: 18U Kelhoffer

Desert Wolves 18U Win TCS Bobblehead Championship           

The 2009 TCS Bobblehead Championship was played the weekend of November 14-15, 2009 at Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale Arizona.  Desert Wolves 18U started Saturday with a 16-6 win over the Desert Shock.  The Wolves had the bats going with 16 runs on 13 hits, highlighted by Kaity Jeffers with a 3-4 effort and her first Grand Slam.  Jamie Morgan also went 3-4 and scored 3 runs.  Heather Jozwick had 2 hits and 3 RBI; Shelby Koontz had 2 hits including a triple.     

The next game the hard-hitting Wolves faced the B/S Crew from Winslow and exploded for another 15 runs.  Amanda Byler went 3-4, with a sacrifice fly, Bryce Villalpando had 2 hits, and Jessica Poole had 2 hits and 3 runs scored.  Shelby Koontz in the circle held the Crew to just 3 runs on 3 hits and Kaity Carter and Alexis McKinn contributed with hits and good defense.

The Wolves finished Saturday with a tough loss to the Mystics 7-10, even with Jamie Morgan and Shelby Koontz going 2-3. For the day, the Wolves hit.472 and scored 38 runs good enough for the 2^nd seed and a bye on Sunday. 

The Wolves started Sunday back with the 3^rd seed Mystics who won their earlier game on Sunday.  Shelby in the circle kept the Mystics off balance the entire game.  Shelby allowed just 3 runs on 6 hits as the Wolves played error-free softball.  Bryce and Heather each had 2 hits with an RBI as the Wolves won 7-3.

In the championship game, the Wolves faced the Desert Shock again, who were the 1 seed and had not lost since their opening loss to the Wolves on Saturday.  The Wolves dug themselves a hole early as the error bug returned to find themselves down 5-1 in the bottom of the 3^rd.  Jamie and Bryce each scored in the bottom of the 3^rd on Amanda’s RBI single.  The Wolves held the Shock in the fourth and tied the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth when Jamie hit a triple and drove in two runs.

Time expired after the 5^th, with the score still tied at 5.  The Shock pushed across their run from the International tie-breaker in the top of the 6^th.  The Wolves answered back and had the bases loaded with only 1 out, but could not push across the wining run.       

The Shock again scored in the top of the 7^th and the Wolves were down 1 run in the bottom of the 7^th.  Shelby started at second base and Bryce moved her to third.  Heather knocked her in with a single to tie the score.  Karen doubled in the gap to put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with only 1 out.  A Walk followed by Jess’ single sealed the victory for the Wolves.  Karen led the way with a 3-4 effort, with a 2B and a BB.  Jess Whitis, Jamie and Heather each had 2 hits in the game.  Overall, the Wolves scored 54 runs in 5 games to win the TCS Bobblehead Championship.

PLAYERS                 #          Position           High School            Graduation

Manager:         Chuck Kelhoffer @ Home: (602) 840-7650;

                       Work: (602) 254-9900;  Mobile (602) 509-6625, email: kelhoffer@aol.com

Coaches:          Mark Villalpando, Eric Koontz.Team Mom:     Diane Kelhoffer 602-509-6624.