Magic 8U Teal Weekly Highlights Summer 2011

Magic 8U Teal Team

Branham Hills Zebra Classic - June 24th and 25th

The fun-loving Magic 8U Teal played a finals game against their Magic 8U Silver sister team on Saturday afternoon in the Zebra Classic at Branham Hills.  The teams, pictured below, had a wonderful event meeting each other for the first time all season in the finals of the Silver Division.

The Teal were managed by Scott Einhorn for this event, and Scott noted how well all the teams played this weekend, especially memorable was the caliber of defense exhibited throughout the event.  In all 3 games of pool play, the Magic witnessed some of the best defensive plays made by 8U kids all year.  Unfortunately, those plays robbed Magic batters of numerous base hits!  

The Magic Teal did not hang their heads after an early setback; instead they came out on fire in elimination bracket play.  Annie Dunn started her team off with a sharp single and the girls never looked back. Scoring 9 runs in 2 innings against Sunnyvale and 8 more in only 2 innings against the host Branham Hills team, the Magic Teal played aggressive softball.  Pitching continued to be very solid with sharp performances by Mary Hibbitts, Amanda Dal Cielo, Maya Kurani and Kristina Constantine.  The Teal were having a blast, and their swagger was back!  The highlight at the plate was Amanda's 14-pitch at bat, continually fouling off both player and then coach pitches before rocking a sharp single through the legs of Coach Scott, through the pitcher's circle into center field.  Amanda lead the Teal offense supported by many of her teammates who were swinging well and seeing great results throughout this tournament.

Both Magic 8U teams were playing well, setting up an all-Magic final in the Silver Division.  The teal moved to an early 1-0 lead in the first with "Hobo" Dunn and Lainey Engles both hitting line drive base hits. Silver fought back in the 2nd and took a 2-1 lead, highlighted by a booming double by Mira Sharma. In the third, Karly Ice-Crespo started a rally with her solid single to center.  After huge hits by Rosie Gomez and Dunn, the Teal moved ahead 3-2.  Silver pitcher, Mira Sharma pitched well, facing numerous tight jams but never giving in and holding the score at 3-2.  She pitched out of bases loaded situation preventing Teal from tacking on to the lead.  

The 4th and final inning provided the key moment of the game as the Teal defense shined. Maya Kurani fielded a smash by Jesse Halladay of the Silver, throwing from deep shortstop to record an out on a bang-bang play. Amanda Dal Cielo made an awesome stretch, digging the ball out of the dirt and maintaining contact with the bag. With two outs, Silver hit a single down the left field line.  At that point Kristina Constantine fielded the ball and threw a strike to Lainey Engles who turned and ran the runner back to first.  Seeing that she couldn't reach the runner for a tag play, she flipped he ball perfectly to Amanda for the games final out. The Magic fans on both sides of the field erupted. All the players received a warm ovation for a fantastic game by both teams!

Burlingame Billie Sue Jamboree - June 18th and 19th

The Magic 8U Teal arrived in Burlingame ready to play ball Saturday morning.  It was a chamber of commerce weekend on the peninsula.  Blue skies, mid-eighties and an occasional breeze required constant hydration for players, coaches and families.  Synthetic playing surfaces made the mid-80's temps feel like mid-90's.  Although this was a jamboree format, it certainly wasn't coasting time for the Teal.  In the first inning of game one against the Millbrae Mischief, the first five batters for the Teal all got base hits off of the player pitcher.  Before the first inning was over the Teal had scored the maximum four runs on six hits with only one out.  This was the first Teal inning this summer season that Coach Dave did not have to pitch to any of his Teal players.  The girls wanted to hit off of the player pitchers and chose some great pitches to get the job done. Teal pitching was great as well.  Annie had two strikeouts, Morgan three and Kristina two.  Final score: Teal 6, Mischief 0.

After a fantastic lunch spread provided by the Chiala and Loos families, Teal was back in action for the second and final game of Saturday.  The Teal had a long layoff between the two games and the coaches were worried that the girls would be pooped come game time at 2:45 vs. the Burlingame Flames Red.  Not so much.  Teal won the coin toss and chose Visitors in this 55-minute game format.  The first inning brought seven hits including two doubles by Amanda and Mary, resulting in a four-run first.  Teal answered defensively in inning 1, shutting down the Flames with three strikeouts by Amanda.  Final score: Teal 4, Flames 1.

Sunday morning brought the tough San Carlos Force Grey to the Magic Teal.  Down 1-0 and facing their ace in the first inning, the Teal went down in order but answered back in the second inning with three runs on six hits.  Force scored once more in the third but the Teal was able to hold them off with a 3-2 victory. 

The Belmont Jr. Explosion was the middle game opponent on Sunday.  Belmont won the coin toss and chose home team.  The Teal took advantage of first ups by scoring six runs (only four counted) on seven hits, including a double by Annie and a triple by Kristina.  Teal, with Gianna on the mound, put the Explosion down in order with a 1-3 play and two strikeouts.  Teal wasn't done scoring runs and came back with four more runs in the second on eight hits, including a triple by Haley.  Final score: Teal 8, Explosion 0.

Teal faced some tough pitching and good defense in game five vs. MVLA Nova Red.  Karly "Animal" Ice-Crespo made a fantastic, very heads-up, popup out from the catcher position but the Teal just couldn't get anything started in this one.  The Nova started off the game with home run followed by another later in the inning.  This team of 12 all-stars was just too much for the Teal on Sunday afternoon.  Final score: Teal 0, Nova 7. 

The score book tells a 4-1 weekend for the Magic Teal.  What the score book doesn't tell is that these girls are showing great improvement each and every time they take the field.   Taking leads on each pitch, hustling down the base paths, selecting good pitches to swing at, backing up plays, watching the base coaches, infield down and creeping, and fully supporting each other.  The score book also doesn't tell of the great group of parents and family members that we have in the Magic Program... parents who bring art projects to keep the girls out of the hot sun, older sisters braiding the girls' hair, father's day card and seeds for the dads, smoked salmon and caviar on crostini with creme fraische and dill for appetizers (wow!), pulled pork sliders, grilled chicken and carnitas tacos, and much, much more.   Without you none of this would happen.  Thanks for making these weekends so fun, enjoyable and memorable.

More photos from Burlingame...

Redwood City Summer Slam Tournament - June 11th and 12th

The Magic 8U Team played in the Redwood City Summer Slam and enjoyed another terrific weekend in this jamboree format event.

San Carlos Tournament - Memorial Day Weekend

The Magic 8U Teal team played its first tournament in the very competitive Jan MacPherson San Carlos event over Memorial Day weekend.  The field was extremely large, yet the Magic 8U Teal players rose to the occasion and played fantastic softball!  

Of 18 teams in the 8U division the Magic 8U Teal roster made it to the elite 8 with a 3-1 record before ultimately dropping a tight pitcher's duel by the final score of 1-0 against the host San Carlos Gray squad on Monday morning.  

San Carlos won their next two games to take first place in the event. 

Coach Dave Burt was really pleased to see all the Magic girls enjoying themselves on and off the field.  The pictures from the weekend tell a great story about this group of kids, players who are not only improving their skills but also understanding the importance of “team” and becoming good friends.  The kids supported each other and enjoyed their first opportunity to play in a tournament together this season.

See below several additional images of the Magic team in action at San Carlos.