REAPERS SOFTBALL: My Site News

Our second indoor tournament finished Sunday Jan15.  Blue Chip Softball hosted an indoor softball tournament at Family Sports Center in Lafayette, Indiana.  The tournament was sanctioned by NSA and is a World Series Qualifier for the 2012 season.

The tournament featured some very good teams from around Indiana.  Behind solid pitching and defense and timely hitting, the Reapers took home second place and a birth into the 2012 Class B NSA World Series.

The weekend's games kicked off on Saturday at 3:30p with a double-header in pool play.  Our girls took the #1 seed in PoolA by knocking off the Indiana Magic 6-5 in the front half of the double-header.  In the second game, strong pitching and defense picked up and held the Indiana Fusion to 2 run.  The final count was 6-2.

Bracket play kicked off later that evening at 9:30p with the Reapers squaring off with the 4 seed from PoolB...the Dyer Fire.  The pitching stayed strong with a no-hitter performance.  The offense was also solid to back up the pitching, and our girls took the first game 11-0.

The second game of bracket play featured a rematch between the Reapers and the Indiana Magic.  First pitch was scheduled for 12:30a.  As expected, the game was tight throughout and became a gut-check in the end.  In the Magic half of the inning, the final out was recorded with two on (tying run on third base).  The Reapers held on for a 3-2 win.

The finals of the winner's bracket featured the two #1 seeds, Reapers vs. Indiana Raiders Black.  With the score 1-0 in favor of the Raiders in the third inning, they busted the game open with excellent hitting and plated eight runs.  Our girls scratched one run out in the bottom of the inning.  Neither team scored any more runs...leaving the final score 9-1 in favor of the Raiders.

After being knocked to the loser's bracket, the Reapers rallied behind another solid pitching performance to knock out an experienced Hoosier Pride team.  In the final frame, the Pride loaded the bases with 0 outs.  However, a weak infield fly, strikeout, and groundout to first bases ended the game.  The final score 6-3 in favor of our girls.

The final game of the tournament rematched the Reapers with the Raiders.  The Raiders wasted little time in getting runs across the plate...scoring two in the first.  The final score ended in favor of the Raiders 9-2.

Overall, the girls played outstanding softball.  Given the difficult starting times for bracket play on Saturday night and Sunday morning, they played hard with very few complaints.  The next tournament is scheduled for Feb 10-12 in Lafayette.

Congratulations to the following girls that are the 2011-2012 Indiana Reapers 12u travel team...

Carly Brown

Brittney Donna

Jona Lash

Abbi Lee

Rhiana Maples

Crisslyn Marrs

Marissa Miller

McKenzie Pirtle

Kelcie Smith

Jalyn Wamsley

Rylen Wiggins

Hannah Wonders

Our first 2011-2012 tournament wrapped up on Sunday Nov 6th.  The 2011 NSA Pumpkin Bash was a world series qualifier indoor tournament organized by Blue Chip.  Brian and Lori Knipp do a great job organizing these weekend indoor tournaments and we thoroughly enjoyed the event.

The teams in this tournament were high quality teams, as expected.  Our girls competed at a very high level all weekend long.  Importantly, the attitudes and competitiveness were fantastic for our first tournament.  We have a solid foundation on which to build for the upcoming season.

The girls split two pool games and seeded second in Pool C, winning game one 3-0 and dropping the second game 3-9.

The first tournament game saw our girls win their first tournament game of the season 4-0 against a very good hitting team behind great pitching and solid defense and hitting. 

The girls dropped their second game 7-3.   The girls kept the game close with good defense and pitching after a shaky start.  On offense, we were able to chip away with a few runs.  In the end, the start of the game was too much to overcome.

Game three saw our girls shut down another very quality hitting opponent to win  5-1.  Again, pitching and defense were key to the win.  Some clutch hits to drive in runs throughout the contest was the difference in the end.

In the final game of the weekend, the girls dropped a decision, 5-1, to the team they had beaten earlier in the tournament.  Again, the contest was very close throughout.  We just weren't able to get the runners across the plate when the opportunities arose.

All-in-all, the tournament was a success.  Our 4th place finish was well earned against some of the better travel teams in the state.  I cannot say enough about the attitudes.  Our positive attitudes and drive to compete kept all of the games close and was the major positive to take out of the weekend.  There are a few things to work on as well.  We will focus on these in the next couple of months as we continue to work and improve.

Overall, great job for our girls.