Our Magical Journey Comes to an End

The North Shore 12 Gold season came to an end today in Portland with an exciting and heartbreaking loss to Los Alamitos 8-7 in 9 innings. Battling the 95 degree heat and high humidity our girls came back to take a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 7th inning. One out away from advancing to the final eight Los Al tied the score 4-4 and forced extra innings in the International Tiebreaker. Los Al scored one in the top of the 8th, but our girls fought back to tie the score at 5-5 after 8. In the 9th Los Al pushed across three and our girls hit the wall. We came back with a couple in the bottom of the 9th but ran out of gas in the elimination loss. Lots of tears followed as everyone was sad the journey was over. But in the process we put the North Shore name on the national map by finishing with a 45-14 record, winning the North San Diego District; finishing 3rd at States and 9th place at Nationals. It weas a heck of a ride, one these girls and all of us will never forget. The Oregonians were the nicest people and we all enjoyed the friendships we made with other teams and their parents during the week. One of the coolest things was having the entire Bonita Valley team cheering us on as we beat Belmont earlier in the day. It has been a great joy being around these girls and families...a summer I will never forget!!

We Beat Belmont Blast!

In an incredible game filled with big plays the North Shore Gold stays alive with a 4-3 come from behind win over Nor Cal Champ Belmont Blast!! After falling behind 1-0 the girls tied the game in the 4th and opened it up to 3-1 in the 6th. With a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 7th Belmont mounted a rally scoring one to make it 4-3. With the tying run on second base Savannah caught a deep drive to LF to seal the victory! Now we play the loser of South Huntington Beach and Los Alamitos at 2pm. We are now in the final 12 of 58 teams!! Stay tuned.............

We Win Two More!!

Battling extreme heat and humidity our never say die North Shore Gold won two more elimination games back-to-back this afternoon as the topped the Orcutt Renegade 6-1 and Big John's Pizza from northeastern Oregon 4-0. Cailtin was great in the Orcutt game and Monroe was awesome in the Big John's game. All the girls played great and now we are in the final 16 teams (42 have gone home including State Champion Santee)! We'll play tomorrow at 9am against Belmont Blast from northern Cali. The girls are tired, but enjoying Mexican food and pizza at the hotel!! Winning is a whole lot more fun!!! Stay tuned......................

Stayin' Alive: We Beat Oregon Fever 7-4

The girls kept the dream alive with a 7-4 victory this morning over a determined Oregon Fever team. The Fever jumped out on top 2-0 in the 1st inning. However North Shore Gold came back and steadily built their lead to 7-2. Oregon got two in the last inning before time expired. Temperatures have dropped to the mid-90s. We play the Orcutt Renegade at 4pm today, with a game right after with a win. Keep those good thoughts coming!!

North Shore Gold Loses a Tough One

Our girls slipped into the loser's bracket last night in suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Lompoc. In the extreme heat and humidity the girls played a great game and Caitlin was brilliant in allowing just one hit. Lompoc scored two in the 1st inning and North Shore came back with one in the 4th. We had several chances to tie and win the game but couldn't quite get the big hit. Mariel was called out (questionable) attempting to score on a sacrifice fly by Hannah in the 5th, and Emma laid down a perfect bunt with two out in the 6th, that would have driven in the tying run, but was out by an eyelash at 1st.

So, with the loss, we'll have to play up to three games today and four games tomorrow to advance to Sunday. But our girls have been resilient with great determination all year, so I'm confident they will all give it their best today! Our first game will be against the Oregon Fever at 10am. With a win we'll take on the Orcutt Renegade at 4pm and (with a win) Santa Paula or Big John's Pizza at 6pm.

It's getting slightly cooler with temperatures projected to be in the mid 90's today. Stay tuned and keep the faith!!

We Win Our 1st Bracket Game!

We got off on the right track this morning with a 17-2 win over the Beavercreek Chaos. The girls were firing on all cylinders!! Mariel and Savannah pitched and the whole team pounded the ball. We'll take on Lompoc tonight at 6:00 in what should be a much more challenging game. Overall the SoCal teams are starting to rise to the top...as expected.

We Win 40th Game

The girls got back on their winning ways in thumping the West Linn Lions of Portland 11-0 tonight in a mercy shortened 5 inning game. We got back to playing North Shore Gold ball and scored early and often. Monroe went the distance giving up just one hit and striking out 7. The girls unveiled their new white jerseys and pants and looked and played awesome!

Our bracket play starts tomorrow morning with a game against the Chaos (an Oregon team) at 8:oo. It should be a little cooler that time of day (maybe 80 degrees). With a win we'll play Lompoc at 6pm (when it will be 95 degrees). They are also staying at our hotel and are very cool. Getting late...must sleep. Chaeck back tomorrow around 11am for updated scores.

Heat Postpones Games

With record heat of 104 degrees yesterday up here and hotter weather forecast for today our 2pm game for Wednesday has been mercifully moved to 8pm tonight! Apparently two umpires and a few players suffered from heat stroke yesterday prompting the schedule changes for today.

The Opening Ceremonies were steamy but fun for the girls last night. Most of the girls collected 25-30 pins from other teams duirng trading before the parade. The favorite pin to get was from the team from Maui, Team Pono. So today we'll try to stay cool all day waiting for our 8pm game against West Linn of Portland on the artificial turf. Trying to schedule time at a local batting cage to get some extra swings, otherwise it will be another day in paradise?!

Tough Loss in Game One

We lost a tough one in our first pool game to a good East Bay Stompers team 2-1 this morning. Our bats were a little rusty with the 16 day lay off from live action after States. The game was 0-0 until the 5th when the Stompers pushed across the first run when Savannah's attempt for a diving catch in the gap fell short when the ball popped out of her glove upon hitting the turf. After a few chances without success we fell behind 2-0 in the 7th then came back with one in the bottom on a pinch hit by Avery, but we could do no further damage in the loss. We'll play the West Linn Lions of Portland tomorrow at 2:00. Several games were postponed today due to the 1o5 degree heat and high humidity. We're playing on the artificial turf tomorrow at 2pm, so we'll be steaming!!!!!!!!!!!! Opening ceremonies tonight. Went to the famous VooDoo Donuts today after which some of the girls went to the water park, some to the movies and some down to the river below our hotel to cool down in the 65 degree water (me included!). Check in with you all later.

DayOne at Nationals

Yes, it's 4:04am on Tuesday in the Great Northwest. I tend to have many insomniac nights during tournaments, so no surprise that I'd have one on the biggest stage of our North Shore career...at Nationals! The hotel is quiet, but in a few hours 60 teams will stir as the first day of pool play begins! We drew Stompers West from Danville, CA (near Oakland). With a win we'll play the winner of American River (Sacramento) and West Linn (Portland) tomorrow afternoon at 2:00.

We held a 90 minute practice yesterday late afternoon in the 100 degree heat, high humidity and local smog alert. The girls were really battling the conditions with a lot of very red faces. Portland is experiencing their hottest weather on record...great!! Today the forecast is for 103 temps, however we lucked out drawing an 8am start time for our game. The fields we'll be playing at are awesome, Olympic caliber. We had our coaches meeting and dinner at a country club last night and it was really cool to be sitting in a room of 150 other softball crazies from around the western U.S. !! The girls are all very excited to start playing games today and I expect we'll play well.

Stay tuned....

Portland is HOT!

Well, between driving and flying most of us made it to Portland by last night only to find 102 degree temps in store for us for the next few days! The girls and parents are all happy to be here and shared a great italian meal last night. There are a t least five other teams staying at our hotel. Some of our girls and the other leagues were taking turns changing the screen savers on the Business Center computers to their team's pictures! It was quite a stealth competition. Right behind our hotel is a river with high rocks that the locals jump off into the river. It's dangerous enough that the paramedics are actually standing by to rescue somebody. Told the girls...no jumping until we win Nationals!!

We'll check our team in this afternoon and find out our pool game draw tonight at the coaches meeting held at a local golf course. Stay tuned.

We'll be leaving Sunday, July 26 as our summer of magic continues! Team check in will be 2:30 Monday and a team practice has been scheduled right after at a nearby high school in Portland. First pool game Tuesday, July 28, followed by Opening Ceremonies, a pin exchange with the 70 other teams, then a BBQ dinner for all. Is this gonna be fun or what!!

I'll be updating the blog on a daily basis once in Portland, so check back for scores and stories from the Great Northwest!

3rd Place in the State Tournament!!

Battling the heat, wind and chapped lips our girls exceeded our wildest expectations in winning five games over the weekend, including a brutal four game stretch on Sunday to finish in 3rd place from a field of 32 teams in the ASA State Championship Tournament in Lancaster. As a result we will be the first North Shore All Star team in history to participate in the ASA Western Nationals on July 27 in Portland to take on 70 of the best 12u teams from 22 ASA Associations in 13 western states. These girls have worked their tails off to get here and I am in awe of their success! We couldn't be prouder of our girls over a 50 game season. They have won with determination, talent and class.

After beating three District Champions over the weekend (PYL, Downey and Hart) we set our sights on winning a National Championship in Portland! Consider this...Santee won the State Championship and we've beaten Santee two out of three games.

We're Finalists in the Escondido Freedom Tournament!

After a rough first couple of games in pool play our girls came out like the District Champs they are by winning three straight bracket games to reach the Championship game of the Escondido Freedom Tournament. This was our 6th Championship game in eight tournaments this season.

It all started with an improbable five run last inning comeback against WAGS Saturday morning. followed by a 13-0 pounding of Menifee in the first elimination game Saturday afternoon. After a night of fireworks the girls brought sparks to the field Sunday morning in blowing out State participant Escondido 10-1 in the quartefinals, running, bunting and hitting brilliantly! It was on to the semi against nemisis Santee who had beaten us 4-0 in pool play. It was a fabulous see saw battle which saw North Shore down 3-2 heading to our final at bat. Caitlin's line single led things off, then Emily bombed a clutch double to tie the score with two out. Kylie dropped one into right field to bring home Emily with the winner 5-4. The girls played powerhouse Bonita Valley tough through six innings before falling in the finals 8-1.

Our girls battled the heat and early adversity to show us the competitiors and champions they really are. Now...on to States!!

Judy's Escondido Photos
Doug's Escondido Photos
Karen's Escondido Photos

State Tournament Draw

We drew Placentia/Yorba Linda (PYL) for our first game in the State Tournament at 8am Friday morning at the Big 8 Sports Complex in Lancaster (Field 7). Should we win we would play the winner of Downey vs. Fontana at 4pm on Friday. The 8am game time should be a bonus of cooler weather!

ASA North San Diego District Champions!!

What a great weekend!! The girls saved their best softball for last in dominating Poway twice, 7-1 and 9-0 to win the ASA North San Diego District Championship with a resounding exclamation point. After a mentally tough tournament in Peninsula the girls bounced back in Poway and San Marcos with determination, focus and great effort to prove, unequivocally, that they are the best 12u team in North San Diego! The weekend was a complete team effort with great pitching, defense, hitting and base running.

To my knowledge we are the first North Shore 12u team to ever win Districts. Congratulations girls!! But we're not done yet. On to States in Lancaster with a stop along the way this weekend in Escondido to stay sharp and get more acclimated to the heat.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support. We hear everyone cheering the girls on...it's awesome!

Judy's District Photos
Doug's District Photos

Escondido Freedom Tournament Info

Championship Finalists in Poway

For the fourth time in six tournaments our girls played in the Championship game, this time at the Poway Summer Heat Tournament against 2008 ASA National Champion Bonita Valley.

We wanted to compete against better competition and the girls did just that behind Caitlin's four masterful shutouts: 2-0 over powerhouse Santee, 21-0 over Rancho Bernardo, 4-0 over Escondido and 2-0 over district rival San Dieguito.

Hannah, Kelsey and Caitlin had amazing weekends pitching, hitting, running and fielding. All the girls brought their "A" game to this tournament and definitely played the kind of focused, inspired ball that UCLA's Hall of Fame Coach Sue Enquist encouraged them to do during her motivational talk to the team on Tuesday!

Now on to Districts where 4 of 12 teams from our North San Diego ASA District will qualify for the ASA State Tournament in Lascaster July 10-12. We have some work to do, but I'm confident our girls will shine this weekend!!

Remember ladies..."old as the dirt!"

Doug's Poway Photos
Karen's Poway Photos
Judy's Poway Photos
Dr. Dave's Poway Video

Semi-Finalists at Peninsula

We finally saw the sun and some very good competition in Ocean Beach over the weekend. The highlight of the weekend was our epic nine inning marathon victory over East County 8-7 in which the girls battled back three times, twice in extra innings to claim the victory. Kudos for the weekend go to Caitlin for going the distance in all four games...brilliant job!! In the semi-final game we battled back in the last inning against Navajo but fell just short 3-2.

Now we shift into stiffer competition and the heat this coming weekend in Poway as we'll take on two of the regions best teams, Santee and Bonita Valley. These teams will force us to play our best and I'm confident we'll compete playing our best softball yet!

To keep it all in perspective our girls have gone 21-4 so far, just three runs short of playing in all five championship games and six runs short of being undefeated! I couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them!!

Judy's Peninsula Photos
Karen's Peninsula Photos
(password for both is "softball")

Semi-Finalists at Carlsbad Seabreeze Tourney

Our promising weekend hit a speed bump with a tough 9-7 loss to Escondido in the semi-final game at the Carlsbad Seabreeze Tournament. Hopefully we can focus on the positives of the weekend, including getting Natalie back, and re-focus our efforts towards getting better in the week ahead as we prepare for a tough tournament at Peninsula against three of the South San Diego District's top teams: Santee, East County and Navajo.

If the girls learned anything from the Escondido game it's that we have to earn it every game by staying mentally focused and mentally tough. I'm confident the girls will come out fired up at Peninsula and continue to grow as the spectacular players and team that they are!

Judy's Carlsbad Photos
Doug's Carlsbad Photos
Karen's Carlsbad Photos

Peninsula Cool Breeze Tournament Schedule

Directions to Robb Field in Ocean Beach

We're Champions in Torrance!

Championship Game Video

What a tremendous finish to another successful weekend as our 12 Gold girls captured the Torrance Summer Classic (with very winter like weather) by pounding the host Torrance team 10-1 by the run rule after five innings. Our girls are now 16-1 as we prepare this week to take on some tough competition in Carlsbad's Seabreeze Tournament this coming weekend.

Ladies...you continue to amaze me with your focus, effort and toughness!! You bounced back after a scare from Long Beach to play your best ball of the weekend in downing El Segundo and Torrance by a combined 16-2 score. You played like champions because you are CHAMPIONS!

Be sure to check out our new game results blog at: http://www.northshore12goldscores.blogspot.com/.

Doug's Torrance Photos (password: softball)
Judy's Torrance Photos (password: softball)

Dr. Dave’s Video - Saturday Games
Dr. Dave's Video - Quarterfinals
Dr. Dave's Video - Banquet Dance

Carlsbad Seabreeze Tournament Schedule

Championship Finalist - San Dieguito Memorial Day Classic

Karen's Tourney Photos

Doug's Tourney Pictures

Judy's Photos

Another great weekend for the North Shore 12 Gold team! After breezing through pool play (3-0) and a quarterfinal mercy victory our girls battled a tenacious La Costa team in the semi finals and came away with a 4-2 win. We had another epic extra inning Championship game, this time against the 2008 7th place in Nationals powerhouse Moorpark, from Simi Valley. After a 0-0 pitcher's duel through five innings Moorpark broke ahead with a run in the 6th, but our "never say die" girls tied in in the bottom of the 6th 1-1. After each team had chances denied by great defense Moorpark pushed across two runs in the extra eighth inning to go ahead 3-1. North Shore had the tying runs on base in the bottom half but couldn't quite break through this time. Kudos to Caitlin for another brilliant pitching performance!

Our girls battled a very good team and should all be proud of their performances (Overall they outscored their opponents 42-8 over the 5-1 weekend!). Games like this help us to see the areas we need to work on to get better...and work we will in our short week before our trip to Torrance.

Great job ladies! Thanks to Coach Ana, Karen and Kelly, plus our awesome fans! Here are the weekend's scores:

North Shore - 5, La Costa - 3
North Shore - 9. Imperial Beach - 0
North Shore - 14, Peninsula - 0
North Shore - 9, Imperial Beach - 0
North Shore - 4, La Costa - 2
Moorpark - 3, North Shore - 1 (8 innings)

Large Team Photo at Page Bottom

San Dieguito Memorial Day Schedule

Friday, May 22 vs. La Costa: 4:00 @ Cardiff Sports Park #1 (be there 3:00)
Saturday, May 23 vs. Imperial Beach: 4:20 @ CSP #1 (be there 3:05)
Saturday, May 23 vs. Peninsula: 6:10 @ CSP #1

San Dieguito 12 Gold Pool Schedule
San Dieguito 12 Gold Brackets
Cardiff Sports Park Directions

We Are the Riptide Tourney Champs!

What can be said...our young ladies did everything we asked of them and more in winning the Oceanside Riptide Tourney against a very determined and historically dominant South Huntington Beach team 5-4 in eight innings! They played in pain and sickness, heat and exhaustion to become Champions while outscoring their opponents 50-13 over the three days.

See Karen's Riptide Photos

See Judy's Riptide Photos

For both the password is: softball

Here are the game scores:

North Shore Gold - 9, Poway Diamonds - 3
North Shore Gold - 11, Carlsbad - 3
North Shore Gold - 7, Oceanside 1 - 3
North Shore Gold - 9, Oceanside 1 - 1
North Shore Gold - 9, PQ Lightning - 0
North Shore Gold - 5, So. Huntington Beach 1 - 4 (8 innings)

Caitlin and Kelsey were dominant during our elimination games on Sunday, and our "Attack" style of play kept our opponents spinning around all day! Our success this weekend was truly a team effort. Special kudos to Hannah, Mariel and Kelsey for toughing it out with injuries and sickness...Kylie for battling all day to finally get that great hit to tie the game in the finals, Erin for being a vacuum at 2B, Emily for being on base like every at bat, Savannah for battling the sun and saving the day more than once in LF, and Caitlin for pitching 12 consecutive innings in the semis and finals. WOW! Great clutch hits and bunts by Madi, Tierra, Mariel, Emily, Hannah, Avery, Savannah, Emma, Kelsey and Erin.

Our defense was spectacular all weekend with great infield, outfield and catching play. We took it to everyone every inning. Well done ladies!

Thanks to Coach Ana, Coach Mark, Coach Karen, Jeri and DJ Dave for the sweet tunes! See you all in Cardiff Friday.

Oceanside Riptide Tournament Schedule

Friday, 5:30p versus Poway---Field 3 (be there by 4:15)
Saturday, 8:00a versus Carlsbad---Field 1 (be there by 7:00)
Saturday, 9:45a versus Oceanside---Field 1

Friday and Saturday's pool games at Calavera Hills Park in Carlsbad.

Sunday's bracket games at Rancho Buena Vista Park in Vista.

Team Drafted

Congratulations to all the 2009 North Shore 12 Gold All Stars:

Alexis, Avery, Caitlin, Emily, Emma, Erin, Hannah,
Kelsey, Kylie, Madi, Mariel, Savannah and Tierra!

You girls are all elite softball players and have worked hard to earn your spots on this team! The fun begins May 15 in Oceanside. Let's get to work!

All Star Selections & Pre-Season Practices

12u All Star Evaluations are Sunday, May 3 @ noon.

12u All Star Selections will be Monday, May 4

12u Cardinal 1st practice: Wednesday, May 6: 5 - 7pm (location TBD)

Tenative pre-season practice schedule: May 6, May 8, May 9, May 11, May 12, May 13, May 14.

2009 12u Cardinal All Star Schedule

1. Oceanside Riptide Tournament - May 15 – 17

2. San Dieguito Girls Fastpitch Memorial Day Classic – May 22 – 25

3. Torrance Girls Softball League Summer Classic – May 29 – 31

4. Carlsbad Seabreeze Tournament – June 5 – 7

5. Peninsula Youth Softball Association Cool Breeze – June 12 – 14

6. Poway Summer Heat Classic – June 18 – 21

7. District Championship - June 26 – 28 (San Marcos)

8. Escondido Freedom Tournament – July 2 - 5

9. ASA State Tournament – July 10 - 12 (Lancaster)

10. ASA Western National Championships– July 28 – August 2 (Portland, Oregon)