St. Louis Diamond Cats: 2008 Team


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2008 Diamond Cats' Record Tracker
As of August 2, 2008
Team Record is 65 wins, 25 losses, 3 ties




Tournament Record is with 10 Played we have finished 1st Place (3), 2nd Place (1), 3rd Place (0), 4th Place (0), 5th Place (2), and we have had MANY rainouts!




Runs Scored vs. Runs Allowed is 476 to 248




Team Leaders in ERA are Lindsay (1.84), Brittany (2.07), Ashley (2.47)




Leaders in Strike Outs are Lindsay (129), Brittany (122), Ashley (103)




Team Leaders in Shut Outs Thrown are Lindsay (2), Brittany (1), Ashley (0)




Team Leaders in No Hitters Thrown are Ashley (0), Brittany (0), Lindsay (0)




Team Leaders in 1-Hitters Thrown are Ashley (1), Brittany (0), Lindsay (0)




Team Leaders in 2-Hitters Thrown are Brittany (1), Lindsay (1), Ashley (0)




Team Leader in Home Runs Hit Out of the Park is Sarah (6), Lauren (5), Keri (5), JJ (2), Lori (1)




Team Leaders in Home Runs Hit Inside the Park are Lauren (1)




Team Leaders in Triples are JJ (10), Lauren (4), Molly (2), Shanna (2), Ashley R (2), Keri (1), Lori (1), Lindsay (1)




Team Leaders in Doubles are Lauren (30), JJ (20), Lori (12), Sarah (12), Holly (10), Keri (9), Ashley R (7), Molly (5), Shanna (4), Ashley M (3), Jenna (2), Lindsay (2), Brittany (1)




Team Leaders in Singles are Jenna (79), Lori (69), JJ (69), Lauren (54), Holly (49), Shanna (43), Sarah (42), Ashley R (42), Keri (39), Molly (27), Ashley M (21), Lindsay (15), Brittany (12)




Team Leaders in Walks are Lauren (37), JJ (35), Keri (30), Shanna (26), Holly (22), Jenna (20), Molly (21), Sarah (20), Ashley R (12), Lori (11), Ashley M (5), Lindsay (4), Brittany (3)




Team Leaders with FEWEST Strikeouts (100+ Plate Appearances) are JJ (11), Lori (12), Holly (20), Lauren (20), Sarah (23), Jenna (25), Shanna (25), Keri (35), Ashley R (44), Molly (50)




Team Leaders in Sacrifice Bunts are Jenna (19), Molly (8), Shanna (7), Brittany (7), Holly (5), Ashley R (5), Ashley M (2), Lindsay (1), Sarah (1), JJ (1)




Team Leaders in Sacrifice Flies are Lauren (2), Lori (1), Molly (1), Shanna (1), Keri (1), Brittany (1), Sarah (1)




Team Leaders in Runs Scored are JJ (75), Lauren (64), Jenna (60), Holly (41), Sarah (34), Ashley R (34), Keri (33), Molly (29), Shanna (29), Lori (23), Lindsay (14), Ashley M (13), Brittany (5)




Team Leaders in Runs Batted In are Lori (61), Lauren (57), Keri (42), Sarah (38), Holly (34), Molly (30), Ashley R (22), JJ (21), Shanna (18), Jenna (17), Ashley M (10), Lindsay (6), Brittany (4)




Team Leaders in Batting Average (.300 and above) are JJ (.486), Lauren (.458), Jenna (.401), Lori (.392), Holly (.383), Sarah (.361), Shanna (.306)




Team Leaders in On-Base-Percentage (.400 and above) are JJ (.565), Lauren (.533), Holly (.463), Jenna (.457), Lori (.427), Sarah (.428), Shanna (.401)




Team Leaders in Slugging Percentage (.500 and above) are Lauren (.719), JJ (.707), Sarah (.542)




Team Leaders in Stolen Bases are Jenna (35), JJ (23), Lauren (17), Shanna (6), Molly (4), Holly (2), Sarah (2), Ashley R (2), Lindsay (1)




Lauren had 9 rbi's in one tournament May 24th - 26th!




JJ went 9 for 12 on July 20th in Chicago!




In the Chicago Sparks Tournament, the Diamond Cats won 2 games back to back in tie breakers after falling behind early in both games!

2008 Nat'l Champs

2008 St. Louis Diamond Cats 18U - USFA Northern Nat'l Champions
Front row: Ashley R., Molly, Lauren, Sarah, JJ  Middle row: Holly, Brittany, Lori, Lindsay, Ashley M. Keri, Jenna  Back row: Coach Donn, Shanna, Coach Neil, Coach Tony



Remember the Name by Fort Minor

Sunday, August 3
Cats Win USFA Northern National Championship!
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The Cats beat a very good Southern Illinois Dirt Dawg team to win the USFA Northern National Championship.  We had 4 great games with them and we won 2 and they won 2!  What a great fight for the championship.  We played good games with the St. Louis Legion of Doom (Dierkes) and Missouri Heat (Abbott), too. 

In the stifling heat and humidity, with a whole day rained out, and with a lot of grit and determination, the Cats managed to beat the Dawgs in the "IF" game of the championship round.  The Cats took the easier road to the finish by staying in the winner's bracket until the first round of championship play.  The Dawgs came into that game with a bit more fight in them after battling the Heat to get there.  The Cats came out in the second game ready to play, though.  Even though they got down early, they battled back and beat the Dawgs in the last inning 4 - 3.

Thanks to the Dawgs for some great games!  Good luck in the future!

 Way to go, Cats!  Not many teams get to end their season with a win!  We are proud of you!  Good luck in high school and college ball and we will play together again at the Fall Exposure Tournament!  We will be there to watch those high school games!



Sparks Invitational Exposure Tournament Diary
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Wednesday, July 16th
Several families traveled to Elgin today.  We got there safely and are awaiting the arrival of the rest of the team!


Thursday, July 17th
Played our first game at 2:00 pm today. We lost to the Bombers (MI) team 2 - 5. We did not have our best game, but the Bombers were a good team.  We then had a short break before we played a good Quad City Heat team team at 6:30 pm. It was a well pitched game by both teams and we ended up winning 3 - 1. Go, Cats!!!

Friday, July 18th
Played at 12:30 pm today! We beat a Twisters team from Indiana 5 - 1. The second game was against an Iowa BNGSA Angels team.  We won 5 - 4!  We pretty much dominated the whole game but made it close at the end with a couple of miscues.  But the Cats managed to hang in and pull it out when it counted.

Some of the team went to the Rainforest Cafe in Schaumberg and some of the team went to the Pro Game at Judson College to watch the Chicago Bandits play the Philadelphia Force.  It was a good game and the pros signed autographs.  There was a nice fireworks show after the game.


Saturday, July 19th
The rain on Friday night gave us an unexpected day off.  We ended up 2nd in our pool by calculating the 4 games played so we will advance to the elimination round tomorrow. 

Most of the team rounded up and headed to downtown Chicago for shopping and sightseeing.  We took the train to Union Station and walked, and walked, and walked!  The magnificent mile felt like several miles by the time we got everyone there.  We ate and shopped and some made it to the Navy Pier.  The race back to the train was fun!   


Sunday, July 21st
Bracket Play Starts!  There was rain again Saturday night and game times did not start until 10 am. Our first game was moved back to 1 pm but did not actually start until 1:45 pm against DTA Mustangs.  We came back and beat them 7 - 5 in tie-breaker innings. We then advanced through the single elimination bracket to play the Quad City Thunder.  Another game that went to tie-breaker and we pulled it out 5 - 4. We immediately played the Minnesota Blizzard, and after going ahead 3 - 0, we ran out of gas and let them back in it.  We lost our final game of the tournament 3 - 5.  We ended a very good tourament 5th place out of 56 teams, and lost to the eventual 2nd place team.  Not a bad 4 days of softball!  We finished playing at 7:15 pm and had a LONG drive ahead of us.  Most of us pulled into St. Louis around 2:00 am.  It was a great weekend and we are proud of our girls!

 

 



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Cats Win Chesterfield League Championship!
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Diamond Cats 18U won the Chesterfield League Championship for the 2nd year in a row!  Great job, Cats!  Great games with the Wicked, Classics, Fierce & Heat.  Way to win your entry fee for Nationals.  Now we aim for Chicago and Nationals and our season will be complete!

 



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Colorado Sparkler Diary
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Monday, June 30th
Coach Neil got us officially registered at the Sparkler!  The team is almost all here at the "team hotel".  We are staying at the Ramada Plaza in Northglenn, CO.  Really close to the different ballfields, shopping and tons of restaurants, etc.  Good location, and you can see the mountains from here! 

We found a really nice school and had a long practice to try to get used to the elevation and shake the rust off from the LONG time in the cars! Coach Neil and Coach Tony headed over to the Manager's meeting, and we met back at the hotel and the girls went to one restaurant and the parents went to another!  No one stayed out too late because games start tomorrow at 8:00 am!  Check back here tomorrow to see how we did!

Tuesday, July 1st
Played our first game at 8:00 am today. We beat the Baytown Blue Thunder (TX) team 7 - 1. We then had a short break before we played a good Wilmington Sun Devils (NC) team team at 11:30 am. We had a scoreless 1st inning for both teams when we managed to put 4 runs on the board and end up winning 8 - 1. 16 hits by the Cats!!!

Tomorrow we have a games against a team from California and a team from Arizona. Almost the whole team and parents attended the Rockies game at Coors Field.  The Rockies won, but we have an early game tomorrow!!

Wednesday, July 2nd
Played again at 8:00 am today! We beat a Bay Area Bears team from California 12 - 2. The second game was immediately after our 1st game against a very good Arizona Ice team.  We lost in the last inning 4 - 5!  Tough loss but we battled the whole game. We won 2nd in our pool and have the whole day off tomorrow.

The girls went to a great place to ride go karts and play lazer tag, etc.  Dinner with the team and then the mountains tomorrow!  A whole day off in beautiful Colorado!  We play Friday morning at - yes, you guessed it, 8:00 am!  Check back to see how we did!

Thursday, July 3rd
Most of the team rounded up and headed to Vail for sightseeing and shopping.  We spent a few hours hitting the shops and ate lunch there before heading to Copper Mountain.  We took the ski lift to the top of one of the mountains, tried out the quad jump trampoline, and then some of the group headed back to the hotel while others went to Silverthorne for some power shopping at their outlet mall.  Another small group went to Red Rock to check out the ampitheater.  It was dark, so it was hard to see, but the red rocks were impressive!  Back to the hotel to get some sleep for tomorrow! 


Friday, July 4th
Bracket Play Starts!  Our first game was against Inland Empire Ice from Riverside California.  We managed a 9 inning win by the score of 2 - 1 in tie-breaker.  Immediately after that game, we played a very good El Paso Rams team, and whether it was tired from the previous nine innings or the heat, we were a bit flat and lost 6 - 1.  At 3 pm we played our 3rd and last bracket game as we lost to a good Cincy Storm team 5 - 9.  Our tournament was over, but we had some very good games.  The team battled and were in every game.  We headed back to the hotel and rested up, ate dinner and watched a nice fireworks show from the parking lot.  Everyone was tired and ready to head back to St. Louis in the morning! 


Saturday, July 5th
Almost everyone packed up and headed out this morning.  The Grahams and Saunders groups stayed an extra day and hit the Red Rock again and went to Estes Park and drove up a mountain.  They will head home Sunday.  The rest of the group headed across Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri to reach home sweet home!  What a trip! 

Sunday, July 6th
Everyone reaches home safely!!!!  Now we get to prepare for the Chesterfield League Championships Wed/Thur this week.

 



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High School Post Season Honors!
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Ashley R. earned 2nd team honors as an infielder in the Four Rivers Conference.

Brittany earned All-Conference 1st Team in the Four Rivers Conference and Class 3 District "9" All-District 1st Team honors as a pitcher.  Union High School won their District and advanced to the State Quarterfinals where they lost to Webb City High School, who ended up the MO State Champions in the Class 3 division.  Brittany was also named MVP of the Capital City Invitational Softball Tournament and earned Varsity Athlete of the Week at Union High School for the week of 9/10/07.

Holly played at Seckman High School where they won their district and lost in their Sectional Game to Oakville High School. Holly earned Class 4 Suburban South All-Conference 1st Team, District "1" 1st Team, and All-Region 2nd Team honors as an infielder.

Jenna received All-Conference 1st Team in the Class 4 GAC North Conference, 1st Team All-District, and Honorable Mention All-Metro honors as an outfielder.  She led the conference in stolen bases.  Jenna also made the All-Tournament team at the Seckman Jaguars Invitational.

JJ received 1st Team All-District in Class 2 District "3", 1st Team All-Conference in the Metro Women's II Conference, 1st Team All-Region, 1st Team All-State, and 1st Team All-Metro honors for the 2007 season.  She led her conference in batting average, on base %, slugging %, walks, doubles, triples, RBI's and runs scored.  The Principia Panthers won their District and advanced to the State Quarterfinals where they lost to Kelly High School.  JJ was also the Cardinals Suburban Journals Athlete of the Week for the week of October 3, 2007.

Keri earned Class 4 District “7” 1st Team and Suburban North All-Conference 1st Team honors as an infielder.

 

Lindsay earned Class 4 District "6" 1st Team, Suburban South All-Conference 1st Team, and All-Region 1st Team honors as a pitcher.  She also set the single game (13), single season (146) and career (249) strikeout records for Parkway Central Softball. At the end of the regular season, Lindsay led her conference in saves, games pitched, complete games, innings pitched and batters faced.

 

Molly played at Seckman High School where they won their district and lost in their Sectional Game to Oakville High School.  Molly earned Class 4 Suburban South All-Conference 2nd Team and District "1" 2nd Team honors as an outfielder.

 

Sarah earned Class 4 Suburban South All-Conference 1st Team and Honorable Mention All-Metro honors as an outfielder.

 

Shanna earned Class 4 Suburban West All-Conference 1st Team and District "3" 2nd team honors as an outfielder.

 

 



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