The softball season is coming to an end for the 2009 season...
Please join with us and celebrate good sportsmanship and fond memories with your daughters.
Closing Ceremonies will be held at the Washington Ball Fields, 6 PM
We will see you there...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
This week's Games
Monday NO GAMES Holiday
Tuesday
Juniors Vs Dixie 2 not reported
Diamonds w vs Dixie 1 l by forfeit
Red Sox l vs Dixie 2 w
Wednesday
No Games
Thursday
red Sox vs dixie 2 6pm cancelled-dixie fields
fire balls vs yankees Washington fields 6:00 PM
Friday
Washington 1 vs Washington 2
Tuesday
Juniors Vs Dixie 2 not reported
Diamonds w vs Dixie 1 l by forfeit
Red Sox l vs Dixie 2 w
Wednesday
No Games
Thursday
red Sox vs dixie 2 6pm cancelled-dixie fields
fire balls vs yankees Washington fields 6:00 PM
Friday
Washington 1 vs Washington 2
Schedule for May 18th
wash 2 vs dixie 3 not reported
wash 3 vs wash 1 not reported
May 19
Fireballs vs dixie 1 not reported
d3 vs yankees not reported
Diamonds vs Hur2 not reported
red sox vs Hur 1 not reported
Juniors win Hurricane loss
May 21
Diamonds vs Fireballs cancelled
red sox vs yankees not reported
Jrs vs Dixie 2 canceled
May 22nd
w2 vs d2 not reported
w3 vs d1 not reported
w1 vs d3 not reported
wash 2 vs dixie 3 not reported
wash 3 vs wash 1 not reported
May 19
Fireballs vs dixie 1 not reported
d3 vs yankees not reported
Diamonds vs Hur2 not reported
red sox vs Hur 1 not reported
Juniors win Hurricane loss
May 21
Diamonds vs Fireballs cancelled
red sox vs yankees not reported
Jrs vs Dixie 2 canceled
May 22nd
w2 vs d2 not reported
w3 vs d1 not reported
w1 vs d3 not reported
Schedule for week of May 11
Minors:
Dixie 1 vs washington 1 not reported
Dixie 2 washington 3 not reported
Dixie 4 Washington 2 not reported
May 12 Red Sox vs Dixie 1 not reported
May 13th
Washington loss Dixie 2 win
May 14
Dixie 3 vs Yankees not reported
Diamonds win Red Sox lose
Lincoln win Washington Jr Loss
May 15
washington 2 vs washington 3 not reported
Dixie 1 vs washington 1 not reported
Dixie 2 washington 3 not reported
Dixie 4 Washington 2 not reported
May 12 Red Sox vs Dixie 1 not reported
May 13th
Washington loss Dixie 2 win
May 14
Dixie 3 vs Yankees not reported
Diamonds win Red Sox lose
Lincoln win Washington Jr Loss
May 15
washington 2 vs washington 3 not reported
Friday, May 8, 2009
SBACK SHACK DUTIES
THE SNACK SHACK IS HOW WE PAY OUR UMPIRES, LEAGUE COSTS AND HELP PARENTS HAVE A MORE REASONABLE FEE TO PLAY TO SIGN UP FOR LITTLE LEAGUE. IF THERE WAS NO SNACK SHACK, NOT ONLY WOULD WE HAVE NO SNACKS, DRINKS AND MEALS AT THE FIELDS, BUT WE WOULD EACH PAY ALOT MORE FOR EACH OF OUR KIDS TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY.
SHELLY MAKKEN NEEDS OUR HELP...NEEDS US ON TIME WITH A GOOD ATTITUDE AND NO EXCUSES....HERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THE GIRLS TO BEAT THE BOYS...LETS SHOW UP, WORK HARD AND NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR CHANCE TO SAVE OURSELVES A LOT OF MONEY :)
MINORS STORM MAY 11TH 5 PM
MINORS ANGELS MAY 11TH 7 PM
JUNIOR GIRLS MAY 13TH 5PM
MAJORS RED SOX MAY 14 5 PM
MAJORS YANKEES MAY 14 7 PM
SHELLY MAKKEN NEEDS OUR HELP...NEEDS US ON TIME WITH A GOOD ATTITUDE AND NO EXCUSES....HERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THE GIRLS TO BEAT THE BOYS...LETS SHOW UP, WORK HARD AND NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR CHANCE TO SAVE OURSELVES A LOT OF MONEY :)
MINORS STORM MAY 11TH 5 PM
MINORS ANGELS MAY 11TH 7 PM
JUNIOR GIRLS MAY 13TH 5PM
MAJORS RED SOX MAY 14 5 PM
MAJORS YANKEES MAY 14 7 PM
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Oops...schedule for the week...a day late
Tuesday
Majors
Red Socks win vs Hurricane loss
Silver Storm win vs Yankees loss
Juniors
Dixie 2 loss vs Washington win
Wednesday
Make Up game Minors
Wahington 1 loss vs washington 2 win
Thursday Schedule
Majors
Yankees vs Hurricane not reported
Fireballs Win vs Red Socks Loss
Juniors
Thurs May 7 Lincoln Co. win Wahington Loss
Friday
Dixie 3 vs Washington 3 on Dixie Field 3 not reported
Dixie 2 vs Washington 2 on Dixie Field 3 not reported
Majors
Red Socks win vs Hurricane loss
Silver Storm win vs Yankees loss
Juniors
Dixie 2 loss vs Washington win
Wednesday
Make Up game Minors
Wahington 1 loss vs washington 2 win
Thursday Schedule
Majors
Yankees vs Hurricane not reported
Fireballs Win vs Red Socks Loss
Juniors
Thurs May 7 Lincoln Co. win Wahington Loss
Friday
Dixie 3 vs Washington 3 on Dixie Field 3 not reported
Dixie 2 vs Washington 2 on Dixie Field 3 not reported
Sunday, May 3, 2009
What this Game is supposed to be about
Hey parents and players...
As we are getting started in our season I wanted to remind everyone what we are striving for out there on the field. Sure it is fun to win...but that, I hope, is not our ultimate goal. It is my hope that our ultimate goal is to see everyone grow and succeed. That we make new friends and learn lessons about sportsmanship, how to handle something when it isnt fair, mistakes happen, those we are competing with are still people we like and care about...Work hard, practice makes perfect...all that stuff...SO MUCH MORE valuable than that 5 dollar trophy at the end of the season...and has so much more influence in our lives.
I want to challenge WASHINGTON LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL players, parents, coaches and fans to strive to have the best sportsmanship in the area... I know we can do it here in Washington, we are made up of great familes...so lets do it!!! Let's welcome our opponents, accept the umpires calls with grace, and celebrate the game...win lose or draw.
Here is one of my favorite softball stories of all...This happened on the collegiate level...THIS is what we want our youngsters to be in life...This would be the real trophy to take with you, long after the plastic batter is stored away in a box.
Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school's career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human spirit far more than individual athletic achievement.
Stephen Katin/WOUSara Tucholsky got a lift from the opposition in scoring her first homer.
Both schools compete as Division II softball programs in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Neither has ever reached the NCAA tournament at the Division II level. But when they arrived for Saturday's conference doubleheader at Central Washington's 300-seat stadium in Ellensburg, a small town 100 miles and a mountain range removed from Seattle, the hosts resided one game behind the visitors at the top of the conference standings. As was the case at dozens of other diamonds across the map, two largely anonymous groups prepared to play the most meaningful games of their seasons.
It was a typical Saturday of softball in April, right down to a few overzealous fans heckling an easy target, the diminutive Tucholsky, when she came to the plate in the top of the second inning of the second game with two runners on base and the game still scoreless after Western Oregon's 8-1 win in the first game of the afternoon.
"I just remember trying to block them out," Tucholsky said of the hecklers. "The first pitch I took, it was a strike. And then I really don't remember where the home run pitch was at all; [I] just remember hitting it, and I knew it was out."
A part-time starter in the outfield throughout her four years, Tucholsky had been caught in a numbers game this season on a deep roster that entered the weekend hitting better than .280 and having won nine games in a row. Prior to the pitch she sent over the center-field fence, she had just three hits in 34 at-bats this season. And in that respect, her hitting heroics would have made for a pleasing, if familiar, story line on their own: an unsung player steps up in one of her final games and lifts her team's postseason chances.
But it was what happened after an overly excited Tucholsky missed first base on her home run trot and reversed direction to tag the bag that proved unforgettable.
"Sara is small -- she's like 5-2, really tiny," Western Oregon coach Pam Knox said. "So you would never think that she would hit a home run. The score was 0-0, and Sara hit a shot over center field. And I'm coaching third and I'm high-fiving the other two runners that came by -- then all of a sudden, I look up, and I'm like, 'Where's Sara?' And I look over, and she's in a heap beyond first base."
While she was doubling back to tag first base, Tucholsky's right knee gave out. The two runners who had been on base already had crossed home plate, leaving her the only offensive player on the field of play, even as she lay crumpled in the dirt a few feet from first base and a long way from home plate. First-base coach Shannon Prochaska -- Tucholsky's teammate for three seasons and the only voice she later remembered hearing in the ensuing conversation -- checked to see whether she could crawl back to the base under her own power.
Rule clarification
As one of the umpires involved in the game between Central Washington and Western Oregon confirmed in an e-mail to ESPN.com, the rule in question was misinterpreted on the field after Tucholsky's injury and later clarified by the NCAA.
According to page 105, rule 8.5.3.2 of the NCAA softball rule book, "If an injury to a batter-runner or runner prevents her from proceeding to an awarded base, the ball is dead and the substitution can be made. The substitute must legally touch all awarded or missed bases not previously touched."
-- Graham Hays
As Knox explained, "It went through my mind, I thought, 'If I touch her, she's going to kill me.' It's her only home run in four years. I didn't want to take that from her, but at the same time, I was worried about her."
Umpires confirmed that the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an active runner would result in an out. So without any choice, Knox prepared to make the substitution, taking both the run and the memory from Tucholsky.
"And right then," Knox said, "I heard, 'Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?'"
The voice belonged to Holtman, a four-year starter who owns just about every major offensive record there is to claim in Central Washington's record book. She also is staring down a pair of knee surgeries as soon as the season ends. Her knees ache after every game, but having already used a redshirt season earlier in her career, and ready to move on to graduate school and coaching at Central, she put the operations on hold so as to avoid missing any of her final season. Now, with her own opportunity for a first postseason appearance very much hinging on the outcome of the game -- her final game at home -- she stepped up to help a player she knew only as an opponent for four years.
"Honestly, it's one of those things that I hope anyone would do it for me," Holtman said. "She hit the ball over her fence. She's a senior; it's her last year. … I don't know, it's just one of those things I guess that maybe because compared to everyone on the field at the time, I had been playing longer and knew we could touch her, it was my idea first. But I think anyone who knew that we could touch her would have offered to do it, just because it's the right thing to do. She was obviously in agony."
Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky's left foot could secure her passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game's history hit all three players.
"We all started to laugh at one point, I think when we touched the first base," Holtman said. "I don't know what it looked like to observers, but it was kind of funny because Liz and I were carrying her on both sides and we'd get to a base and gently, barely tap her left foot, and we'd all of a sudden start to get the giggles a little bit."
Accompanied by a standing ovation from the fans, they finally reached home plate and passed the home run hitter into the arms of her own teammates.
Then Holtman and Wallace returned to their positions and tried to win the game.
Blake Wolf Sara Tucholsky got a lift from Central Washington's Liz Wallace, left, and Mallory Holtman.
Hollywood would have a difficult time deciding how such a script should end, whether to leave Tucholsky's home run as the decisive blow or reward the selfless actions of her opponents. Reality has less room for such philosophical quandaries. Central Washington did rally for two runs in the bottom of the second -- runs that might have tied the game had Knox been forced to replace Tucholsky -- but Western Oregon held on for a 4-2 win.
But unlike a movie, the credits didn't roll after the final out, and the story that continues has little to do with those final scores.
"It kept everything in perspective and the fact that we're never bigger than the game," Knox said of the experience. "It was such a lesson that we learned -- that it's not all about winning. And we forget that, because as coaches, we're always trying to get to the top. We forget that. But I will never, ever forget this moment. It's changed me, and I'm sure it's changed my players."
For her part, Holtman seems not altogether sure what all the fuss is about. She seems to genuinely believe that any player in her position on any field on any day would have done the same thing. Which helps explains why it did happen on that day and on that field.
And she appreciates the knowledge that while the results of Saturday's game and her senior season soon will fade into the dust and depth of old media guides and Internet archives, the story of what happened in her final game at home will live on far longer.
"I think that happening on Senior Day, it showed the character of our team," Holtman said. "Because granted I thought of it, but everyone else would have done it. It's something people will talk about for Senior Day. They won't talk about who got hits and what happened and who won; they'll talk about that. And it's kind of a nice way to go out, because it shows what our program is about and the kind of people we have here."
Stephen Katin/WOUSara Tucholsky got a lift from the opposition in scoring her first homer.
Both schools compete as Division II softball programs in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Neither has ever reached the NCAA tournament at the Division II level. But when they arrived for Saturday's conference doubleheader at Central Washington's 300-seat stadium in Ellensburg, a small town 100 miles and a mountain range removed from Seattle, the hosts resided one game behind the visitors at the top of the conference standings. As was the case at dozens of other diamonds across the map, two largely anonymous groups prepared to play the most meaningful games of their seasons.
It was a typical Saturday of softball in April, right down to a few overzealous fans heckling an easy target, the diminutive Tucholsky, when she came to the plate in the top of the second inning of the second game with two runners on base and the game still scoreless after Western Oregon's 8-1 win in the first game of the afternoon.
"I just remember trying to block them out," Tucholsky said of the hecklers. "The first pitch I took, it was a strike. And then I really don't remember where the home run pitch was at all; [I] just remember hitting it, and I knew it was out."
A part-time starter in the outfield throughout her four years, Tucholsky had been caught in a numbers game this season on a deep roster that entered the weekend hitting better than .280 and having won nine games in a row. Prior to the pitch she sent over the center-field fence, she had just three hits in 34 at-bats this season. And in that respect, her hitting heroics would have made for a pleasing, if familiar, story line on their own: an unsung player steps up in one of her final games and lifts her team's postseason chances.
But it was what happened after an overly excited Tucholsky missed first base on her home run trot and reversed direction to tag the bag that proved unforgettable.
"Sara is small -- she's like 5-2, really tiny," Western Oregon coach Pam Knox said. "So you would never think that she would hit a home run. The score was 0-0, and Sara hit a shot over center field. And I'm coaching third and I'm high-fiving the other two runners that came by -- then all of a sudden, I look up, and I'm like, 'Where's Sara?' And I look over, and she's in a heap beyond first base."
While she was doubling back to tag first base, Tucholsky's right knee gave out. The two runners who had been on base already had crossed home plate, leaving her the only offensive player on the field of play, even as she lay crumpled in the dirt a few feet from first base and a long way from home plate. First-base coach Shannon Prochaska -- Tucholsky's teammate for three seasons and the only voice she later remembered hearing in the ensuing conversation -- checked to see whether she could crawl back to the base under her own power.
Rule clarification
As one of the umpires involved in the game between Central Washington and Western Oregon confirmed in an e-mail to ESPN.com, the rule in question was misinterpreted on the field after Tucholsky's injury and later clarified by the NCAA.
According to page 105, rule 8.5.3.2 of the NCAA softball rule book, "If an injury to a batter-runner or runner prevents her from proceeding to an awarded base, the ball is dead and the substitution can be made. The substitute must legally touch all awarded or missed bases not previously touched."
-- Graham Hays
As Knox explained, "It went through my mind, I thought, 'If I touch her, she's going to kill me.' It's her only home run in four years. I didn't want to take that from her, but at the same time, I was worried about her."
Umpires confirmed that the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an active runner would result in an out. So without any choice, Knox prepared to make the substitution, taking both the run and the memory from Tucholsky.
"And right then," Knox said, "I heard, 'Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?'"
The voice belonged to Holtman, a four-year starter who owns just about every major offensive record there is to claim in Central Washington's record book. She also is staring down a pair of knee surgeries as soon as the season ends. Her knees ache after every game, but having already used a redshirt season earlier in her career, and ready to move on to graduate school and coaching at Central, she put the operations on hold so as to avoid missing any of her final season. Now, with her own opportunity for a first postseason appearance very much hinging on the outcome of the game -- her final game at home -- she stepped up to help a player she knew only as an opponent for four years.
"Honestly, it's one of those things that I hope anyone would do it for me," Holtman said. "She hit the ball over her fence. She's a senior; it's her last year. … I don't know, it's just one of those things I guess that maybe because compared to everyone on the field at the time, I had been playing longer and knew we could touch her, it was my idea first. But I think anyone who knew that we could touch her would have offered to do it, just because it's the right thing to do. She was obviously in agony."
Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky's left foot could secure her passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game's history hit all three players.
"We all started to laugh at one point, I think when we touched the first base," Holtman said. "I don't know what it looked like to observers, but it was kind of funny because Liz and I were carrying her on both sides and we'd get to a base and gently, barely tap her left foot, and we'd all of a sudden start to get the giggles a little bit."
Accompanied by a standing ovation from the fans, they finally reached home plate and passed the home run hitter into the arms of her own teammates.
Then Holtman and Wallace returned to their positions and tried to win the game.
Blake Wolf Sara Tucholsky got a lift from Central Washington's Liz Wallace, left, and Mallory Holtman.
Hollywood would have a difficult time deciding how such a script should end, whether to leave Tucholsky's home run as the decisive blow or reward the selfless actions of her opponents. Reality has less room for such philosophical quandaries. Central Washington did rally for two runs in the bottom of the second -- runs that might have tied the game had Knox been forced to replace Tucholsky -- but Western Oregon held on for a 4-2 win.
But unlike a movie, the credits didn't roll after the final out, and the story that continues has little to do with those final scores.
"It kept everything in perspective and the fact that we're never bigger than the game," Knox said of the experience. "It was such a lesson that we learned -- that it's not all about winning. And we forget that, because as coaches, we're always trying to get to the top. We forget that. But I will never, ever forget this moment. It's changed me, and I'm sure it's changed my players."
For her part, Holtman seems not altogether sure what all the fuss is about. She seems to genuinely believe that any player in her position on any field on any day would have done the same thing. Which helps explains why it did happen on that day and on that field.
And she appreciates the knowledge that while the results of Saturday's game and her senior season soon will fade into the dust and depth of old media guides and Internet archives, the story of what happened in her final game at home will live on far longer.
"I think that happening on Senior Day, it showed the character of our team," Holtman said. "Because granted I thought of it, but everyone else would have done it. It's something people will talk about for Senior Day. They won't talk about who got hits and what happened and who won; they'll talk about that. And it's kind of a nice way to go out, because it shows what our program is about and the kind of people we have here."
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