Saturday, July 28, 2007

HotShots Wrap up Highly Successful Inagural Season

What a great season the Pleasanot HotShots 16U completed on July 21-22 in the Pleasanton A tournament. The HotShots didn't have their "A" game this weekend, but still managed to post a 2-2 record on the weekend. The HotShots lost both of their games in the bottom of the 7th inning after taking a lead in the top of the 7th. It was great to watch the HotShots compete so strongly despite not playing their best softball. In the end however, we came up on the short end. One saving grace was that we lost on Sunday to the eventual champions. Rather than detail all of the games over the weekend, i would like to reflect on some highlights throughout the season for each of the girls.

#24 Georgia Bloom. Georgia has been on the 16U team since it's inception 4 years ago. She has seen the team grow from only winning two games the entire first year to winning three tournaments this year and going to the championship game 5 times last year. Georgia was our lead pitcher all year and ended up also being one of our top hitters. She pitched a number of shutouts and other great peformances. Offensively she surprised everyone by being one of the top hitters on the team. She hit one monsterous home run and had 6 triples throughout the year. If you know Georgia, you know how far she had to hit each of those balls in order to run for three or four bases!

#22 Claire Robertson. Claire also has been on the team since season 1. Claire has grown tremendously over the past four years. This year's highlights were numerous for Claire, but two things clearly stood out. Her defense was top notch all year. It culminated with a sixth inning game saving throwout at the plate from rightfield. It was a bang bang play on Claire executed on it perfectly by fielding the base hit smoothly, crow hopping and firing a strike to Carli Kachel. She did it just the way coach Daryl Sequeira had worked with her all season on. It made Daryl very proud to see his student and his daughter work so nicely together. Offensively, Claire had a spectacular tournament in Tahoe. She had a Saturday that most people dream about by going 7/9 on the day and hitting the ball hard all day long.

#15 Allie (Beaver) Price. The third of the original team members. Allie has come so far in her softball career and her growth as a person, that it has been my pleasure to watch her grow in both facets over the past 4 years. She was an erratic pitcher with a funky motion who didn't understand much about softball 4 years ago. Today, she is a star outfielder who can track down almost everything hit her way. Additionally, she hit the ball hard all year and has grown from someone who just puts the ball in play and beats out her hits to a hitter who can spray line drives around the field. Her last at bat as a HotShot represented this as she smoked a double in the top of the 7th inning in our last game to keep our rally alive. Most importantly though, Allie has grown into a nice young lady and someone that the coaches and players enjoyed spending time with and laughing with. She has matured nicely and will have a great senior year at Amador Valley in '08.

#39 Brittany Hillman. Brittany had another great year for the HotShots. Her defense has no equals at this level. Her strong arm and great range are her teammates best friends (especially the pitchers). She led the team in blue balls, earned for making great defensive plays. She was a key reason that the HotShots turned an unofficial 16U record of 12 double plays this summer. Double plays are rare in softball, but the HotShots had many this year. She hit in the 3rd spot most of the year due to her consistent performance at the plate. She was one of the offensive leaders in all categories. She almost never struck out and hit the ball hard virtually every at bat. Her highlight offensively was hitting a home run in Tahoe, but she had double digit extra base hits. Brittany's skills were also recognized by the Synergy as she is joining them for the nationals.

#4 Lauren Ayres. Lolo held down third base for the HotShots this year. It was her first year with the team and both she and the team are very happy that she rejoined her buddies and played with the HotShots this summer. It was hard to believe how well she hit the ball on a consistent basis througout the summer from the#2 slot in the lineup. She practically didn't make an out in the first Pleasanton tournament. She was an offensive leader and hit the ball hard all summer. She also had an easy standup homer in Tahoe that was very memorable. Her defensive prowess at third was fun to watch. Whether it was a diving play to her left or covering a bunt, Lolo was flying all over the field and willing to get dirty.

#00 Alex Herman. Alex blossomed for the HotShots this summer. She had numerous clutch hits to put us ahead or to keep a rally alive from her spot in the middle of the lineup. She was able to come through for us and contributed significantly to the great summer. She executed well on bunts, had key base hits and kept us going on more than a couple occassions. Defensively, Alex mainly played right field. She threw out a number of runners who hit hard line drives to right, but she had one very memorable catch in centerfield that we are still talking about. Two runners on base in a tense championship game against Windsor. HotShots were up by one and a Windsor girl hit a shot to right center. Alex sprinted over to her left and was running flat out as she tracked the ball into her glove and made a shoetop catch to save the game for the HotShots.

#2 Haley Douglas. Haley was a very significant addition to the HotShots roster this year. As a top pitcher all summer, she contributed significantly to the successful season. After playing for other teams in the past that didn't have the defensive support that she received with the HotShots, Haley was very excited to be a part of a successful ballclub. She pitched in numerous key games and championship games througout the summer. She dominated the mid level teams all year. She rose to the occassion and competed at the highest level against the top tier competition and it was great to see her come out on top in those match ups all summer. She hit her marks when she needed to and handled the pressure with aplomb. She had a number of no hitters and finished the season as a top notch pitcher. She was asked to play in the nationals with the Livermore Smoke team. Good luck!

#13 Allie Straub. When one thinks of Allie, one thinks of versatility. She can play just about every position in the field. She played a lot of 2nd base, cenerfield and rightfield for us this summer, while batting at the top and the middle of our lineup. She is a very steady and reliable ballplayer that we coaches love to count on. She made one spectacular play that still stands out against Windsor when she caught a ball that appeared uncatchable in the Santa Rosa tournament to save a championship game for the HotShots. She hit over .300 all year and executed bunts with her high level of skill. Probably our best base runner as well, it was pleasure to watch her perform all summer.

#31 Carli Kachel. This was Carli's third year playing for our team. She is a true warrior. She catches virtually every inning of every game of every tournament. She never complains about being tired, hot, or sore. She just goes out and leads the defense day in and day out. Her ability to throw out over 75% of the runners that try to steal on her, kills more rallies for our opponents and takes away any momentum that they were trying to build. Her offense was also great all summer. She normally hit 5th and was amongst the top couple hitters for average on the team. We love her for her defense, but her offense was a great bonus all year long as she rarely struck out and stepped up time and time again with big clutch hits.

#14 Alia Ismail. Also Alia's third year with our team. It is a pleasure to watch this great athlete perform on the softball field. Whether it is her incredible speed or skill on the basepaths, her graceful power at the plate or her ability to track balls down in the field, it is fun to watch her play softball. Alia had two home runs to lead the team and a whole bunch of doubles and triples. She hit in the fourth spot most of the year as she supplied a lot of power when we had runners on base. In the infield, she was a part of many of our double plays and she gunned out runners from center field all season. Her defensive highlight had to be the throw out at the plate from center in the 6th inning of our final game of the year. We were losing by one and she quashed the potential rally by coming up firing on a base hit and executed a perfect throw to the plate. Alia played outfield, first, second, and third for us this year and did great wherever we put her.

#93 Britannia Bloom. Britannia's third year with the team was another successful one. She played 1st, 2nd, and centerfield for us this year. What a pleasure it is to watch her run down everything in sight in centerfield. Rarely does a ball go over her head or drop in front of her. She threw out a number of runners on the bases as well from the outfield. On the infield, she worked magically with her buddy, Brittany Hillman on some gorgeous 4-6-3 (2nd to short to first) double plays. These plays are rare in softball, but these girls continuously executed them throughout the summer. Offensively, Britannia was our leadoff hitter and table setter. She led the team in runs scored and was amongst the leaders in average. Her on base % was fantastic as she worked many counts for walks as well. Brit led the team in triples as she nearly reached double digits in three baggers. A couple big game saving hits towards the end of the year really put the cherry on top of her summer season.

#8 Zoe Price. The youngest member of the team performed well all summer both in the circle and at the plate for the HotShots. The highlight had to be the perfect game that she tossed. What a great accomplishment for a 13 year old girl playing in the 16's! She had a couple nice hits to put us ahead or tie the game througout the summer. Zoe is going to continue to do very well as a softball player as she is one of the top young pitchers around. She is able to hit her spots and never seems to get rattled.

Special thanks goes out to all of the parents without whose help and support we couldn't have had such a great summer.

The HotShots would like to thank coach Jerry Herman for his exceptional commitment to these kids. Jerry has coached many of the kids for many years and has had a deep impact not only on the kids, but also the coaches. I view Jerry as my mentor in coaching and thank him for all of his leadership not only this year, but over the many years. When we named the team, it was a tribute to Jerry as he coached the original travelling teams in Pleasanton with his older daughthers when they were named the HotShots. Thanks for you time and friendship over the years, Jerry!

Monday, July 16, 2007

HotShots Winning Streak Ends at 22 in Championship Game

The Pleasanton HotShots had their 22 game winning streak snapped in the championship game of the Pleasanton tournament. The HotShots rolled into the championship game with a lot of confidence as they had won via the mercy rule in four out of the five previous games throughout the tournament. They accomplished this feat with their normal recipe of great pitching by Georgia Bloom, Haley Douglas, and Zoe Price and great defense led by Brittany Hillman and the usual cast of characters. The bats were also smoking hot heading into the championship game as well. Lauren Ayers was the leader of the hit parade all weekend. She finished 12 for 18 and even when she got out, she hit the ball hard! She had quite a great weekend at the plate and in the field. Her defense at third base was stellar as she made numerous diving stabs and other fine plays. She was complemented both at the plate and in the field by Britannia Bloom who was 9/20 at the plate and earned a blue ball for a fine defensive play in the field while playing first base. Alex Herman also had a great weekend by making a few nice catches in the outfield and hitting .454!

In Pool play, the HotShots knocked off the Livermore Smoke 5-1 on Friday night. Georgia pitched a complete game and Britannia led the offense going 3/3 including a triple and two runs scored. They followed that fine effort up with a trouncing of the Ceres Sizzle by a score of 9-0. Ayers was 3/3 with a double and 2 runs scored and Zoe Price as 2/3 with a double and 2 runs scored to pace the HotShots. The third pool play game was against eventual champions, SF Angels. Ayers and Carli Kachel were the offensive stars in this game and Haley Douglas was in control in the circle as the HotShots won 10-1. Next up was Charlie's Angels who went down by a score of 12-3. Zoe Price led the HotShots on the mound and she was helped by the other members of the pitching staff as Haley Douglas and Georgia Bloom were both 3/4 at the plate.

Sunday's games are single elimination championship play. The HotShots started off as they ended the day on Saturday with another convincing win. Douglas and Price pitched a 13-0 shutout of the Ceres Sizzle. Hits were plentiful this game as one would imagine. Allie Price got two hits and Alex Herman got on base a couple times as well. The biggest blow however came off the bat of Georgia Bloom who hit a monsterous home run in her only at bat. Georgia had a great weekend at the plate going 6/10 including 3 doubles.

Unfortunately, the HotShots ran into a buzz saw in the championship game. The SF Angels pitcher tied them up all game long. The HotShots had a couple rallies going, only to be quashed by a few fine defensive plays by the Angels. The Angels coach said this was their best game of the year and they needed it in order to beat the HotShots. Georgia pitched a fine game holding the Angels to one run, but that was one too many as the HotShots weren't able to get on the board. Ayres reached third in the 4th inning after leading off with a double, but was left on third after Ismail smoked a line drive right to the shortstop to end the threat. Then in the 5th, Allie Price reached third and Alex Herman was on second when Hillman crushed a shot right at the left fielder. Had the ball been 5 feet one way or the other, the game would have been opened up in favor of the HotShots. Unfortunately, that was the last threat that the HotShots could manage. All in all, it was a good weekend.

The HotShots finalize their summer play next weekend when they play in the Pacific Challenge Series at the Pleasanton Sports Park.

Monday, July 9, 2007

HotShots Complete Three Peat With Third Championship In A Row

The Pleasanton Hot Shots continued their winning ways by completely dominating the Incline "B" Tournament in Incline Village, Nevada over the weekend of July 7-8. 7/7/07 turned out to be lucky 7's for the HotShots. Many brides chose this lucky date to get married at the host hotel, Cal-Neva Lodge and the Hot Shots were equally lucky. The HotShots hit over .400 on Saturday during pool play and scored 31 runs in their three games. The offense stayed hot on Sunday as well as they scored 21 runs in their first two games on Sunday. All of this was a lead up to a fantastic championship game against the rival Windsor Wildcats. The result was a 2-1 victory for the Pleasantonians. The HotShots have played and defeated Windsor 3 times this year, all by one run.

Saturday was a fun day as all the bats were hot and this took the pressure off of the pitchers and defense. The HotShots practically had fights at the bat rack as everyone wanted to hit and fatten up their batting averages. The first game was a 10-4 victory over the Los Gatos/Saratoga Magic. Game 2 was an 11-2 victory over the Storm from Auburn. The finale on Saturday completed the hat trick with a 10-1 victory over the Ukiah Lady Cats. Zoe Price, Georgia Bloom, and Haley Douglas all had easy victories in the circle. The offense was paced by Alia Ismail's home run and three baggers by Britannia Bloom, Allie Price, Brittany Hillman, and Georgia Bloom.

Sunday started off as Saturday ended. An easy 9-2 victory over the Lady Cats got things going in the right direction. Georgia went the distance for the victory. Haley Douglas stepped into the circle for the semi final game. It was the Fallon, NV Rockets turn to get blasted by the HotShots. Zoe Price pitched the last inning for the HotShots. For the first time all year, the HS's had two round trippers in one game as Ismail hit her 2nd homer of the tournament to go along with Lauren Ayers' long ball.

The championship game was a very dramatic game. Douglas started off in the circle and pitched 5 solid innings before giving way to Georgia Bloom. Douglas limited the Wildcats to one run, but the pressure was on all game as the HotShots couldn't break open the game. The HotShots got two runs in the third inning as the Bloom girls each got a hit with one out. Ayers walked to load the bases and then Georgia scored on a wild pitch. Next up was Brittany Hillman who smoked a double to score Britannia on a very close play at the plate. Only a well executed slide-by allowed her to avoid the tag at the plate. The HotShots weren't able to get any more runs across in the game, but ultimately it proved to be enough. The highlight of the tournament was a game saving play at the plate in the 6th inning. With a Windsor runner on second and two outs, the Windsor batter rolled a hit through the right side just past the outstretched glove of Alia Ismail. The ball was fielded by Claire Robertson in rightfield and she came up firing home. The ball took two hops and into the glove of Carli Kachel who blocked the plate just like Steve Yeager used to back in the day. Carli caught the ball, applied the tag and the umpire called the Windsor runner out to crush the spirit of the Wildcats. It was a fabulous play that earned both Carli and Claire a blue ball for an outstanding defensive play. There were great plays all weekend on the defense as the HotShots turned numerous double plays highlighted by an around the horn one from Ayres to Bloom to Zoe Price. The championship game fittingly ended on a double play where Britannia caught a line drive at first and stepped on the base to double off the runner. Congrats to the HotShots on a great weekend.

The HotShots gave the big trophy as the tournament MVP to Haley Douglas. Douglas has been the model of consistency all year long and was rewarded for her efforts with the award. The offense was paced by Hillman and Allie Price who hit .500 for the tournament and Britannia Bloom who hit .450 with 2 triples. Ismail continued her torrid summer by hitting .400 and smacking 2 HR's.

The HotShots play in Pleasanton this weekend. First game will be Friday night at 6:30pm vs the Livermore Smoke @ the Upper Bernal Field #2. They will also play 3 more games on Saturday at times TBA. They look forward to playing a competitive tournament in the host league's tournament that all of the girls grew up playing in.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Hot Shots Have A Ball Winning Championship in Santa Rosa A Ball Tournament

The Pleasanton Hotshots 16U softball team brought home their second consecutive Gold Medal by defeating the Redwood Empire Rugrats in the championship game 6-0. The championship run on Sunday was highlighted by victories over two perennial powerhouses, West Bay Nuggets 2-0 in the semifinals and the victory over the Rugrats. The Hot Shots also defeated the Petaluma Steel Breeze to open things up on Sunday. Strong pitching led the way on Sunday with Haley Douglas throwing a complete game against the Rugrats and Georgia Bloom also throwing a shutout against the Nuggets.

The semifinal game was a real thriller as every pitch seemed to matter in a closely fought game. The Hot Shots opened up the scoring with a two out rally in the second. Allie Straub and Allie Price got singles and then Zoe Price had a clutch RBI single to get the Hot Shots on the board. The game continued to be nip and tuck all the way until the Hot Shots got their second run in the sixth inning. Carli Kachel got a one out single. Haley Douglas then pinch ran for Kachel and got to second base as a ball got loose on the infield after a fly out to the outfield. With two outs, Alex Herman stepped up and got an RBI to notch the big insurance run for the Hot Shots. These two runs proved to be enough for Georgia Bloom as she tossed a one hitter for the victory.

The final game against the Rugrats was not as close as the semi-finals because the Hot Shot bats woke up for the first time all weekend. The Hot Shots avenged their only loss of the weekend. In pool play on Saturday, the Rugrats defeated the Hot Shots 2-0. The early blast came off the bat of Georgia Bloom who crushed a triple to right center in the second inning with two outs to knock in Carli Kachel and Allie Straub. Bloom also knocked in the sixth and final run in the seventh inning. The Hot Shots sealed the victory in the third inning with a three run rally led by a two RBI single from Alex Herman (Lauren Ayres and Kachel scoring) and an RBI (Straub scoring) by Zoe Price. All of these runs came with two outs as well. Haley Douglas was in control in the circle all game against the Rugrats. She only allowed two hits en route to her second shutout of the weekend. Douglas didn't allow any runs all weekend in 2.5 games that she pitched.

Some highlights from the weekend: Claire Robertson was 6/7 at the plate on Saturday. Allie Straub took home the MVP award for the Hot Shots. She played flawless defense at second base all weekend and sparked a number of rallies. Straub hit .588 in going 10/17 at Maria Carrillo HS which hosted the tournament. The Hot Shots played great defense all weekend. Blue Softballs were handed out for spectacular plays to Lauren Ayres and two were earned by Brittany Hillman at shortstop.

The Hot Shots will enjoy the 4th of July break and then resume action at Incline Village (Lake Tahoe) on July 7th.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Hot Shots take home the Gold Medal in Napa Tournament


The Pleasanton Hot Shots 16U Girls Softball team went 6-0 to take the championship trophy at the Napa Softball Tournament this past weekend. In the final against the Windsor Wildcats pitchers Georgia Bloom and Hayley Douglas combined to lead Pleasanton to the 2-1 win. With the game tied 1-1 in the 6th inning, the Wildcats had the bases loaded with 2 outs when Alex Herman made a running catch in center field to squelch the Wildcats. Allie Price took that momentum into the top of the 7th to lead off with a double that she stretched to a triple on a throwing error by the Wildcats. Price scored on a sliding play at the plate after a sacrifice fly to left field by Alia Ismail.

The Hot Shots outscored their opponents 25-6 throughout the weekend. Georgia Bloom was stellar on the mound and at the plate as she broke open a 1-0 lead with a bases loaded triple in Saturday’s pool play. Sister, Brittania Bloom, led all hitters going 8 for 14 with 4 runs scored for the weekend and Brittany Hillman had a great tournament going 9 for 16 and played her normal flawless defense at shortstop. Alia Ismail also recorded a triple to eventually score the only run in a 1-0 win in the semifinal game vs. the Magic. Allie Straub was stellar all weekend on defense in right field, throwing out the potential tying run at first and then securing the final out on a fly in the championship game. Haley Douglas pitched two no hitters in the tournament to complement an all around team effort. Carli Kachel was voted the tournament MVP. She had 6 hits over the course of the weekend and did not allow one stolen base in six games. Congratulations Hot Shots!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Private Lessons with Julie Marshall are available

Contact Ken if you would like to arrange for a lesson with Julie prior to any of our Tuesday or Thursday practices. Julie will come out to Amador each practice day from 5-6pm to work with our girls. Lessons will be $30/20 mins.

See Julie's Bio from UCLA below