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!