Little Slammers 3rd at PONY Nationals

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The Grand Slam Little Slammers (59-7) of North Canton beat the Long Island Riptide 15-0 in one of Friday morning's four quarterfinal games in the Championship Round of the PONY 10U National Championships in Leesburg, Va., but then fell 8-1 to once-beaten Lakeshore Lightning (71-1) of Annapolis, Md., in a semifinal game Friday afternoon.
Abbey Filliez threw her second no-hitter of the tournament (eighth of the season) in the win over the Riptide. Shortstop Sarah Wechter, second baseman Jenna Lilley, catcher Erika Warren and Filliez all had two hits in the win. Center fielder Shelby Swigert and 8-year-old Lilley, sister of Purdue shortstop Tricia Lilley, were the top hitters in the semifinal game.
The Little Slammers finished with an 8-2 record in the tournament, the other loss was a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the eventual champion Ashton (Va.) Shooting Stars.
The Lakeshore Lightning was the best team in the tournament and by far the best hitting team top to bottom we've ever seen at this level, but simply was not as mentally tough as the Shooting Stars outstanding pitcher Macy Jones. Jones was still throwing 53-54 mph in the sixth inning of the championship game. Keep in mind that was her 20th inning of the DAY and the sixth CONSECUTIVE DAY she had pitched!! She also was the BEST hitter in the tournament. Oh, and she's left-handed!!! A great talent with a TON of heart. She was the ONLY reason Shooting Stars beat the Little Slammers 3-2 in a dramatic and key early game.
All in all, the PONY event was a splendid affair!! The playing fields for the 10U portion at Freedom were the BEST I've ever been associated with at a youth event. The tournament was extremely well run, the competition was FAR better than I expected. After getting over the initial sticker shock ($450 entry fee, $350 team gate pass for parents) I would rate this a four-star event!!!
The competition was as hot as the weather (93 each day with dreadful humidity!!! It's Washington DC in the summer)
The Little Slammers will be back in action Aug 1-7 at the ASA 10U National Championships in Johnson City, Tenn.
Any players who will be 11U next summer and are interested in playing in this successful and aggressive team, check the tryout portion of OFC for the Little Slammers posting. We we will be adding 2-3 players. We discovered once again, at this level, you NEVER have enough pitching/catching/hitting!!!
Thanks for the words of encouragement from Ohio softball fans on the other post!!! It's great to know people appreciate a great effort!!! We're proud of our young athletes!!!

 

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I think that's Ashburn, not Ashton, for the Shooting Stars. They field strong teams.

 

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UR correct on Ashburn -- thanks for noticing

 

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Congratulations to Bill Lilley and the Little Slammers!

It was fun watching them this winter and summer here at the Thunderplex. Bill and his staff do a great job with the girls.

Best of luck at their next stop - ASA Nationals.

 

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Thank you Dave & Marcee for putting us on the path to Virginia -- it was a GREAT run!!
Best of luck with the PONY 16U National Championships in Vienna this coming week!!! We'll be up!!

 

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train,

Congratulations to the team on their successful tournament. Glad to see that you finally got some exposure to the PONY tournament and understand that it may be one of the better nationals as far as a test of the endurance and depth of a team (lots of games and brutal weather). Good competition and it really takes a toll on a team and takes a lot to win. Hopefully your words will help stop some of the foolish "which nationals is best" talk and show that all of them will challenge a team, especially at the younger ages. Good luck at your next national and next year.

 

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ptw,
we will definitely be doing more PONY in the future -- the facilities, umpires, tournament organization put NSA to shame -- and yes the demands in terms of amount of play and weather in DC area in July are brutal, but I'm not complaining -- it's the same for everybody and we loved it -- And as I stated before, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the field -- there were a few teams that didn't belong there, but there were four teams that can/will compete at ANY national event at 10U -- my congratulations go out to the Ashburn (Va.) Shooting Stars for winning the national title

 

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Because the schedule and weather are so challenging, I wonder how much benefit the local teams get from sleeping in their own beds. I believe the Shooting Stars and Vienna Stars, who seem to always place high, are close enough to Sterling to not need to stay in hotels. It seems, for the younger teams especially, it would be more relaxing and less distracting to be at home.

I'm not saying this is unfair, just thinking out loud. Obviously other teams make it to the top, but not with the regularity of the Virginia teams (at least as long as I've been following Ponys in Sterling).

 

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Sour grapes, softball mom. You have to have a TEAM to win nationals, pure and simple. It doesn't matter where you sleep and the like, otherwise Virginia teams would pull this off every year. And it doesn't matter if you have a pitching staff. Plenty of teams have won nationals with one 'stud' pitcher that had a great team around her.

Don't understand why Spirit people have to keep coming on here to justify the decision to go someplace else other than ASA Nationals, either ptwboom. Makes no sense to me. On one hand, we hear about a great burg team that goes 72-0. On the other, we get all the reasons why NSA has great competition and that decisions of nationals are "foolish".

No, they aren't. PONY's roster of teams looked a little off this year. I'll be checking out NSA soon. Neither is the ASA where the west coast is concerned.

 

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anothermom,
It's always nice to sleep in your bed and have your normal meals, laundry, etc. -- no question about that!!!
But that's not why the Ashburn (Va.) Shooting Stars won -- they won because of Macy (sp?) Jones -- The left-hander was the best pitcher and best hitter in the tournament!!!
She also has a ton of guts and heart!!! She won the first game Friday in 8 innings, then won a semi and the championship game!!!
The Shooting Stars beat the Little Slammers 3-2 -- ALL because of her -- in a crucial pool game.
The Shooting Stars beat 71-1 Lakeshore Lightning 4-3 in the title -- because of her!!
Jones took over in the key one-run games and made the difference.
I'll still contend Lakeshore Lightning was the best team in the tournament, the Little Slammers were the second-best team. But it didn't matter because the Shooting Stars had the difference-maker -- (and maybe familiar beds and meals!!)
My only complaint was there were no games under the lights (they had lights at beautiful Freedom Park) when the conditions were approaching dangerous with the heat index.
Our parents are already talking about PONY nationals in the future. We'll definitely go back.

 

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Pitman,
Yes, there were a few teams at PONY National Championships that didn't belong (We won a pool game 16-0 in 21/2 innings -- that shouldn't happen at this level).
But I'm guessing that there also will be a few of that type at the ASA Nationals (We always hope to get a host team in our pool!!).
Of course, the SoCal powers ONLY go to ASA -- so that most certainly extends the depth of elite teams -- the top four at PONY National Championships (Lakeshore Lightning, Shooting Stars, Team Long Island and Little Slammers) DEFINITELY could all compete for top 10 at ASA.
We'll be there next week and I'll let ya know about the depth of field. I believe Lakeshore Lightning also is going to ASA

 

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train,

PONY's are a great experience, and they have always done a nice job running things there. We are giving NSA a shot to see how that goes. Great job and good luck at ASA.

Pittman,
Sounds like you have a serious case of Spirit envy. Nobody on this thread brought them up or were "justifying" going to one national or the other. People did agree with Bigtrain that PONY is a lot tougher national than many people gave it credit for. The "foolish" comment was to point out that a few people feel that only one national is really worthy and the others are vacations. Nobody has slammed your blessed ASA national, too bad you can't have the same decency. As far as not making sense to you, I'm sure a lot of things fall into that category.

 

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No sour grapes, PittMan06 (but congratulations on your first post - at least under that name). I was just bringing up a subject I wanted to hear other people's opinions on. Now, I certainly know yours.

The Virginia teams that finish well in Ponys are good teams - I was just wondering if there might be a bit of a "local" effect. Being local can work against you, too. I hope others will address this topic, and not try to make it something personal.

And congratulations, bigtrain. Sounds like the Little Slammers are a great team. I wasn't really talking about this year's Shooting Stars 10U specifically, but what seems to be a generally excellent representation of Virginia teams in the championship bracket at Ponys in Sterling.

 

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Virginia has quite a few top notch organizations including but not limited to: Shamrocks, Vienna Stars, Fire & Ice, Ashburn Shooting Stars, Diamond Fever, Midlothian ThunderStix, Sudden Impact, Xplosion, Manassas Blaze, Baseliners, Fairfax Bluejays, etc.

You better bring your "A" game when playing any of the above or you'll be on the short side of the score. ?They traditionally do well at PONY Nationals because their good teams with strong pitching, defense and hitting and they're well coached. ?I doubt sleeping in their own beds has much to do with their success. ?For the most part they do well no matter what state they're playing in.

Bigtrain - congrats on your fine showing at Sterling and best of luck this week at ASA Nationals!

Been to PONY and NSA Nationals. ?PONY is well organized, great fields, tough competition, excellent umpiring and an all around great experience. ?We played 8 games there this year and none of them were "easy" games. ? Can't say the same for NSA. ?Never been to ASA but hope to get there soon!

 

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JB, I second what you say about the competition, umpiring, facilities, etc. at PONY -- I was very impressed on my first trip and I've always been a big ASA guy!!!
NSA is a definite second-class event when compared, especially when the cow pastures of Berliner in Columbus is the national championship site.

 

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How did the Little Salmmers fair at the ASA? We have seen posts all year about their successes in all these tourny's. We have not seen anything on the ASA.

 

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I heard 0-3 in brackets but not sure ? Still a great season girls

 

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Little Slammers were 0-3 in brackets, but were there and hopefully will benefit in future development from a very painful experience.
The fact that the Little Slammers were minus two starters (pitcher, position player due to discipline/maturity factors) was NOT why Little Slammers were 0-3 -- Little Slammers did NOT make the plays and the opponents did. Our first inning against Missouri City (Tex.) Magic to open the tournament featured two line drives off the opposing pitcher's ankle -- and both were turned into outs!!!
The difference between ASA and all of the other alphabet soup-sanctioning bodies is greater than I remember from my last experience at ASA nationals in 1999 (16U). The game has evolved a huge generation at 10U in just a short while.
60-10 with six tournament titles is a great season overall for a 9-month-old team starting an 8-year-old at third base and second in the batting order and batting a 9-year-old cleanup -- but 0fer at ASA nationals is still a tough pill to swallow at the end!!!

 

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I keep reading all these posts on here about Pony, NSA, USSSA being close to ASA. I think that none of those teams or posters have really seen the talent as what is seen at an ASA national and just don't know.

I think this is would be good evidence. Good Luck next year and keep working toward the your goals.

 

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It's not just talent that sets the teams at ASA nationals a clear cut above, it's attitude -- they come to play with a sense of urgency -- no margin for error against these teams -- These, obviously, are just words -- you can't understand the full effect until you've been there