4 hits, for the second straight game! Grace and Aubrey each also had 3 hits, along with Riley. Bridget and Madison each had 2 hits, and Caitlin had 1 hit. That’s a total of 22 hits, two games in a row! Emily scored 4 times, and Grace and Riley each scored 3 times. Aubrey scored twice, and Bridget and Madison each scored once. With her 2 homeruns, Riley led the way with 4 RBI’s, although Aubrey also had 4 RBI’s, and Katie had 3 RBI’s. Emily, Caitlin and Sarah each knocked in one. Another fabulous offensive showing!
Our fielding was also awesome once again, led by 3 spectacular plays. The first play came on a ball hit through left field by Caroline’s led-off batter in the 3rd inning. Bridget was playing left center and hustled to be the back-up behind our left fielder. Bridget quickly got to the ball and fired it to Emily who sprinted out to be the cut-off. Emily took the ball and ran towards the runner, now heading to 3rd base, and tagged her out. So instead of no outs and a runner on third, we had one out and nobody on. A great play by both Bridget and Emily! The second play happened in the 5th inning. With a runner on first with no outs, the batter from Caroline hit a shot to left field. On the throw back in to the pitcher, the ball scooted home, so both runners took off running. Caitlin, who was playing catcher, saw the over-throw, ran and got the ball, and fired it to Aubrey at 3rd, who made the tag for an out. A great play by both Caitlin and Aubrey. The third play happened in the bottom of the 6th inning with the bases loaded and two outs, as we were up by 4 runs. The clean-up hitter for Caroline had already hit a ball to the fence earlier in the game, and was up again, looking to do the same. This time, she hit a rocket down the 1st base line, but Grace made a great stop and calmly got the out at 1st ending the game and saving what surely would have been a game tying hit. A great play by Grace! Grace also had 2 other unassisted put-outs at 1st. Katie caught a line-drive, and had 2 other put-outs, one thrown to Emily at 2nd, and one thrown to Grace at 1st. Emily had 3 put-outs, two thrown to Grace at 1st, and one thrown to Katie at 2nd. Riley also caught a line-drive, and had another put-out thrown to Grace at 1st. In addition to her great play behind the plate, Caitlin also had an unassisted put-out at 3rd. Madison, Sarah and Carlie all made great stops while playing 3rd base. And Madison, Sarah, Carlie, Caitlin, Bridget and Aubrey all also made great plays in the outfield.
Congratulations girls on advancing!! But we now have to play again tonight…
Next up: Semi-final game against Mechanicsville on Saturday night.
Semi-Finals – Game #4 vs. Mechanicsville – Saturday, July 23, 2011 – 8:30 pm
Having to play 4 games in 48 hours in this crazy heat wasn’t bad enough, but we had to play the 4th game in the rain. The girls, once again, played their hearts out, but in the end, Mechanicsville won 16-8. So we ended up with bronze medals for 3rd place. But we could not be more proud of how these girls came together as a team and played so well, after just 2 weeks of practicing. Having never seen the pitching machine before 12 days ago, it is truly remarkable just how well each of these girls played!
The offense tonight was led by Riley and Aubrey who each had 3 hits, including 2 doubles by Aubrey. Katie had 2 hits, and Grace, Emily, Bridget, Caitlin and Madison each had one hit. Riley scored 3 times. Emily and Aubrey scored twice, and Grace scored once. Aubrey led the way in RBI’s by knocking in 3 runners, Emily and Bridget each had 2 RBI’s, and Katie knocked in one.
Mechanicsville once again showed an awesome display of power and hit balls into the outfield all night, but our defense held their own and played great in the sloppy conditions. Katie had 3 put-outs, all thrown to Emily at 2nd. Bridget played great at 3rd, and probably had the play of the game on a hard hit ball down the 3rd base line. Bridget made a great back-handed stop and fired the ball to Katie at 2nd for an out. Grace caught yet another line-drive at 1st, and Emily had a put-out thrown to Katie at 2nd. Riley had a put-out thrown to Grace at 1st, and also made a great play on a hard hit ground ball that she fired home to Aubrey for an out at the plate. Caitlin made an awesome stop in left-center on a ball that surely would have gone to the fence, and Sarah, Carlie, Madison and Aubrey also made very good plays in the outfield.
Congratulations to all the girls on a fantastic tournament!
You all played extremely well!!
What an awesome team!!!
And thank you to all the parents and fans that came out to support our girls.
It was a great experience, and the girls all had a really fun time.
Go Huguenot!!
