Magic 12C Teal Weekly Highlights 2011

Magic 12C Teal

Wess Jones Tournament - July 16th and 17th

The 12C Magic Teal hoped to follow up their Lake Tahoe championship with a similar result at the Wess Jones Tournament put on July 16 and 17 by the San Jose Quicksilver. They were short a couple of key contributors -- Macie Manion and Mary Jones-- but this presented opportunities for other girls to step up.  In  a very strong field, they navigated their way to a 3-0 first day by defeating Branham Hills 7-2, Almaden Lightening 5-2 and the San Carlos Force 10-3.  This put the Teal in a 1 seed slot for Sunday's action.  With the quarterfinal and semifinal games in the balance until the last out, the Teal prevailed first over the Campbell Crush 5-4 and again defeated the Almaden Lightening 4-3.  In the championship, they ran up against the Palo Alto Heat, a team they had defeated before in a last inning rally. After taking an early 1-0 lead,  the Teal ran into some fielding problems committing several critical errors which put them behind 6-1 after 3 innings. Shea Gavin refocused and didn't allow another base runner past 2nd base the remainder of the game.  A two out rally in the 6th cut the lead to 6-4, with the tying run on second but the Teal could not get the one last hit needed to tie the game and went 1, 2, 3 in the 7th, losing to the Heat 6-4.

Highlights for the weekend included Rachel Davey pitching to a 3-0 record and providing several key hits to start rallies; Shelby Copper (who caught all but two innings for the weekend), Shea Gavin, Korie Seandel, and Jocie Potmesil all having 6 hits or more over the weekend, 7 of which were extra base hits; Yianna Spriakis and Maddie Kleis with outstanding outfieldplay, making several game changing catches and put-outs at critical times.  Major contributions at bat and in the field from Nathasha Ramakrishnan, Nicole Dal Cielo, Sarah Storton, Thea Kouleras and Katie Kleis were critical all weekend in the many close games played by the Teal.

The 12C Teal moved their overall record to 27 - 7, with 4 trips to tournament finals and 1 overall championship.  They will conclude their summer season in Cloverdale the weekend of July 30 and 31.

Incline Village Lake Tahoe - July 9th and 10th

Tournament Champions - Magic 12C Teal, Pictured Above...

The Magic Teal went into the Incline Village Lake Tahoe tournament weekend with fair reason for concern.  After all the Saturday pool play matchups against Belmont, the Reno area champ (Reno All-Stars), and Foster City seemed daunting.  The Magic had played the Belmont team before and lost although several players were unavailable that day.  And both Foster City and Belmont had been bumped to the 12B Division for the NorCal Championships so none of the games would be easy.  Yet the Magic stepped up and played well meeting each challenge head on.  A tremendous effort with contributions from every member of the team created a memorable result for all the players.

The day began with the Magic defeating Belmont, 5-1.  Shea Gavin threw for the Magic and pitched a gem.  In the next game against Reno, the Magic started slowly, trailing 2-1 after the 2nd inning.  But the team generated a big rally and scored 4 runs in the 3rd and 2 more runs in the 4th, winning by a final of 10-3.  Rachel Davey pitched all six innings to earn the win.  In Saturday's final game the 12C Teal beat Foster City, a squad that had easily handled its previous two opponents including a 20-3 final.  The Magic would not be intimidated and once again Shea Gavin was excellent pitching for the Magic.   Scoring quickly the Magic's top 4 batters each reached and scored (Macie Manion, Korie Seandel, Shelby Copper and Shea Gavin).  The Magic never looked back and finished a terrific pool play round ready to battle on Sunday for the crown.

Sunday morning elimination play began with the Magic blanking the Sparks 12-0, leading to a rematch with Belmont.  Belmont saved their #1 pitcher, a player that had defeated the Magic earlier in summer season play.  Shea Gavin started for her team and battled through a challenging first inning in which the Xplosion got three hits.  But wonderful outfield play enabled the Magic to avoid a big inning.  Sarah Storton threw a strike to home plate for one out  (as a result of Macie Manion blocking the dish), and Rachel Davey followed later with a relay from center fielder Mary Jones to get a second out at the plate.  The game then devolved into a pitchers duel until DP Jocie Potmesil had a huge hit on a 3-2 count with 2 outs that knocked home Korie Seandel and Nicole DalCielo.  The Xplosion countered by scratching out two runs in the 3rd and 4th inning to tie the game, but CF Mary Jones had a fantastic running catch to prevent further damage.  Shea Gavin helped her own cause with a long single and two RBIs in the 5th inning to score Korie Seandel and Shelby Copper.  Those runs proved to be the winning margin for the Magic.

In the championship the Magic faced the Burlingame Flames. In a tightly contested game that went scoreless until the 4th innning, both teams played nearly flawless defense with some unbelievable plays.  Eventually Magic first baseman, Shelby Copper, hit a bomb that nobody could catch for a leadoff triple.  Shea Gavin followed with a long sacrifice fly to put the Magic ahead.  In the 6th inning the Magic added three insurance runs after Macie Manion and Korie Seandel opened with hits and Shea Gavin walked.  With two outs Jocie Potmesil again came to the rescue with a single and the Magic scored again, winning by a final of 4-0.  Defense and clutch hitting played major roles in the Magic success all weekend, highlighted by plays from Natasha Ramakrishnan and several pinch hits by Maddie Kleis.  Kudos as well to Thea Koulouras and Katie Kleis for an outstanding weekend of softball.  The tournament victory was particularly sweet for the Magic since they had been to two previous championship finals, each time falling just short with 1 run losses.  The team is now 22-6 with two tournaments remaining.

Livermore Tournament - Memorial Day Weekend

The Magic 12C Teal, pictured above, played terrific softball in Livermore over the Memorial Day Weekend.  The team finished first in pool play, and continued winning on Sunday ultimately just missing out on the championship in the finals.  The girls are off to a tremendous start in the summer travel season.

Congratulations to all the players and coaches on a great beginning in Livermore.  

Pictured below are a few of the lighter moments...