Sieara Bishop Signs NLI With Furman University

On Thursday, November 17th, Sieara Bishop signed her National Letter of Intent.  Sieara will be attending Furman University in the fall of 2012, and held her signing celebration at West Henderson High School.  The entire Lady Blues family congratulates Sieara for achieving her goal of playing softball at the college level, while pursuing an advanced education which will prepare her for a professional career after her softball playing days are complete.  Sieara has been a valuable contributor to the great success that the Lady Blues achieved in 2010 and 2011.  Great job Sieara and best wishes at Furman.

Kaitlyn Jones and Catelyn Presley sign with Belmont Abbey College 

The Lady Blues organization would like to congratulate two of our 2012 Grads, Kaitlyn Jones and Catelyn Presley, for recently signing their letter of intent to play for Belmont Abbey College.

Belmont Abbey is a Division 2 School and a member of the very competitive Carolina's Conference.  Both players committed to head coach Ellie Hanover, and signed their NLI's at Belmont Abbey on November 14th.  Coach Hanover is excited about getting both girls, and stated that she is looking for both to have an immediate positive impact on the softball program as freshman. 

Kaitlyn attends South Rowan High School in China Grove, NC.  Congratulations to Kaitlyn and her parents Mike and Tamara!

Catelyn Presley attends Queen's Grant High School in Matthews, NC.  Congratulations to Catelyn and her parents Josh and Lori!

The Lady Blues Organization is very proud of both players and excited for the outstanding future ahead of them at Belmont Abbey.   

LADY BLUES FINISH STRONG AT WFC EARLY SIGNING SHOWCASE

The Lady Blues Elite traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC to play in their final showcase tournament of the season, and finished a very successful season by going undefeated and finishing with a 5-0-1 record.  During the 6 games, the team outscored the opponents by a margin of 36-12.  Outstanding pitching performances were provided the entire weekend by Peyton Jordan, Logan Mathews and Catelyn Presley.  Power bats came alive as well with homeruns being supplied by Ally Yeager (2), Logan Mathews (2) and Katelyn Shifflett.  The homerun from Katelyn was the very first of her career, and was a shot over the left centerfield fence that put the Blues up 1-0 in the very first inning of the game against the Carolina Gators Gold.  Two innings later, Ally and Logan hit shots that pushed the lead to 5-0, and helped the Lady Blues cruise home from there.  Peyton Jordan pitched an outstanding game against the Gators, and Catelyn Presley provided the closing hammer by coming in to strike out the final batter of the game with 2 runners on base, and only a 2 run lead.  

WFC Showcase Game Scores:

Lady Blues - 3   Lady Pilots (VA) - 0

Lady Blues - 3   Full Throttle (SC) - 3

Lady Blues - 5   Carolina Gators Gold (NC) - 3

Lady Blues - 7   UC Xtreme (NC) - 1

Lady Blues - 7  Shamrocks (VA) - 3

Lady Blues - 11 Cape Fear Storm White (NC) - 2

Lady Blues Elite Launches Into Fall Season

The Lady Blues Elite kicked off their fall season by playing 2 games at UNC Chapel Hill on Sunday, September 18th.  The 1st game of the day vs. the Richmond Ruckus Gold, got off to a bang in the top of the 1st, when new addition, Logan Mathews, launched a towering homerun to centerfield to drive in another new member of the team, Erin Powers, who had earned a 1 out walk.  The Blues continued to build on their 2 - 0 lead, and came away with a great team effort in a 7-1 victory.  Strong pitching performances were given by Catelyn Presley who started, and Peyton Jordan, who came in to close out the win. 

In game two, the Lady Blues Elite and Carolina Cardinals Mchone had a very nice battle, with the Cardinals coming out on top in the end, 5 - 2.  Going into the top of the 4th, the Lady Blues held a 1-0 advantage, thanks to a two out base hit up the middle by Erin Powers.  But 2 home runs by the Cards seemed to be the undoing for the Blues, although they had one run in and runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out, when time expired.

The Lady Blues Elite look forward to continuing their fall season, by traveling to Virgina Beach, VA for the Legendary Showcase, which will be held on 9/24 & 25.

The Lady Blues had a fantastic start to their summer season winning all four of their games at USC Upstate this past weekend. These young ladies turned in a solid defensive performance giving up onlyone run in all four games.  Pitchers struck out 15 batters while walkingonly four over the course of 22 total innings.  The team was equallysuccessful on offense with four players batting at or above .500 for theweekend.

Game Scores

Lady Blues 11     CarolinaThunder 0

Lady Blues  4     Carolina Bulldogs 0

Lady Blues  2     SC Elite 1

Lady Blues  1     Carolina Blast 0

Outstanding performances

Peyton Jordan batted .667 while pitching 9scoreless innings

Sieara Bishop batted .600 with 5 RBI’s

Kelly Beres batted .571 while scoring 5 runs

Sarah Perrine batted .500 with outstandingdefense at shortstop and in the outfield

Kalie Hicks batted .375 with a towering homerun

Catelyn Presley pitched 9 scoreless innings and gave up only 2 hits

Natalie Clemmons and Hope Smith sign with Furman University

The Lady Blues organization would like to congratulate two more 2011 Grads , Natalie Clemmons and Hope Smith, for recently signing their letter of intent to play for Furman University.

Furman is a Division 1 School and a member of the Southern Conference.  Both players committed to head Coach Dana Jenkins.

Natalie attends Northern Guilford High School in Greensboro, NC.  Congratulations to Natalie and her parents Bob and Tracy!

Hope Smith attends Mooresville High School in Mooresville, NC.  Congratulations to Hope and her parents Chuck and Lori!

The Lady Blues Organization is very proud of both players and excited for the outstanding future ahead of them.

Beres and Brami Sign LOI's 

The Lady Blues organization would like to congratulate 2011 grads Kellie Beres and Meredith Brami for recently signing their Letter of Intents to play at the next level. 

Kellie, who attends J.H. Rose high school in Greenville, NC has committed to head coach Tom Cole and Gardner Webb University, a Division I school that is a member of the Big South Conference.  Congrats to Kellie, as well as her parents Wendy and Greg.

Meredith, who attends Providence high school in Matthews, NC has chosen to make her commitment with Peace College and coach Charlie Dobbins.  Peace, located in Raleigh, NC. is a Division III institution that is a member of the very competitive USA South Athletice Conference.  Congratulations to Meredith and her parents Susan and Chris.

 The Lady Blues are extremely proud and excited for both of these outstanding young ladies.  Best wishes and we can't wait to hear about your accomplishments at the next level.

LADY BLUES CAPTURE HOT TIMES CHAMPIONSHIP!!

 An outstanding performance by the Lady Blues at the 2010 Hot Times Classic, as they captured a 1st Place finish out of 60 teams.  As usual, the weather in Florence, SC was hot, humid and sticky.  The heavy rains on Friday and Saturday night pushed the start of bracket play back till 8am on Sunday morning.  The girls arrived at the field a little before 7am and ready to play.  In what seemed like a day that would never end, our young ladies never let up, playing 6 games (4 back to back) to gain the Championship.  Teams from all around the mid to southeastern section of the United States were in attendance, including the states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia.  The Championship began at almost 8pm, and pitted the Lady Blues against a tough Carolina Cardinals team, who also hailed from the great state of NC.  Some timely hitting, as well as an outstanding complete game pitching performance from "Hurricane" Hannah Alexander, helped the Lady Blues reign in the big trophy.  Congrats Ladies!  Job well done, and well deserved.  Thanks for a great ride.

 Elimination Bracket Scores:

Blues 5  SC Sandlappers 2

Blues 3  VA Lady Eagles Gold 0

Blues 3  WV Dusters 2

Blues 5  FL Pines Diamond Dusters 3

Blues 10 NC Cape Fear Storm Black 1

Blues 1   NC Carolina Cardinals 0

LADY BLUES ARE CHAMPS!!!!!!!

Hannah Alexander, 2010 member of the Lady Blues 18U, has recently been highlighted in the "Faces In The Crowd" of Sports Illustrated.  Congrats to Hannah on an outstanding senior season at North Davidson High School, and best wishes on a successful career at USC-Upstate beginning this fall.

The Lady Blues played some outstanding softball against some of the top 18U and 18U Gold teams in the USA at the recently completed Independence Day Tournament in Boulder.  In its 13th year, the Independence Day Tournament is considered one of the top tournaments for college coaches to attend in the nation.  Over 350 coaches representing nearly 250 colleges and universities attended this years event.  The Lady Blues went 2-3-1 in Pool Play, and won their first bracket game over the Atlanta Vipers 4-1.  In round 2 of bracket play, the Blues met up with a very tough New Jersey Intensity Premier team.  The entire starting nine for the Intensity are headed to play softball at some major D1 programs including Boston College, Cal State Fullerton, Providence, Missouri, Virginia, Lehigh, Georgetown, Floriday State, Penn State and Notre Dame.  The Lady Blues played the Intensity tough to the end and came up on the short end of a 4-3 game.  The coaching staff of the Intensity complimented the Blues players on their outstanding play.  The Intensity went on to make a deep run in the tourney and capture a 3rd place finish out of 80 teams.  Here is a rundown of the Blues opponents and scores:

Lady Blues - 0     WA Absolute Blast - 10

Lady Blues - 0     NM Sundancers - 2

Lady Blues - 4     CA Filly's Gold - 1

Lady Blues - 3     NY Beachgirls - 0

Lady Blues - 1      CA AASA - 6

Lady Blues - 0     VA Richmond Diamonds - 0

Lady Blues - 4     GA Atlanta Vipers - 1 (bracket game 1)

Lady Blues - 3     NJ Intensity Premier - 4 (bracket game 2)

Our Lady Blues squad had a strong showing at The Dynamites Classic.  During their inaugural tournament of the 2010 season, the Blues won 4 and lost 2, while outscoring their opponents 26 to 8.  Strong pitching performances from Hannah Alexander (USC Upstate signee), Kellie Beres and Ashley Bone (UNC-Chapel Hill signee) kept the Blues opponents at bay.  During the six games played, the most runs scored against the Lady Blues was 2.  Defense behind the pitchers was outstanding, and several players came through with key timely hits.  Several coaches from D1, as well as D2 universities were observing the games, and many positive comments and feedback about the Lady Blues recruitable players were received.  After a successful showing at the Dynamite Classic, the Lady Blues now move to defend their NC ASA 18U Championship in Raleigh (Walnut Creek Park) beginning on Friday, June 25th.

 Results of Dynamites Classic (Won 4 Lost 2)

• Lady Blues 3       Winter Springs Panthers 0
• Lady Blues 1        Royal Palm Beach Blue Thunder 2
• Lady Blues 0       Sarasota Heat - Dover 2
• Lady Blues 11      Lightspeed Gold  1
• Lady Blues 6       River City Rebels - Gold  1
• Lady Blues 5       TN, White Lightning - 2

THe Lady Blues attended their first ever Team NJ Tourney and came home with a successful 4 and 2 record.  Every team in attendance, but the Lady Blues, plays a Gold schedule and there were two former ASA Gold National Champions and several Final 64 Gold Nationals members participating as well.

Chelsea Macaluso, Kellie Beres, Ashley Bone and Shelby Parker pitched extremely well giving up only 2 earned runs in 6 games.  The defense was a little inconsistent, averaging about 3 errors a game, but our young kids learned a great deal about where we need to be to play at the highest level.

Jazz Robbins and Chelsea "Boola" Ingersoll had great tournaments at the plate and were leaders in the field as well.  Kenya Blandon made a couple of outstanding defensive plays at SS, as did Sarah Perrine, Kalie Farmer, Kellie Beres and Ashley.  Racquel Cooke delivered a key game winning rbi, and Taylor Laskey was solid at the plate and even layed down 2 nice bunts.  Hope Smith through out 2 runners attempting to steal, and Eric Gross made a couple of real nice over the shoulder catches on bloops over first base.  Meredith Brami played solid defense and made a nice over the shoulder catch.  Raven got 2 key hits, and Whitney Wagner contributed in the OF as well.

Overall, a quality performance against some tough competitioin, and a spring board for this new group of Blues to continue improving.

Scores:

Lady Blues - 0    NY TC Tremors - 2

Lady Blues - 4    NJ Rocks - 0

Lady Blues - 3    NJ Breakers - 2

Lady Blues - 0    RI Thunder - 2

Lady Blues - 5    TX Storm Newsom - 4

Lady Blues - 4    NJ Jaxx - 2

The Lady Blues completed another successful showing at the ASA 18U Nationals in Las Vegas, NV., finishing in 7th place out of 140 teams.  The Blues rolled through their first 6 games with some hot bats.  Seven different players accounted for a total of 15 home runs!  The Blues outscored their opponents 76 to 35.  The only games the Blues lost were to Team Demarini (FL) and Elyria Sun Dogs (OH) who finished 4th and Runnerup respectively.  The Lady Blues will now launch into their fall season, and with plans to make another run at a National Championship in 2010!

ASA Nationals - Game Results:

Lady Blues - 6  Las Vegas Rage - 4

Lady Blues - 8  Team Florida - 4

Lady Blues - 12 Orange County Dynasty - 6

Lady Blues - 12 Dupage Sports Academy Elite - 4

Lady Blues - 10 Indiana Magic - 1

Lady Blues - 11 Shock (UT.) - 0 

Lady Blues - 0  Team Demarini - 5

Lady Blues - 15 Wisconsin Bandits - 9

Lady Blues - 2  Elyria Sun Dogs - 3

LADY BLUES WIN NC ASA 18U STATE!!

The Lady Blues defeated a gritty Cape Fear Storm - White team in the "if" game 8 - 1 to bring home the State title.  The win qualifies the Lady Blues for their sixth consecutive appearance at the ASA Nationals, this year being held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 Congrats to all of the girls.  Great effort.  You hit the goal that you all set at the beginning of the season. 

Our Lady Blues team showed well in their first tournament of the 2008 season. A fourth place finish (out of 10 teams) is a great way to start off the season.  The Blues were only a whisker away of playing for the Championship of this Nat'l Qualifier.   Oh...by the way....we hope the rest of the tournaments don't get any hotter temperature wise than this one.  Thankfully, everyone survived the weekend, without any injuries.

 Now, on to the Dynamite Classic in Columbia, SC.

The Lady Blues made a very strong showing in this years Independence Day Tournament in Boulder, CO.  Facing the top teams from around the country, the Lady Blues finished pool play with a record of 3 - 3.  Two of the 3 wins were against highly ranked opponents from California, the Southern Cal Diamonds, and the Fresno Force.  In Bracket play, the Lady Blues pulled a major surprise by defeating perennial powerhouse, the Orange County Batbusters, 6 - 3.  Coaches in attendance that were watching this game were from Tennessee, North Carolina, Purdue, North Carolina State, Ball State, and many more.  The Lady Blues hung tough in their 2nd bracket game, losing to the CA Sorcerers - Phil, 2 - 0.  It was a great game, and little did the Lady Blues realize at the time, but the Sorcerers went on to capture the championship trophy at this years Independence Day Tournament.  11 players on the Socerers have already committed to DI schools, including California, Stanford, Oregon, Fresno St., Wisconson, Harvard, and Mississippi State.

Congratulations ladies on an outstanding showing at the Independence Day Tournament.  Can't wait till next years tournament.

The Lady Blues went to Moline, IL to participate in the 2008 ASA 18U A Nationals, and came away with an impressive 7th Place finish.  The Nationals had 119 teams participating from all over the USA, including 28 teams from California alone.  The 7th place finish was the highest finish ever for a Lady Blues squad.  During the week, the team came away with 7 wins, and only 2 losses.  The losses were to the Lemont Rockers (this year's champs), and the Alabama Pride (4th overall).  The Blues played the Lemont Rockers tough, losing a heartbreaker, 5 - 4 in the last inning.

 Congratulations to the young ladies on the Lady Blues for making everyone in NC proud!

 Summary of game scores:

Lady Blues 10  Tucson Scramblers 8

Lady Blues 9    Dynamite QC Dreamers  6

Lady Blues 11   CA Tornadoes  0

Lady Blues 4   Fastpitch USA  3

Lady Blues 9   CA Young Guns  0

Lady Blues 3   Florida Knockouts  2

Lady Blues 4   IL Lemont Rockers  5

Lady Blues 6   Georgia Challengers 4

Lady Blues 2   Alabama Pride  4

The 2009 Lady Blues are excited about the upcoming season.  Right out of the box the schedule will be tough, with our first tournament being the ASA 18U South Atlantic National Qualifier in Woodstock, GA.  The Lady Blues hope to qualify to Nationals for the 5th season in a row.  The 2008 LB squad achieved the highest finish ever in Moline, IL. last year, by finishing 7th out of 120 teams.  Following the Qualifier, the Lady Blues will once again participate in the Dynamites Classic in Columbia, SC., and then follow that up with the NC ASA State Championships, being held in Burlington, NC.

 New faces joining the Lady Blues for the 2009 campaign include:

Chelsea Ingersoll, Ashley Bone, Lauren Oldham, Chelsea Macaluso and Rachel Harris.  Two college players that will be joining the Lady Blues for the first time are:  Morgan Peeler (NC State), and Ally Blake (UNC - Chapel Hill).  Morgan will add needed depth to the pitching staff, while Ally will help with her defensive presence behind the plate, along with her strong bat.

 In the picture left are from L to R:  Back row - Allie Cashion, Taylor Allen, Chelsea Macaluso, Ashley Bone, Chelsea Ingersoll, Kalie Lang, Stephanie Spain.  Front row - Erica Gross, Stephanie Simmons, Rachel Harris, Kellie Beres, Lauren Oldham, Jasmine Robbins and Lauren Lewis.  Not pictured are:  Constance Orr, Morgan Peeler, Ally Blake.