USSSA Coastal Classic - Corpus Christi, TX

Thank you Richard Ocanas for a great tournament!

Our little ladies were ready to head to Corpus Christi to face a field of 23 teams, none of which we had ever faced before so we were looking forward to the opportunity to do what we know how to do and that is to play ball.  After opening ceremonies and some pin trading on Thursday evening at the NPF game between the Akron Racers and the USSSA Pride, our games started the next morning.  With all three of our pool games scheduled on Friday, this tournament is unlike others that we normally play in, in which pool play does not seed you for bracket.  The first pool game was against the Pasadena Angels and our girls struggled with their bats losing 6-1.  The next game was after a game break where the girls were able to get their minds into the right place, they battled back and fought hard earning a 5-4 win off of a walk-off hit against Corpus Christi Panthers.  Our next game was against Corpus Christi Boom and our girls finally displayed the talent that we all know they have earning the win, 12-0.  Our first bracket game was scheduled for Saturday at 9:45 am against the Pride '01.  A great battle between these two teams and our girls were able to secure the lead and take the game with 7 runs in the final inning for a final of 9-1.  After a game break, our girls were ready to battle it out with Fully Loaded.  A true defensive/pitching battle that featured 3 unearned runs between the two teams, ending the game with a 2-1 score in favor of Fully Loaded.  Dropping to the losers bracket was not what the coaches or girls anticipated, but we knew we had to battle back.  After a game break the girls were focused and came back winning 12-2 against Pink Noize.  Our next game was at 8:00 am on Sunday and the girls showed that they were ready by winning the game 11-5 against RGV Thunder White.  With another one game break we prepared to face off against Stingers Yellow and the girls kept their sticks alive with a 14-6 win.  From then on out there were no more game breaks to be had and our next game was against Centex Edge.  Yet again, the errors were not able to be surpassed by our hitting allowing the Edge to secure the win 5-3.  Our ladies will continue to learn and become better as they deal with adversity.  These young ladies finished in 7th out of 23 teams and will now prepare for the Goliath tournament in Lubbock, TX.  Our summer season has just begun and these young ladies will grow significantly over this schedule.  Go LadyCats!!!