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VIRGINIA CRUSHERS 12U RED HEADED TO
CHATANOOGA, TN
The Virginia Crushers 12U Red Girls Fastpitch Softball Team is headed to the NSA World Series in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. After a successful fall 2008 campaign in which they won two
tournaments and finished third in another, the 12U Red Crushers continued their winning ways in
2009.
The Crushers participated in 7 tournaments in 2009 and finished no worse than third in any of
them. They began the spring season by taking first place at the Fauquier Freeze Slamfest (6-0),
followed by a first place finish at the SYA Kaboom (7-0) tournament. They followed that up with
three consecutive 2nd place finishes at the ACC Challenge (4-1), NSA Stars and Stripes (4-2) and
the
Vienna Invitational (3-0) respectively. The Crushers then headed to the NSA State tournament in
Sterling, Va. They narrowly missed taking the state crown and finished 3rd overall out of 36
teams. They performed brilliantly going 5-2 but were unable to overcome the eventual State
Champion Yorktown Revolution.
After a brief break, the Crushers took 1st place at the USSSA Blue-Grey Shootout (5-1) in
Hanover, MD. The crushers have amassed an impressive 50 wins and only 7 losses, competed in
10 tournaments taking 5 1st place trophies, 3 2nd place trophies and 2 3rd place finishes over the
fall and spring seasons and hope to continue their great play and success at the NSA World
Series in Chattanooga, Tennessee July 20-26.
The Crushers would like to thank all of their parents, family and friends and sponsors, especially
Manassas Shell for their support of the 2008-2009 seasons.
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VA Crushers 18U Place 2nd at USSSA State Tournament
The 18U Virginia Crushers finished second out of 11 teams at the USSSA States held 11-12 July in Sterling. The Crushers suffered two one run
losses on Saturday and started at the bottom of the bracket at 8:00 A.M. on Sunday morning. The Crushers caught fire against the Arlington
Sage winning 14-0 and followed it up with a 7-1 victory over Kaos. The Crushers avenged an earlier season ITB loss to the Dimensions with a
2-0 ITB victory of their own. The girls continued their hot streak against the 18U Mavericks-Blue with a 6-0 victory and another improbable
victory against the Stafford Bombers 4-1. After 5 victories for the day, the Crushers went on to the Championship game. However after 5
games, fatigue started to set in and the Crushers lost to the Richmond Freeze 5-4 in ITB. This made for the third extra inning game for the 18U
Crushers for the weekend. The Crushers played with only 9 girls during the tournament. Brittany Orsborn led the team during the weekend with
15 hits, including a 2 run HR and a Grand Slam, and had a total of 12 RBIs. Ashley Smith contributed with 14 hits and 9 RBIs and Blair Lowe had
14 hits and 10 runs scored. Kasey Miller followed up with 10 hits and 10 RBIs. Colleen Williamson pitched 26 innings on Sunday and Blair Lowe
and Stephanie Kestermann contributed 26 and 5 innings respectively over the weekend. Kasey Miller caught all 57 innings of the tournament.
Jessica Lowman had 8 hits with an RBI and Jessica Wessinger helped out with 7 hits and 4 RBI’s. Special thanks to Kara Arbagast for helping
us out on Sunday. The Crushers are currently 13-9-1 on the season.
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Virginia Crushers 10U Take Firecracker Classic
The Virginia Crushers swept through a 5-0 record to take the 2009 Firecracker Classic Championship this past weekend in Sterling, Va. With
another strong pitching performance by Leah Shipp and Stephanie Fosness the Crushers defeated the Manassas Blaze, Baseliners, and Vienna
Stars on Saturday to claim the number 1 seed for Sunday’s elimination bracket. The Crushers faced the Baseliners on Sunday morning. Taking a
3-0 lead in the first inning on the hits of 2nd baseman Erin Jones, center fielder Cassidy Alexander, and 3rd baseman Morgan Blot, the Crushers
survived a 6th inning rally by the Baseliners to take the 6-4 win. It was then a wait to see who they would be facing in the title game.
For the championship the Crushers faced off against the Vienna Stars. For the first 3 innings Leah Shipp pitched a perfect game backed by a
strong defense which snuffed out the Stars’ hitters. The Crushers led 3-0 with a timely 2 RBU double by right fielder Alyssa Trotter and some
heads up base running by Cassidy Alexander. In the fourth, the Crushers exploded for 4 runs on shortstop Julia Sinnet’s 3 RBI double and a run
producing double from catcher Emily Weatherholtz. The Crusher defense held the Stars to 2 runs to take a 7-2 victory and 1st place in the 2009
Firecracker Classic. Adding to the Crushers success was right fielder Bailey Mastin with some strong plays in the outfield and 2 key RBIs and
left fielder Sydney Fisher providing key support to the Crusher defense. For the weekend Leah Shipp led the team in hitting with a .545 average.
Cassidy Alexander and Morgan Blot each had a .615 on base percentage and Cassidy led the team in scoring with 8 runs.
Emily Wetherholtz had 7 RBIs and Erin Jones led the team with 5 stolen bases.
On July 10th the Crushers will travel to Salem, Virginia for the 2009 NSA World Series.
Tryouts for the 2009-10 Virginia Crushers will be held August 8th and 16th. Information on the Crushers can be found at 10U VA Crushers.
The Virginia Crushers 10U team took the 2009 Firecracker Classic crown, going 5-0 to claim the championship.
The Crushers now travel to Salem, Virginia for the 2009 NSA World Series.
Information for the Virginia Crushers, including tryouts for the 2009-10 season can be found at VA Crushers
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10U Crushers Sweep to Atlantic Coast Challenge Championship
The Virginia Crushers took the Atlantic Coast Challenge 10U Championship Saturday, sweeping to a 4-0 record.
The Crushers faced the Baseliners in the Championship game. The two teams battled back and forth for 3 innings before Stephanie Fossness
drove in Kaleigh Berry for a 1-0 Crusher lead. In the 5th inning Emily Weatherholtz drove in Sydney Fisher with what proved to be the winning
run. Going into the sixth inning the Baseliners had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. A long fly ball to centerfielder Kaleigh Berry and a
quick throw to Erin Jones at second to double up the runner got the Crushers out of jam.
The Crushers had a great day at the plate, hitting 430 and scoring 32 runs in their 4 games. Stephanie Fossness hit 857, reaching base 90%
of the time. Leah Shipp hit 750 with 6 singles and 3 doubles and crossed the plate 8 times to lead the Crushers. Julia Sinnett drove in 7 runs
and Erin Jones swiped 4 bases. For the tournament Crusher Pitchers Leah Shipp and Stephanie Fossness gave up a meager 2 walks against
29 strikeouts, only giving up 5 runs through the four games. Morgan Blot added a crucial 2 RBI sacrifice bunt, Alyssa Trotter hit 400 for the
weekend and Bailey Mastin and Cassidy Alexander provided crucial defensive support.
The Crushers are off this weekend so they can spend time with their moms and will return to the field May 16th and 17th for the BRYC
Classic in Annandale, Va. This championship assured the Crushers of a berth in the 2009 NSA World Series.
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Front Row: Coach Tim Sinnett, Sydney Fisher, Erin Jones, Julie Sinnett, Bailey Mastin, Head Coach Phil Freeman
Back Row: Coach Rod Weatherholtz, Morgan Blot, Stephanie Fossness, Alyssa Trotter,
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14U Spring Fling
Tournament
14u Crushers started off their 1st Tournament of the season with a 3rd place victory at
the Spring Fling, with a strong pitching defense from Abi Austin and Randi Burney. The
Crushers had to come from behind victories against the Manassas Blaze and BRYC
Stingrays. They had great defensive plays from Jessie Burney, Sash-Sha Collier,
Kaylee Korzen, Shauna Anderson, Kaitlyn Rice and Caitlin Isenberg. McKenzie Blot and
Molly Holmes had key bunts. Randi Burney went 6 for 8 and Morgan Lowry went 6 for 8
with a game winning triple.Megan Anderson contributed to the 11-3 win with a homerun
against the BRYC Stingrays.
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10U Crushers Sweep to
Spring Thaw Win
The 10U Virginia Crushers Girls Fastpitch Softball team swept to a Championship
in the Fauquier Spring Thaw tournament held in Warrenton, VA this past weekend.
The first game featured a 1 hitter by Stephanie Fosness, as she struck out twelve
McLean Magic batters in 5 innings. Emily Weatherholtz and Alyssa Trotter each
picked up RBIs for the Crushers. The shutout performance was enough to lock up
a 2-0 win against last year’s Little League Virginia State Champions.
The second game was a tough pitcher’s duel with Leah Shipp standing in the
circle for the Crushers against the Fauquier Freeze. The Crushers scored early with
Kaleigh Berry and Erin Jones each crossing home plate in the first inning. Pitching
and defense took over as the Freeze battled back to tie the game up and send the game into an International Tie Breaker. Fauquier scored to
take the lead 3-2 but in the bottom half Stephanie Fosness drove in Kaleigh Berry to force a second ITB inning. With 1 out, the Freeze hit a line
drive back to the circle that was knocked down, and thrown to get the out at first. First-baseman Fosness fired a quick throw home to get the
runner trying to score from 2nd for the double play. Catcher Emily Weatherholtz continued an already stellar day with no runs earned by pass
balls and by making great blocks and tags at the plate. As the Crushers came to bat, Bailey Mastin laid down a sacrifice bunt, scoring Leah
Shipp and propelling the Crushers into the Championship.
In the Championship the Crushers jumped to a 4-0 lead with a combination of timely hits and heads up base running over the Freeze who had
earned their way in with a victory over the Sterling Baseliners. The pitching chores were given to Leah Shipp, who threw a 1 hit, no walk
shutout to nail down the Crushers 6-0 win.
For the tournament the Crusher pitchers combined for 25 strikeouts of the 48 batters faced, giving up only a single walk. The Crushers head
to Richmond this weekend for the Chesterfield Classic.
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