Ashley Bone signs to play for Tarheels

Ashley Bone, a 2010 grad from Nash Central HS, recently signed her National Letter of Intent to attend UNC - Chapel Hill.  A powerhitting firstbaseman and pitcher, Ashley was a huge part of the success that the Lady Blues experienced during the 2009 season.  Congratulations Ashley from the Lady Blues family.  Best wishes for you at Chapel Hill.

Two Lady Blues Sign Letters of Intent

On Thursday, November 12th, two Lady Blues, Chelsea "Boola" Ingersoll and Lauren Oldham signed their National Letters of Intent.  Boola signed her Letter of Intent to play softball for UNC-Charlotte at Butler High School in Charlotte, and Lauren celebrated her signing to attend Elon University at Northwood High School in Pittsboro, NC.  The entire Lady Blues family congratulates both of these outstanding young ladies for achieving their goal of playing softball at the college level while pursuing an advanced education which will prepare them for a professional career after their softball playing days.  Both Lauren and Chelsea were huge contributors to the great success that the Lady Blues achieved in 2009.  Great job ladies and best wishes at the next level.

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. 

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.

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 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.