Thursday 7/24...The Firecracker Fury earned a ton of well deserved respect and praise by battling every out in each and every inning all week, but the ladies came up short in the Semifinal against the Central PA Krunch.  The Fury finished the PONY Nationals with a 9-1 record and a Third place finish.

More details to come soon!

Tuesday 7/22... The Fury won their 6th straight game at PONY Nationals to clinch a coveted spot in the Sweet 16 with a resounding 5-2 victory over the previously un-beaten Wadsworth Grizzlies from Ohio.  Lauren was once again dominant in the circle and the defense was again flawless.  The ladies came through with the bats as Charli had huge triple and Brooke and Blondie bombed doubles.  McNugget was great behind the plate, throwing out 2 runners at second trying to steal.

Monday 7/21 ... In the first game of bracket play the Fury beat the New Caanan Storm from Connecticut 4-1 for their 5th straight victory.  Lauren pitched another gem and had a couple of big hits.  Mak made some fantastics plays in left, including a great backup play at third where she threw out the runner trying to score.  Charli crushed the ball and played great behind the plate and the infield was great again. 

Sunday 7/20... After opening the PONY Nationals with 1-0 victory over Lou Gehrig Lazers from NY, the Fury had a long day Sunday, playing the first game at 8am and after the long weather delay, the last game of Pool play at 7pm.  The ladies battled all day and came out victorious in all 3 games to finish 4-0, earning the #1 seed heading into Bracket play.

The first game was a 11-9 slugfest against the Jersey Diamond Girls highlighted by Lauren's 240 ft bomb over the fence in Center.  Britt started the game and got the W.  Everyone was hitting the ball well as we had 16 hits in the game. 

In game 2, the ladies battled the Ohio Emeralds to a 10-3 win.  Krista pitched very well to get the victory and everyone was hitting the ball well again, and Lugnut and Brooke were all over the field making plays defensively. 

In game 3, the combination of Lauren's bat and arm led the way against the Banshees, and again Brooke, Lugnut, Krista and Britt were flawless in the field.  Mak made a great catch in left with the bases loaded to kill a threat.  Lauren hit her second long Homerun of the day, this one off the scoreboard in left, breaking some lights at the Field of Dreams complex field 1.  Final score was Fury 9 Banshees 1.

Saturday 7/19... The 12u Firecracker Fury battled the Lazers in a well played game, and got the winning run in with some timely hitting from Krista and Mak.  Lauren was dominant in the cirlce allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk.  The defense came through with great plays to keep the Lazers off the board.  The rust from 2 weeks off effected the bats as we left runners in scoring position in every inning.  The ladies will look to pick it up a notch as we have 3 games Sunday to wrap up pool play.  Stay tuned for more....

All game scores are posted at pony.org

The 12u Firecracker Fury ladies stepped up this weekend to play the 14u ASA Metro Boston Championships and played fantastic going 4-1 and losing to the eventual champion King Philip Pride.  The Fury went 3-0 in pool play allowing 4 runs which earned the 3 seed.  In a thriller against the Stoneham Spark in the Quarterfinal, the Fury trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the 7th and scored twice to win it when the killer Bs(Bradshaw and the 2 Britt's) put together the furious rally.  Charli started off by taking advantage of 3 errors on the same play to tie the score.  Britt C followed that with a bomb to left for a double.  The Spark intentionally walked Lauren.  Krista just missed in her at bat, and with 2 outs Britt M came through with a rocket line drive to left center that scored Britt C from second for the win.  In the Semifinal, we hung tough with the Pride in a 1-0 game until they broke it open with 6 runs in the 6th inning.

What a great weekend to cap-off our local season, as we are off until the 12u PONY Nationals in Ohio!

 Record to date

Overall Record 64-7-2

Tournament Record 43-7-2

Tough trip north, as Sunday was washed out after a very nice Saturday that saw the 12u Fury go 3-0 with wins over the Maine Attraction, Hudson Heat and the Diamond Gems.

We are now getting ready for the 12u ASA States in Gloucester this weekend as the Fury look to add that title to our 2008 season.

The 12u Firecracker Fury won the ASA National Qualifier in Lowell this weekend, beating the Southern Maine Flame back to back to earn their 3rd National berth for 2008(PONY,NSA and ASA).  Having been religated to the losers bracket early Saturday night by losing to the Flame's in a 2-0 nailbiter, the ladies had to fightback and do it the hard way-which they did in dramatic fashion by forcing the 'if' game with a total team effort in a 6-0 victory, and then had to storm back in the bottom of the 7th with 2 runs to top the Flames 5-4.  Given the heat and the situation the Fury showed their mental toughness by never giving up.  The Fury and the Flames battled 3 times in a 24 hour span, and our friendship and rivalry grows with each game, as we couldn't have more respect for a group of ladies and coaches then the classy Southern Maine Flames and Bob Williamson and his staff.

I'm too spent to add more details, but I'll get to it later!

Also, last week in Concord we almost had the Fury double as the 12u won it, and Randy and the 14u ladies came up just a little short and lost the Championship game.  Not this time, as both 12u and 14u Fury won!!!

GREAT JOB FURY!! 

Great weekend for the Firecracker Fury as the 12u took the title with a 6-0 weekend and the 14u Fury lost a nailbiter in the Championship game against the Captial Rampage from Albany.  The 12u ladies came out on fire in the pool games and we grabbed the #1 seed allowing one run in the 3 victories.  Krista, Galen and Brittany all started and earned the victories in the pool games.  The highlight was Ally's homerun to close out the final game against the Firebirds.

Sunday started with the Fury up against the Strike Zone Shockers.  Krista and Galen shut them down while the offense was clicking for an 8-0 win.  Next up was the RI Lightning, who we saw in pool play as well, and Lauren was in the circle for the first time over the weekend, and was on her game as the Fury won 9-1.  In the Championship game we battled a tough Mass Drifters team that is well coached and deep.  The girls came out sloppy allowing 2 un-earned runs, 3 overall in the first.  But the Fury showed their resiliency and stormed back with 5 runs, crushing the ball up and down the lineup.  Brittany battled shoulder and ankle injuries all game and gutted it out for the win, with Lauren dowsing a couple of rallys to keep us in front. 

A great team effort all weekend as every single player contributed multiple big plays.  Next up, the ASA National Qualifier in Lowell.

Saturday

Fury 8 Mass Xplosion 0

Fury 9 RI Lightning 1

Fury 11 NE Firebirds 0

Sunday

Fury 8 Strike Zone Shockers 0

Fury 9 RI Lightning 1

Fury 9 Mass Drifters 5

The 12u Firecracker Fury stepped up to play 14u this weekend in the Memorial Day Classic in Dracut, run by our big-sister Red Hots team.  The ladies came out of the gate flat against the Titans, but re-grouped and came back with a thrilling 7-6 victory to get the weekend off on the right foot.  Krista was fantastic in the circle and the defense played awesome to keep the Titans at bay.  Next up was the Nashua Purple, and we renewed a rivalry from last year, and the girls continued their success against them a 4-1 victory.  Brittany pitched great and crushed the ball all weekend.  The last pool game was an intra-Fury battle, as we played the 14u Fury.  It was a lot of fun, but also pressure packed as the 12u ladies had something to prove, and the game lived up to the hype as the 14u held on for a 3-2 victory, and Lauren was throwing heat and keeping the blazing fast 14u Fury runners off base, and when they did get on, Charli threw them out trying to steal with great throws and a good job by Brooke to slap the tag as those kids can fly. The ladies ended pool play with a 2-1 record and the 4th seed. 

The quaterfinal saw the Fury pitted against the NH Lightning's top 14u team, and we had another nail biter, but couldn't string together the hits to get the runs in as the Fury lost 3-1 in a well played, crisp game.  Lauren pitched great again and accept for a couple of errors, which led to the runs, the outcome might've been different.  Ally had a great at bat that ended the game, fighting off many foul balls with the tying run on, before ripping a line drive headed into the RF gap that would've tied the game, but the Lightning firstbaseman made a super grab to end it. 

 It was a great experience playing the 14u teams, and we'll be back for more as we've entered the 14u Metro Boston ASA Open in North Reading on June 27th weekend.  This weekend the ladies are back to 12u PONY in Concord and look to continue their winning ways.

Saturday

Fury 7 Titans 6

Fury 4 Nashua Purple 1

14u Fury 3 12u Fury 2

Sunday

NH Lightning 3 Fury 1

The Firecracker Fury 12u responded to last weeks disappointing finish in Connecticut with a resounding 6-0 weekend, outscoring the opponents 48-6, including 20-2 on Sunday.

The ladies beat the Gems 8-2 Friday night behind Brittany, while Brooke got the MVP pin for her stellar defense at shortstop.  Saturday Lauren started out the day by snuffing out the Firebirds 14-0, and Krista ended it by shutting down the Nightmares 6-2.  McNugget got the MVP pins in both of the Saturday games with a combination of offense and defense, both behind the plate and at secondbase.  Also, Charli (8 hits), Brittany (11 hits) had the bats going and the Lugnut was flawless at 3rd all weekend.  

Sunday started out with the Fury going up against the Xplosion.  Brittany and Galen combined for the no-hitter and the everyone hit well and the final score as 10-1 as Brittany ended it with a mercy walk-off HR in the 5th inning.  The semi-final saw the New England Hornets buzz into the scene, and Krista swatted them away with a 2 hit, 11k  effort for a 6-1 victory.  In the Championship game, we got the much anticipated battle with our friends from Maine, the Southern Maine Flame.   Lauren smothered the Flames with a 1 hit, 11k effort as the Fury prevailed 4-0.

Every player contributed over the weekend and the ladies will have to step it up as we move up to play the 14u Memorial Day Classic in Dracut this weekend. 

Friday

Fury 8 Gems 2

Saturday

Fury 14 NE Firebirds 0

Fury 6 Nashua Nightmares 2

Sunday

Fury 10 Mass Xplosion 1

Fury 6 NE Hornets 1

Fury 4 Southern Maine Flame 0

The 12u Firecracker Fury suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday, which resulted in a 7 seed on Sunday with a rematch against the strong CT Eliminators Red which had a 10 seed.  The anticipated matchup was supposed to be in the Championship game, but instead we got the dreaded 8am game.  After beating them Saturday night 7-6 in the night cap, The Fury came back less then 12 hours later for the rematch but came up short 7-5.

 In the other pool games, the Fury came out very tentative against the Dutchess Debs and lost 9-1, with no offense, shoddy defense and pitching, the ladies dropped their first game of the year and disappointing fashion.  They bounced right back though, with a 10-2 thrashing of the CT Bombers while clicking on all cylinders. 

It was a well run tournament and a good test of softball against these teams and we will be back there for more in the Fall.

Saturday

Dutchess Debs 9 Fury 1

Fury 10 CT Bombers Teal 2

Fury 7 CT Eliminators Red 6

Sunday

CT Eliminators Red 7 Fury 5

Great job ladies!  The bats exploded Sunday as the Firecrackers offense erupted for 32 runs in the 3 wins today. The pitching came through as usual with stellar games by Lauren, Britt and Krista as they allowed only 4 runs in the frigid conditions.  The defense was awesome all weekend, led by Mikayla, Brooke, Krista, Mak and Britt.  Ally was a star all weekend at the plate and in the field playing a flawless centerfield and to go along with 10 hits.  Charli and McNugget were walls behind the plate and with the bats as McNugget had about 10 rbi's and Charli was smashing the ball all over the place.  Shannon, Galen and Kaleigh came through each time we called on them and really battled big time. 

Keep up the great work ladies! We'll need to step up again next weekend, as we venture in Yankee country for the Coaches Classic in East Haven, and the CT teams will be looking to knock us off!

Saturday

Fury 5 Taunton Dynamites 1

Fury 4 Nashua Nitemares 4

Sunday

Fury 9 Stratford  CT Breakers 1

Fury 12 New England Hornets 2

Fury 11 CT Eliminators Black 1