It has been a busy July for Valley youth softball players, as several teams participated in tournaments.
Fall City Little League sent all-star teams to two district tournaments held recently, in addition to the Little League Majors softball tournament for 11- and 12-year-old girls held in Snoqualmie the week of July Fourth.
In the event for 9- and 10-year-old players, Fall City fell in their first game against Mercer Island, but what happened in their second game was absolutely remarkable.
Down 19 runs at one point against the Bellevue Thunderbirds in a game held Sunday, July 6, FCLL came all the way back and won the game 36-35. Fall City coach Don Chappell told the Valley Record that the game took four and a half hours to complete, but every minute of that was well worth it, in one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of Little League ball in the Snoqualmie Valley.
“It truly was an amazing team effort,” Chappell said. “The girls never lost focus, hope or confidence that they could come back, and sure enough they did.”
The winning run was scored in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Kara Link scored from third base on a ball put into play by Mackenzie Storie.
FCLL gave it their all in their next game, but were eliminated from the postseason with a 13-9 loss to Bellevue East in a July 8 game.
The 10- and 11-year-old Fall City all-star team unloaded with their bats, scoring 10 runs or more in each of their three games in their district tournament. However, they fell in two of them, and were sent home. Anna Hiebert, Danielle Clark, Brittney Kissinger and Hailey Nelson were among the girls with solid offensive performances in the tournament.
Not only were the younger kids in action, their older high-school age counterparts took to the field as well, as several local club teams with Mount Si players past and present faced off against top national competition in tournaments in Colorado.
‘Xtreme ’93 and Washington Phoenix, featuring Wildcats Megan Stone (‘Xtreme), Alex Johnson and Danielle Massengill (Phoenix) respectively, played in the 14U Colorado Fireworks tournament. Both teams struggled, as ‘Xtreme went 2-4-1 in the competition, finishing 46th, and Phoenix went 2-5, finishing one spot ahead in 45th. The two teams played each other in a loser-out playoff game on July 4, won by ‘Xtreme 4-1.
In the 18U Fireworks competition, recently graduated Mount Si catcher Katie Shaw played with her Washington Hurricanes team, who won four very close games to win their pool play, but then fell in their first two play-off games and finished 97th in the event.
The 18U Colorado Sparkler event featured the Washington Ladyhawks team coached by Mike Hawkins, which includes recent Wildcat grad Kyleen Sweepe on their roster. WLH had a nice run, going 7-4, with most of their success coming in the playoffs. Sweepe, however, was injured, and did not play in the tournament.
