Game 1: 6/30/2007

The SB Junior Softball AllStars started off the State Tournament playing like a team who hadn’t played in 4 weeks, losing to a disciplined Evergreen team from District 4. The final score of 9-3 probably reflected the way the game went but not whats it could have been. The Kent AllStars loaded the bases on 4 different occasions but were unable to push across even one of those runners. There were 8 hits but only one came around to score. Some of the offensive highlights included 2-for-4 nights from Marissa Muri and Courtney Kramer plus one single each from Kacie Seims, Jenna Clavin, Kaitie O’Connell, and Rachel Burr. There must have been something intimidating about Kelly Drotning as she picked up 3 walks and scored 2 of the 3 runs. The 4 weeks off seemed to have the greatest negative impact on the defense. One of the signature qualities about our team is our defense. Not tonight. With some judgment, the Kent team committed 7 errors allowing 8 of the 9 runs scored by Evergreen. There certainly were some rays of hope as the defense did manage to cut runners down at home and at 3rd. In spite of losing, the confidence is still high (at least for this coach). We are choosing to consider this our warm up game where we hopefully got the jitters out of our system. Tomorrow is another day and another team.

Game 2:

Well game two didn’t go much better. The theme was similar in that the girls played aggressively which produced opportunities but then struggled to push across runs when it counted. The girls got on base in a variety of ways tallying a total of 12 bases runners: 3 by base hits (Kacie Seims, Kelly Drotning, Rachel Burr ), 1 by being hit (Courtney Kramer), 6 by base-on-balls (Jenna Clavin - twice), Kelly Drotning - twice, Larissa Henderson, Rachel Burr), and 2 by error (Kacie Seims, Madie Brown). The only run was scored by Madie Brown after stealing 2nd and 3rd followed by a clutch RBI by Kelly Drotning. A few more of those early would have changed the whole tempo of the game. Oh for clutch hitting! The defense was significantly improved with particular highlights of Kelly Drotning at catcher and Bethany Pfaff’s four innings at pitcher. There were also great catches by Jenna Clavin and Paige Morris. The disappointment was painful and as to be expected spilled over into feelings. I would like everyone to remember that even though things didn’t go as planned, when we play as a team we occasionally have to lose as a team. Life goes on and memories are recorded. The lack of tournament experience was certainly a significant difference. I for one believe that given the experience of these two games and the lessons learned that if we could do it over again, things would be different. We were not out-classed – it simply wasn’t meant to be. One point of optimism is that of the 14 all-stars, 12 can return next year. Each will be a year older, stronger and more experienced. The question is can we keep them all in KentLL. My closing words and wishes are to see you next year and we’ll get-em next time!