USSSA Classic - Phoenix, AZ

Started off the season with a single elimination tournament in Phoenix, AZ this past weekend.  The girls all arrived late Friday evening and were ready to play Saturday.  The first pool game was played at 2:00 p.m. against Arizona Storm - Mizuno.  The defense was awesome on both sides of the ball for three innings and in the fourth, the Cats committed too many errors and allowed 5 runs.  Coming out trying to battle back, the girls put up 2 runs of their own, but time ran out and we lost 8-2.  The second game was immediately following against Worth Thundercats whom we have played before in Las Cruces.  The girls this time put together a complete defensive game and were able to score runs utilizing the short and long game, pulling the victory out 5-1, only allowing the Thundercats first batter to score in the 1st.  The third pool game was against Pride at 6:30 p.m., but started a little late.  The girls came out and battled and even though they had their fair share of errors, were leading going into the last inning of play 4-2.  Unfortunately, a few errors later, the Pride were able to pull out the victory 5-4.  We still received the 2nd seed from our pool and were scheduled to play the Saints 12U from Minnesota.  The girls came out swinging at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and played a great game.  The game finished 14-5 and we moved on to the next game at 12:30 against the AZ Cats 00.  The AZ Cats utilized their bats and earned many runs and our girls struggled with the opposing pitcher resulting in a loss 12-0.  The girls and coaches garnered much information about the things that we need to work on moving on throughout this season.  We are ready to tackle the challenge and continue to increase our playing ability.  Thank you to the parents and coaches that made the trip and showed their continued support for the sport we all love to watch and play.  Go LadyCats!