sbafan

I think it's great that Ooltewah has the opportunity to play in Orlando. SBA went last year during Spring Break. The facility is awesome and it's a chance for the kids and their families to enjoy some vacation time. Our Spring Break last year was during preseason, so the competition wasn't that great, but it sounds like during the regular season it is very competitive. I think they are getting the best of both worlds and my hat's off to them. Just for the record, Disney gives a very reasonable package deal for the girls and their families that includes park tickets and room. It is the most economical way to visit Disney.

St. Benedict has 3 slappers that have really given our offense an extra boost this year: Sara Schneider Courtney Bradshaw Emily LaForce

St. Benedict and Collierville played in the Championship bracket. SBA won 3-1 in a great game. Millington beat Southaven in the consolation bracket in the 7th inning 5-4 I think.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. We are very proud of our kid's accomplishments this year so far. I hope it has been noticed that we come to the Nashville area to play so we can play the best possible competition. We recognize that this is how a team improves. We have a senior laden team with girls that have worked extremely hard this past summer and in the off season to prepare for their final year of high school ball. We have several underclassmen who have stepped up and bought into the idea that we can accomplish something special this year. When I posted our record as 8-3, I was including just regular season games. We actually went 19-2 in preseason. We are not claiming to be an unbeatable team - but I truly think we have the players to have a chance to win in any game we play. We went to Texas (and by the way the kids were driven, they did not fly) with nothing to lose and played well against a great team which put us in a position to have a national ranking. Are there other great teams in Tennessee, absolutely! Our biggest test will be how we play with a target on our backs. Before recently, we have always played the role as the spoiler. This weekend we won the tournament in Germantown, Tennessee (our first weekend at home since preseason started). We're having a tournament the weekend of April 7th and 8th. I'm not in charge, but I think we still have some slots open. We'd love for some of that great middle and east Tennessee competition to come our way!

Riverdale, Hendersonville and Mesquite, TX Riverdale and Mesquite (SP?) were tiebreaker games Hendersonville just flat outplayed us last weekend in pool play

http://www.nfca.org/news/?id=2389 USA Today/NFCA High School Top 25 Poll March 23, 2006 The USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association High School Top 25 is compiled by state representatives from across the country. Records are as of March 21. Among the criteria considered are a school's strength of schedule, the quality of competition in its state or league, and the quality of its players. Rank Team Location Record 1 Cactus Glendale, Ariz. 12-1 2 Central Cabarrus Concord, N.C. 4-0 3 El Dorado Placentia, Calif. 4-0 4 Palm Beach Gardens Palm Beach, Fla. 16-0 5 Ft. Bend Elkins Missouri City, Texas 14-3 6 Keller Keller, Texas 17-2 7 Canyon del Oro Tucson, Ariz. 13-1 8 Garland Garland, Texas 14-2 9 Chamberlain Tampa, Fla. 10-1 10 Sabino Tucson, Ariz. 10-3 11 Brenham Brenham, Texas 21-2 12 Freedom Oakley, Calif. 0-0 13 Valencia Valencia, Calif. 7-0 14 Bartow Bartow, Fla. 12-0 15 Escambia Pensacola, Fla. 14-1 16 Bradshaw Mountain Prescott Valley, Ariz. 13-0 17 Woodcreek Roseville, Calif. 8-0 18 Olathe East Olathe, Kan. 0-0 19 Red Mountain Mesa, Ariz. 9-3 20 St. Amant St. Amant, La. 21-4-1 21 Regina Harper Woods, Mich. 0-0 22 Royal Simi Valley, Calif. 0-0 23 Oak Park and River Forest Oak Park, Ill. 1-0 24 St. Benedict Memphis, Tenn. 8-3 25 Martinsville Martinsville, Ind. 0-0 For more information on the USA Today/NFCA High School Top 25 Program, please contact Mike Jarrell, NFCA Director of Web Operations.

There were a whole bunch more representing many schools...........can someone from Hendersonville post the entire list?

Keller's 38-game win streak ends 12:28 AM CST on Thursday, March 16, 2006 By GREG RIDDLE / The Dallas Morning News Keller's softball team, No. 1 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association national rankings, saw its 38-game winning streak end Wednesday with a 1-0 loss at home to St. Benedict (Tenn.). Keller's All-American pitcher, Kirsten Shortridge (16-1), had her 37-game winning streak snapped despite allowing only two singles. St. Benedict scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth. Keller (16-1) managed only one hit against Amanda Lindsey, a Stetson (Fla.) University signee. St. Benedict, a private school in Cordova, Tenn., was 45-8 last season. Amanda was absolutely brilliant yesterday. Outfielder Sara Scheider scored the game winning run and shortstop Ashley Dowdy had the game winning RBI.

Wow......................Thanks for the vote of confidence! I sure hope we can live up to your expectations!

You've really pulled my heartstrings! Having a senior this year - a word of advice - don't blink because it will be over before you know it. Have a wonderful ride!

I should really trust my first instinct and realize that this post is so ridiculous it doesn't deserve a response, but I can't help myself: St. Benedict is in MEMPHIS! Not only had we never seen these particular umpires before, it was also the first time we had them at the tournament. Do you not realize that at the beginning of each game the officials and the coaches meet at the plate for the flip and introduce themselves. I think calling an official by their given name sure beats the heck out of the name calling coming from the Soddy Daisy side. I too think the umpires made some mistakes. They were too lenient. A coach, player and several parents should have been ejected along with the "apologetic" parent!

The real shame here is that Soddy Daisy has one heck of a softball team. We saw them on our side of the bracket and were counting down the wins to get an opportunity to play them. It is really disheartening when posts such as the above appear to discredit a win by a team that played their hearts out. It also takes the focus away from your team, who deserves better than the cliched "the umpires lost the game for us". Yes, there were quite a few bang-bang plays. It happens. You failed to mention the only real questionable ruling. When your runner decided to play bulldozer with our catcher and was called out, I personally thought it should have been a dead ball and we should not have had the opportunity to tag out your other baserunner. Would that have made a difference in the game, more than likely no. Let's get a grip, it was a preseason game. Our goal is to play the best competition possible so we can hopefully make a run at state. This past weekend, we did play great competition and are a better team for it.

St. Benedict is in Memphis, we don't personally know any of the Nashville area umpires.

All the St. Benedict parents got to watch the entire game, just for the record.

Blackman outplayed us (St. Benedict) at Mt. Juliet, and yes we had our varsity players in. We came out very flat that game and they took full advantage. They are a good team. We'd really like to see them again for both redemption purposes and because playing good teams only makes you better in the long run.

Thanks!

Two Parter: From Memphis to Fly Park - can anyone help Also, someone told me that 840 has opened up all the way thru from 40. True?

Oops, looks like they were #2. This was from last May, Super 25 at USAtoday.com Rank, school W-L 1. Fort Bend Elkins (Missouri City, Texas) 37-0 2. Keller (Texas) 31-2 3. Palm Harbor (Fla.) University 28-0 4. Central Cabarrus (Concord, N.C.) 26-0 5. Tomball (Texas) 28-3 6. Sabino (Tucson, Ariz.) 33-1 7. Pacifica (Garden Grove, Calif.) 26-2-1 8. Bartow (Fla.) 29-2 9. Lee (Midland, Texas) 28-2 10. Cactus (Glendale, Ariz.) 30-3-1 11. Niceville (Fla.) 28-1 12. Corona (Calif.) 25-2 13. Royal (Simi Valley, Calif.) 24-2 14. St. John Vianney (Holmdel, N.J.) 23-1 15. Oakdale (Calif.) 24-1 16. St. Amant (La.) 36-3-1 17. Garland (Texas) 28-0-1 18. Canyon del Oro (Tucson, Ariz.) 23-3 19. El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.) 20-2-1 20. Pembroke Pines (Fla.) Charter 28-2 21. Osbourn (Manassas, Va.) 19-0 22. Chamberlain (Tampa, Fla.) 27-3 23. Sunrise Mountain (Peoria, Ariz.) 22-3 24. Greenville (Ohio) 26-0 25. South Kitsap (Port Orchard, Wash.) 18-0

USA today poll (?), that sounds familiar - not for sure. They were ranked #1 last year and didn't lose many players and were assumed to be ranked #1 this year is what I've heard.

My daughter got hit in the face exactly this way when she was playing summer ball a few years back. Luckily, no broken facial bones, but the docs said it easily could have happened. She did have a nice shiner for the nationals that year. Wearing the masks just makes good sense. My daughter's team wore them last year in the summer. They complained at first, but easily adapted to having them on.

These were the directions we got (from Memphis). Our pool games are at the Little League Park this year. We played at Cane Ridge Park last year. Directions to Cane ridge Park 419 Battle Road, Antioch, TN (from school) 1. take a right on Germantown 2. merge right onto I-40 East towards Nashville 3. Take exit #206 towards KNOXVILLE onto I-440 EAST - go 7.4 mi 4. Take the I-24 EAST exit towards CHATTANOOGA - go 9.9 mi 5. Take exit #62 towards OLD HICKORY BLVD/TN-171 - go 0.9 mi 4. Continue on BATTLE RD - go 0.8 mi 4. Arrive at 419 BATTLE RD, ANTIOCH, on the L Directions to Mt Juliet Little League Park 10670 Lebanon Road Antioch, TN (from school) 1. take a right on Germantown 2. Bear R to take I-40 EAST towards NASHVILLE - go 188.7 mi 3. Take exit #206 towards KNOXVILLE onto I-440 EAST - go 7.4 mi 4. 5. Take exit #52B towards KNOXVILLE onto I-40 EAST - go 12.8 mi 4. Take exit #226A towards MT JULIET RD/TN-171 NORTH - go 4.5 mi 4. Turn R on US-70 - go 0.6 mi 4. Arrive at 10670 LEBANON RD, MOUNT JULIET, on the R Directions from Cane Ridge Park to Mt Juliet Little League Park 10670 Lebanon Road Antioch, TN 1. Turn right out of Cain Ridge Park 2. Turn right at Old Hickory Boulevard, this roads name will change to Hobson Pike and then Mt Juliet Road but you will not turn off of it until it dead ends into Lebanon Road, (Hwy70) 3. Then turn right and the entrance to the little league park will be about ½ mile on the left

St. Benedict plays: Smyrna 5:30 Brentwood High (again ) 8:00 Lebanon 10:30 Saturday Everyone loves pairing us up with Brentwood! We don't mind, though, great team - fun to watch them play.

Are they still stronger than GPS?

Year before last, last year we lost to GPS in the semis. But, we have 6 seniors that played on both teams, so hopefully this year will be a good one.

Good for her..........One of our girls signed to play at Stetson which I think is in that same conference. She'll play against her for another 3 years.