Sliders 10u get some bling…

10U Sliders traveled to Richmond Va to compete in the Nitty Gritty Softball Tournament. After a tough loss in their first game against RBI Inferno the Sliders rallied together and made a commitment not to give up. They then faced the Southside Sting & Hampton Rd Vipers in back to back afternoon games. The girls played hard and gave a tough fight but just could not hold on and lost both. Sunday morning a refreshed and determined Sliders showed up to play! Scheduled to face a unbeaten Hampton Rd Vipers the Sliders took the challenge head on. In the first inning the Sliders proved that we came to play by scoring a run in the top of the first innings & only allowing the Vipers to score 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st. The Sliders battled but could not overcoming the over powering pitching performance of the Vipers. The girls never gave up and continued to put runners on base but were not successful with moving the runners around. After the early morning loss the Sliders were placed into the Silver bracket of play. We took advantage of the game break, took some extra batting practice and got pumped up ready to play. We would face the Blue Ridge Heat in a win or go home game and the Sliders had no intention of going home. Blue Ridge Heat won the coin toss making them the home team. First inning quickly became an eye opener for the Sliders that the Heat also wanted to move forward in the bracket. Sliders were held to no runs in the top of the 1st, the Heat came out of the gate and scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Top of the second the Sliders were able to get 2 runs batted in. Bottom of the second the Sliders defense stepped up and allow no runs. Top of the 3rd (Heat 4 - Sliders 2) and the bats woke up…Sliders were able to score 6 runs and bat the whole line up!! Bottom of the 3rd (Heat 4 - Sliders Heat responded and scored 3 runs to make the score Heat 7 - Sliders 8. Top of the 4th Sliders were not able to add to the run count…with time running out - the Sliders had to hold the Heat in order to win…Bottom of the 4th - Heat was at the top of their lineup. 1st batter grounded out, then 2nd batter popped out…with 2 outs the Sliders just needed one more. 3rd batter hit a ground ball that was just too hot for the Sliders to handle and reached 1st base. With 2 outs and a runner on 1st the winning run stepped to the plate and hit a line drive - that was caught!! Sliders won the game and moved forward to the Silver Bracket Championship. Championship game the Sliders had to face for the 3rd time of the weekend the Hampton Rd Vipers. The 3rd game of the day, 6th game of the weekend proved to show that we had run out of gas. The girls tried to hold on but the Vipers jumped ahead and the Sliders were not able to catch up. Disappointing as it was the Sliders would leave Richmond as the Silver Bracket Runner Up. The success of the weekend was a whole team effort. Everyone played well and made a contribution to each game. A well deserved title - they girls were presented with a trophy to take home and walked away with heads held high and pumped up for their next tournament! Way to go Girls!! Keep working hard & success will prevail!