12U Take 2nd place in Oak Lawn

The 12U Gold notched another 2nd place finish in the 31st Annual Oak Lawn Tournament. 14 teams played during the rainy, breezy, crazy weather weekend. The girls played 8 games over the 3 days posting a 6 - 2 record on the way to winning a great team trophy and some individual hardware.

The Friday night game was against the Lockport Pythons. The girls started early and scored often putting up a 7-2 victory. Megan hit a home runs to start the offense for the weekend. Allie played a great 2nd covering the bag on several force plays. The team played well and posted an efficient game.

The Saturday morning game placed the Gold against the 11U Frankfort Flames. It was the Rockers bats that were smoking and wound up with a 12 - 0 victory. Ashley played well on both sides of the diamond. Mel hit in the 2 slot and was solid in the field.

The afternoon game found the Oak Park Windmills White next in the Gold's path. The offense continued to stay red hot with a 14-1 win. Lauren hit a grand slam to lead the offense.

The last pool game pitted the Gold versus the Napervillians. The 1st inning was a rocky one giving up 7 runs. The girls settled down and started to chip away at the lead. Rachel came in and shut down the Villians bats. The weather was not co-operating with rain, dirt & wind constantly fighting. The battle continued until time expired and the Napervillians walked away with an 8-5 win and 1st place in the pool.

Usually winning your pool means you get to sleep in on Sunday, but not in Oak Lawn. In a twist of fate, the Gold was scheduled for a 12:30 start on Sunday. The extra sleep was put to good use and the Palos Storm wished the Rockers had overslept. When the game was over the Gold had posted a 13-1 victory.

Next up the Lincoln Way Storm. This game was tight from the beginning. Bad hops, good hops, hard hit balls & home runs were the stories of this game. The Rockers took the lead 4 - 1 and the Storm came back & tied it. The Rockers added another and the Storm tied it. The Rockers finally took the lead on Katho's home run for the 6-5 win. This game was well played & exciting from start to finish.

The Hickory Hills team had worked its way through games beating Lockport & Plainfield. The Gold was pumped from a nervous game against the Storm & exploded for 20 runs to defeat a tired Hickory team. Hickory was in its first tournament and wound up 4th. Sara K hit her 1st grand slam lead the hit parade. Amy finished up and got the save.

Time for the championship game. Both teams were looking for a rematch and the game was everything promised. Sarah Herlod's home run was matched by one for the Napervillians. It was a tight game when things got exciting. A tag play at the plate and an accidential collision made for some lively discussions between umps, coaches and the peanut galleries. Just as in the previous game Naperville took a lead and the Rockers kept chipping away. The Rockers had their shot in the top of the 6th with the bases loaded and 2 outs, Lauren came off the bench to pinch hit. With her right hand taped up and hurting, she hit a shot to the gap in right. The right fielder made a great catch to end the inning and Naperville held on to hand the 12U Gold a 7 - 4 loss. With Lauren, Angela & Rebecca all hurting, the team came up a little short.

Overall the team posted a 6 -2 record for the weekend scoring 81 runs while giving up 24 runs. The girls were ready to play & hit. It showed the girls how to move up their game to the next level.