On the weekend of July 9th to 11th 2010, the Ancaster Blizzard Squirt team competed in the annual Teddy Bear Tournament in Niagara Falls. The tournament was very well run, the facilities were outstanding, and the weather was fantastic.
More importantly, this team continued to build momentum and improve their quality of play. It was fun to watch. It is not surprising that the girls came away with 3rd Place Bronze Medals.
They should all be proud of the results, especially with only nine players for the weekend. A combination of other out-of-town obligations and injuries meant the nine girls played every inning of all five games.
Starting on Friday evening, the girls had a tough loss to Grand Valley rivals Cambridge.
Saturday was a whole new ball game with a 6-4 win over Brampton and a tie against Cobourg. The 1-1-1 record gave the Blizzard 1st place in its division and set up an exiting Sunday playoff day.
Starting at 8:00am, the girls were once again in tough against Cambridge. They hung in but did not advance to the final. With only an hour and a half break, they were off to the Bronze Medal game against Brampton.
Brampton was ready to try to avenge the loss from the day before. Not the least bit intimidated, the girls blasted out 11 runs in the 1st inning. Kennedy Agnew-Gurl set the tone with an impressive lead-off double in the top of the first. Brampton was not going to give up easily. Slowly, over the course of the next 4 innings, they whittled away at Ancaster’s lead. It was 14-11 for Ancaster going into the last inning. Ancaster was shut out in the top but held on to win with solid defense against a strong hitting team. Victory and the Bronze Medal was theirs.
Over the course of the weekend, pitching duties were split between Paige McClure, Delaney Pierce, Monica Daly, and Katie Vanderby. In other defensive positions were Riley McClure, Nicole Brownell, Megan Childs, Kennedy Agnew-Gerl, and Sonya Carnegie. Rachel Aumais and Celina Clark were dearly missed but are now both back with the team.
Off the field, a number of the girls were together for dinner and more team building at the hotel on Saturday evening. For some girls, it was their first overnight tournament. They had the opportunity to interact in an non-baseball setting, solidifying friendships and bonding as a team.
Midgets One Hit Away From Gold
Written by Rick Ellis
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Ancaster Midget 1 traveled to Hamburg New York for the 2010 NSA qualifying tournament. This tournament featured 16 teams from New York State and Ontario. The girls played a solid round robin going two wins and one loss. A low run differential was good enough to seed them into third place for Sunday championship play.
In their quarter final game Ancaster faced the sixth seed Cayuga Gamblers from New York State. Ancaster eliminated Cayuga with a 9-2 win. In the semi final Ancaster faced a very strong Amherst Lightning who was seeded second overall and had beaten Ancaster 7-2 in the round robin. In an excellent game Ancaster dominated and despite a last inning rally won with a solid 9-5 result.
In the final Ancaster faced the Western New York Sting whom they had won handily against in round robin play. Ancaster just didn't seem to be able to get going in the final and squandered many scoring opportunities and hit into a few double plays. Bottom of seventh inning and the score 4-3 and the tying run in scoring position was where it was left. A ground ball for a routine out and Ancaster had to settle for Silver and a berth at the 2010 NSA world series. Lots of credit to the Sting they ended up way down in the seeding and had to win five games to get the gold medal. The girls will be representing Ancaster to the best of their ability in Tier 1 Provincials next weekend. Go get 'em girls.
Double Silver for Ancaster Blizzard Novice II
Written by Kevin O"Connor
Monday, 05 July 2010
Back (L-R) Timarah Hill, Pam Licata, Leah Moore, Shanien O'Neill, Rachel O'Connor, Liz Niton Middle (L-R) Rosa Grabstas, Kaitlyn Douglas, Jodi Harris, Riley Tziougras Front (L-R) Leah Sinclair, Haley Bowie
On June 19 at the Brampton Blast Tournament, the girls fought back to play in the championship game. We took home Silver after a 5-4 loss to Vaughan in the championship game.
The following weekend at the Mississauga Partners Tournament we defeated Vaughan 8-4 to advance to the championship game. The girls came away with another Silver after an exciting game against Chepstow.
The coaches would like to congratulate the team on their well deserved success. We look forward to our next tournament in Niagara Falls.
Midgets Shine at Mitchell Tournament
Written by Rick Ellis
Sunday, 04 July 2010
Ancaster Midget won the championship game at the Cam Mitchell Open tournament in the Tier 2 division. This tournament is open to teams of all ages and the girls had first hand experience playing some very experienced teams.
In their first game against Caledonia Ancaster won a hard fought battle 2-0 with a key hit at the right time to cash two runs. In their second game the girls got off to a very rocky start being down 7-0 after the first inning against Waterloo. They stayed the course, tightened up defensively and started to chip away at the lead. Some timely hitting and a little help from lady luck the girls fought back to win with a final score of 10-8.
Saturday afternoon the team struggled and could just not seem to get on track and lost decisively to Six Nations 16-4. In their quarter final game Sunday morning Ancaster played Brampton Midgets and rallied behind a very strong outing by their pitcher to win 4-0. In their semi final game the team just got stronger and won 8-0 against Etobicoke.
This win put them in the championship against a very good Windsor Lady Expos team that had just triumphed against Six Nations in extra innings. In the final game great pitching and solid defensive work by both teams kept the score knotted at 0-0 until the fourth inning where a number of key hits and some unfortunate errors by Windsor opened the flood gates and Ancaster scored 7 runs. This was the only inning where any runs were scored. Windsor threatened many times but just couldn't seem to get past third base. In what was a game much closer than the score indicated the game ended 7-0 in Ancaster's favour giving them the championship.
The team would like to thank a very classy Windsor team for great sportsmanship in a game that was in reality a hard fought battle by both teams.
Ancaster Girls Select Tourney
Written by Joe Benedetti
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Our 8th Annual Girls Select Tourneys will be the biggest ever. We are hosting 18 PeeWee and Bantam teams on July 10th and 19 - hoping we get 20 for July 11th
Games will start at 8:30 am at CC on Sat and at LL on Sunday, we will be using Amberely Park as well on both days. We thank Six Nations and Whitby for entering 5 teams each!
A special thank you to JC Flynn for scheduling all the umpires, and helping to mentor our young junior umpires during this opportunity for them to grow and develop.
Let it shine, but we will play rain or shine!
Joe
Can-Am Girls Softball Clinic
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Welcome to the Can-Am Softball School (level I). We invite you to be a part of the most
exciting, progressive, hands-on clinic designed for softball players between 10-18 yrs of age.
This two day clinic focuses on teaching youth softball players the proper fundamentals and diagnosing and correcting flaws that may be hampering their game. Day one focuses on sliding. throwing, catching, fielding both infield and outfield, hitting and bunting. Day two features base running,pitching and catching. In addition to the fundamentals and mechanics of the game teamwork, discipline and sportsmanship will be emphasized, making this the total clinic experience for players of all levels and abilities.
Clinic Dates: Thursday, July 22 from 9am-3pm and Friday, July 23 from 9am-noon
Location: Ancaster Community Center
Lunch and water is provided on Thursday.
Cost: $40
Instructors: Mark Ceci (Asst Coach of Mohawk College Girls Fastball)
Kevin Walkowski (Head Coach of Erie Community College Girls Softball, Buffalo,NY)
If interested please RSVP Mark Ceci by July 20, 2010
at
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or 905-389-5790 include child's name, age and team/league
“For the parents of a Little Leaguer, a baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown into innings. ”
Earl Wilson
Welcome to Blizzard Fastpitch
Ancaster Girls Fastpitch Softball is a comprehensive softball program based in the greater Hamilton, Ontario area. We are affiliated with the local Little League allowing for a range of recreational and competitive teams for girls 5-19 years of age. Our program runs year round offering numerous skills clinics throughout the fall and winter in our local gyms.
