Today, six teams earned berths to the 2008 ASA Gold Nationals at the Western Territory Qualifier in Seattle, WA: NW Bullets Gold, Corona Angels Red, SoCal Pumas, comBat Panthers, SoCal Choppers, and Valley Breeze Gold.

In the 73-team double elimination tournament, 13 other Northern California teams were eliminated from competition.  The All-American Sports Academy and the Strike Zone were eliminated today, while the Bears Gold, NorCal Shockers, Sorcerer Gold - Pete, Flames, Salinas Wildcats - Elyssa, Salinas Wildcats - Dan, West Bay Nuggets, Strikkers, San Jose Sting - Fano, Lady Sharks - Sawyer, and the California Breeze were eliminated on Saturday. 

Also, this weekend in Oklahoma City, 61 teams competed in the Hall of Fame Gold Qualifier for 2 berths, which were awarded to Texas Glory and Sudden Impact - Sheldon.

Next weekend, 7 regions will hold their qualifiers, the last qualfying events of the season. After this weekend, no other qualifying events are open to California teams. 

Northern California will be represented at the 2008 ASA Gold Nationals by the Sorcerer Gold - Mumma, the San Jose Sting - Perales, the Lady Sharks - Barrera, and the California Grapettes.

On July 20 Sorcerers Emily Allard (Antioch, CA) and Ashley Decker (Reno, NV) will compete in the first Under Armour All-America Game.  The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU at 1 PM Eastern time.

According to the news release, from 300,000 high school softball players in the classes of 2009-2011 nationwide, only 30 players were selected by a committee made up of the nation's most knowledgeable figures in high school softball. Only true students in good academic standing were considered for participation.

Congratulations Emily and Ashley!!!

With a sequence of 3 consecutive come-from-behind victories, Sorcerer won the prestigious 80-team Louisville Slugger Independence Day Tournament in Boulder, CO in their first attempt. Sorcerer scored 68 runs including 7 homeruns in 12 games.

Sorcerer began the tournament with 4 wins and 2 losses in pool play, earning Sorcerer the second seed in their pool. Sorcerer recorded victories over the Michigan Finesse (6-2) with a homerun by Kayla White, the Pennsylvania Blazing Angels (17-0) with a 2nd inning homerun by Kayla White, the New Jersey Inferno (7-1), and the  So Cal Explosion (7-4) with a 5th inning homerun by Mississippi State-bound Courtney Moore (extending her streak to 6 consecutive events). Sorcerer suffered losses to the Oklahoma Jitterbugs (0-1) and the Illinois Sharks (5-6).  

On Saturday morning, Sorcerer began single-elimination tournament play, with a 6-0 victory over the Missouri Renegades led by pitcher Amanda Summerford.

On Saturday evening, Sorcerer faced North Carolina-bound pitcher Constance Orr  and the North Carolina Lady Blues who were riding high from just defeating the OC Batbusters.  Unbeknownst to Sorcerer, Orr had led her Butler High School (Charlotte, NC) team this year to a #2 national ranking by StudentSportsSoftball, with 22 wins and no losses. Sorcerer rose to the challenge, and defeated the Lady Blues by a score of 2-0.

On Saturday night, Sorcerer faced Arizona-State bound pitcher Dallas Escobedo of the Arizona Hotshots [Qualified]. While her 70+ MPH pitches were impressive, Sorcerer managed to score 5 runs to defeat the Hotshots 5-4.

On Sunday morning, Sorcerer faced Team Florida [Qualified] in the quarterfinal round. Sorcerer quickly leapt ahead and scored 3 runs, punctuated by a 4th inning homerun by Breana Kostreba.  But in a disastrous 5th inning, Sorcerer gave up 3 runs to allow Team Florida to tie the score. As time ran out, neither team had scored again, sending the game to an international tie-breaking (ITB) inning. In the bottom of the 8th, with an ITB runner on 2nd base, Stanford-bound Maya Burns blasted a shot into center-field, bringing in the winning run, and advancing Sorcerer to the semi-final round.

Late Sunday morning, Sorcerer faced Notre-Dame bound pitcher Jackie Bowe and the Illinois Beverly Bandits [Qualified] in the semi-final round.  The Bandits demonstrated their power at the plate by scoring 3 runs early in the game.  But Sorcerer showed true grit, and fought back to tie the game 3-3 on  homeruns by Cal-bound Jordan Wallace in both the 2nd and the 4th innings. Sorcerer added another run in the 3rd inning, and 1 more in the 4th, to advance to the championship game.

For the tournament championship, nearly exhausted from 11 games in 5 days, Sorcerer faced Texas A&M-bound pitcher Rebecca Arbino and long time rival and nemesis the Corona Angels coached by Marty Tyson.  The Angels scored a run in the first inning.

Sorcerer bats came alive in the 4th inning; a double by Breana Kostreba brought in Maya Burns. With little production from the starters, but sensing an opportunity, Sorcerer coaches entered Harvard-bound Whitney Shaw to pinch hit. Shaw had been sidelined after an ugly collision two games earlier that injured her surgically repaired knee.  Despite the pain and with a noticeable limp, Shaw was ready, and responded to the call with a 3-run blast over the left-center field fence. [Sadly, Whitney tore her ACL again in the collision, and will undergo immediate surgery. The Sorcerer family wishes Whitney a speedy recovery.]

"Honestly, I was just trying to hit it really hard," Shaw said. "When I got up there I was just like, if there's one thing I can still do it's hit the crap out of the ball. That's all I was really thinking about." 

The Angels answered in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer of their own. In the next inning, the Angels loaded the bases. With one out, Arbino smashed a line drive down the middle, but with a fantastic catch, Cal-bound Jordan Wallace snared the ball, threw it to second base for the out, and seized the momentum from the Angels.

Sorcerer held the Angels scoreless in the 6th and 7th innings for the 4-3 win and the tournament championship.

Samantha Albanese pitched 11 innings with 4 strikeouts over 4 games. Oregon-bound Jessica Moore pitched 28.5 innings with 31 strikeouts over 9 games. And, Fresno State-bound Hannah Williams pitched 29.5 innings with 19 strikeouts over 8 games.

Congratulations Sorcerer on an exceptional Boulder tournament debut!

Sister team Sorcerer Gold Pete wins the Louisville Slugger Independent Day - Louisiville Bracket Tournament, to complete a Sorcerer sweep in 18U competition this weekend in Boulder.

Congratulations Sorcerer!

Pool play times for the 2008 Champions Cup have been announced. Check out the site map. Sorcerer competes in Pool "A":

In true Sorcerer fashion, Sorcerer 18 Gold (Mumma) qualified for the 2008 ASA Gold Nationals this weekend in Lancaster, CA in the Pacific Coast Regional Tournament, winning the final game against the Jets Gold with a score of 8-3. 93 teams competed for 6 berths.

Sorcerer began regional play on Friday against the Valley Breeze of Van Nuys, CA with a 12-3 victory punctuated by a 3-run homer by Northwestern-bound Emily Allard. 

On Saturday, Sorcerer defeated the So Cal Breakers in a 14-1 victory with home runs from Kasey Tydingco and Mississippi State-bound Courtney Moore, extending her home run streak to 5 consecutive weekends.

On Sunday morning, Sorcerer took the field at 8:00 AM against fellow NorCal team, the Strike Zone of Milpitas.  Sorcerer scored early and often, defeating Strike Zone with a score of 10-1 with a homerun by Cal-bound Alex Robben, and earning Sorcerer the right to play in the final winner bracket game for a berth to ASA Nationals.

At noon, Sorcerer faced the So Cal Diamonds of Newbury Park, CA. After having scored 36 runs in 3 games, Sorcerer bats went ice cold in the 106 degree heat.  Sorcerer scored no runs on 6 errors and gave up 3 homeruns, losing by a lopsided 12-0.  To earn a berth, Sorcerer would have to win two consecutive games in the losers bracket.

At 4 PM, Sorcerer faced the San Diego Renegades, who had just defeated the Explosion. Sorcerer dug deep, refused to allow the prior shutout to dampen their spirits, and defeated the Renegades by a score of 5-1.

Sorcerer then rested for 45 minutes, waiting to face the Jets Gold of Agoura Hills, CA as they soundly defeated the American Pastime with numerous home runs.  Sorcerer was pumped up, and in the first inning Sorcerer loaded the bases.  With one out, Courtney Moore went to the plate.  Courtney launched the second pitch to the 300 ft center field fence for a grand slam homerun, the longest homerun hit this writer has ever seen in ASA tournament play.

In the fourth inning, the Jets responded with a three-run homer of their own, bringing the score to 4-3.  But that was the end of the Jets offense, as Oregon-bound pitcher Jessica Moore and Cal pitcher Val Arioto kept the Jets hitters in check, forcing several pop-ups and strike-outs.  Sorcerer scored one more run on solid hitting. And to seal the deal, Cal-bound Ashley Decker went yard in the top of the sixth inning for a three-run homer.  After 2 hours and 5 minutes of play, Sorcerer defeated the Jets by a score of 8-3, earning a berth to ASA Gold Nationals.

Sorcerer is the first Northern California team to qualify, and the 27th team to qualify overall.  Five other teams also qualified this weekend in Lancaster:

*Notaby, 3 of the 6 qualifying teams came from the Sorcerer winner bracket, an event with a probability of only 6.25%.

In all, Sorcerer scored 49 runs in 6 games. Go Sorcerer and congratulations!!!

Congratulations to the Sorcerer 10U team for qualifying for ASA 10U Nationals on July 28 to August 3 in Bloomington, IN.

We look forward to seeing you on the 18U team in a few years!

The Sorcerer 16U team qualfied to compete in the ASA 16U Nationals in Owensboro, KY on July 27 to August 3rd.

Congratulations Sorcerer!

You may see photos of the Sorcerer summer escapades on the Flickr group Sorcerer Summer 2008. 

Sorcerer is proud to field a very talented team this summer, including 5 players (Allard, Burns, Shaw, Tydingco, and Wallace) from last summer's team and all 4 of our highly regarded coaches.

One player is returning from her freshman year in college, all three seniors (Burns, C. Moore, Shaw) have signed letters of intent, and seven others have already made verbal commitments to accept softball scholarship offers from top NCAA Division 1 programs.

For details, check out the new player roster page.

Maya Burns - Stanford Jordan Wallace - Cal Ashley Decker - Cal Alex Robben - Cal Whitney Shaw - Harvard Courtney Moore - Mississippi St. Hannah Williams - Fresno State Emily Allard - Northwestern Whitney Massey - Wisconsin Val Arioto - Cal Jessica Moore - Oregon Kayla White Chelsea Suitos Amber Roszkos Breana Kostreba Kasey Tydingco Shea Williams Sammy Albanese Alexis Pickett

Players from the Sorcerer Summer 2008 team live across Northern California and Nevada and are headed to top Division I universities across the United States. Click directly on the pins of the map to see who goes where!

Sorcerer Softball Academy has moved to 1024 Shary Circle #3, Concord CA.

Sorcerer Softball Academy offers private hitting, pitching and position play lessons in our modern, well-equipped indoor facility. They are open Monday through Thursday 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Call 925-671-7529 for weekend hours or for all lesson appointments. Many of their instructors have played and coached the game at the highest tiers of competition. Scores of their students have enjoyed success at the club, high school and collegiate levels, with students even having played on national teams. Lessons are private and individual and are priced at $40 for the half-hour.

Clinics for coaches and players at their site are also offered. They can help you reach the top of your game, just as they have done for so many others. Do you believe in magic?