Sting Gold Takes Second at Fremont Tournament
Posted by kenmoore on Oct 07 2007 | Tagged as: 12-LBA
Sting 12U Gold took second place at the USSSA 12b/13b Fall State Qualifier at the Fremont Sports Complex September 29-30, 2007. In pool play on Saturday, Sting Gold finally beat their nemesis, Pleasanton Phantom, 9-1. In the championship game, they played a close game against the Newark Breeze, losing 5-2.
In an unusual twist, Sting played two of the fourteen teams in the tournament twice. On Saturday morning, the first game against Mountain View Nova featured a strong pitching performance by Jordan Baker. Through five innings, J. Baker allowed one base runner in each inning, none of them getting beyond second base. She averaged twelve pitches per inning, striking out four while walking none. The offense started slow, scoring one run in the first and one in the third. In the fourth, Sting broke the game wide open scoring five runs as they sent nine batters to the plate and collected five hits. The big hit in the inning was a two RBI double by Anna Moore. In the fifth inning, Clara Obstfeld singled in the eighth run, invoking the slaughter rule as the game ended 8-0.
In the second game on Saturday, the Sting bats stayed hot as they scored thirteen runs on thirteen hits against the Lamorinda Menace to win 13-2 in four innings. Obstfeld led the way with three hits and three runs scored. Kate Moore hit a home run and recorded three RBI’s. Sting’s big inning offensively was the third as thirteen Stingsters batted, scoring nine runs on eight hits and one error. K. Moore handled the pitching. The first two Menace batters of the game reached base and scored. K. Moore then settled in to shut Lamorinda down the rest of the way, striking out six and facing the minimum number of batters in the last three innings. Sting also played a great defensive game as catcher A. Moore picked two runners off third base.
The final game on Saturday gave Sting another chance at Pleasanton Phantom who had handed Sting its only defeat at the
Hayward tournament September 16. Sting rose to the occasion winning 9-1. Sting got things going right away as Obstfeld led off the bottom of the first inning with a double, followed by consecutive singles by A. Moore, J. Baker, K. Moore and Izzy Lubin-Brown. All five went on to score in the inning, as Lindsey Baker batted in the fifth run with a sacrifice bunt. Sting scored four more runs in the second inning to put the game out of reach. J. Baker pitched another excellent game, holding Phantom scoreless through the first three innings while again averaging twelve pitches per inning. Phantom finally broke through with three consecutive singles in the fourth inning. Sting defense stemmed the rally. With one run already in and runners at first and second, L. Baker almost turned a double play as she fielded a ground ball, tagged out the runner heading for second and threw to first. After a strike out, the game ended when catcher Obstfeld picked off the runner with a quick throw to third base.
In the first round of bracket play on Sunday, Sting met Lamorinda Menace again, winning 10-0. The game featured a strong pitching performance by K. Moore who faced one more than the minimum number of batters in four innings pitched. Three batters reached base: one batter walked and was doubled off first in an unassisted double play by Lubin-Brown, one batter reached on error only to be picked off at third base by catcher A. Moore and the third singled but was stranded at second base. The Sting offense started off slow, scoring one run in the second inning and two in the third. In the fourth, the bottom of the batting order scorched the Menace as L. Baker, Annie Smith, Molly Cohen and Alex Hickey hit consecutive singles. The attack was capped by a three-run homer by Obstfeld. L. Baker’s second single of the inning knocked in the tenth run invoking the run rule.
In the second game on Sunday, Sting faced Mountain View Nova for the second time, winning 4-2. Sting used their strong defense to keep the game close in the early going. In the first, after a one-out single followed by a triple, Nova was threatening a big inning until catcher Obstfeld picked the runner off third base for the second out of the inning. In the second inning, with the score still 1-0, Nova, a single, walk and a steal gave Nova first and third with no outs. Obstfeld again picked the runner off third base. Pitcher J. Baker followed up with two strike outs to end the threat. Sting tied the game up in the third with an RBI single by J. Baker, and took a 2-1 lead on another RBI single by Smith in the fourth. Sting built the lead to 4-1 on consecutive singles by J. Baker, K. Moore and Lubin-Brown in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Sting made things interesting. The first two Nova batters walked. With one out the bases were loaded after a fielding error. A single by the Nova pitcher scored one run to make the score 4-2 with the bases still loaded before pitcher J. Baker retired the last two batters for the win.
In the Championship Game, Sting faced the Newark Breeze whom they had beaten in the semi-final of the
Pleasant Hill tournament last July. In this game, Sting got off to a promising start as Obstfeld led off the game by reaching first base on an error and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt by A. Moore. Two batters later, Obstfeld scored on a single by K. Moore. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the third inning. J. Baker, pitching her second game in a row, hit the first two batters in the inning with a pitch. A bunt single loaded the bases for the Breeze’s lead off hitter, who knocked in all three runners with a double to left field. Breeze added two more runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead into the top of the fourth. The Breeze pitcher shut down the Sting offense retiring the next eleven batters in a row, before singles by Lubin-Brown and Nordahl scored a run in the seventh. K. Moore pitched the final three innings for Sting allowing no runs while striking out three. The final score was 5-2.
