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Roster
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| Emma Kate Appleton | Lauren Chi | Grace Hausamann | Callie Keys |
| Katie Kutz | Daniella Lew | Katelynn Park | Sarah Semko |
| Sydney Snider | Dannica Wiggins | | |
Number Line-up |
The National Champions |
With the Pittsburg Power |
I'm looking for Batman |
Heisenberg |
Don't they clean up nice?! |
Final Cheer |
Grace & Katelynn & Sydney |
Katelynn & Callie |
The moment of victory |
Post Game |
Opening Ceremonies |
They *are* Stars! |
The Zoo |
The Zoo on Stage |
Girls Seated |
Girls Silly |
With Whitney |
With Mustaches |
New Jersey Runners-Up |
With the little Coaches |
Blast At The Beach Champs |
Blast At The Beach Soggy Champs |
Coaches Strategy Meeting |
And now I find out what I did wrong... |
VA USSSA State Competition |
VA USSSA State Champs |
Shouldn't keep losing bets to these girls |
At least we're in it together |
Memorial Day Madness Champs |
Another martyr for the cause |
Strike Out Cancer Group |
Strike Out Cancer Champs |
Peninsula Open Champs |
The Dreaded Ice Bucket of Victory |
Nightmare Champs |
Nightmare Pyramid |
Cherry Blossom with the Cobras |
Cherry Blossom champs |
Kaboom Champions! |
Kaboom Pyramid! |
Field of Screams |
THE HAMSTER DANCE!!!
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USSSA
National
Champions!!!
Blast At The Beach Champions!
The Blast At The Beach tournament works a bit differently than the other tournaments. The 4 guaranteed games are
all pool play games, contested on Friday and Saturday. Then only the top 8 seeds vie for the championship on Sunday. Friday
began well with victories over the Chester County Stars, and Crushers Fastpitch. But Saturday's first game was an error-filled
debacle of biblical proportions. Seven errors in the first two innings against the South Jersey Mystics led to seven runs,
and sent the Stars bats into a state of shock. The Mystics made every error and bonehead play pay off, as they cruised to a
7-1 victory. Fortunately, the Stars recovered some composure, and won their final pool play game to escape with a 3-1 record.
Their 11 runs-allowed gave them the #6 seed going into championship play. Sunday's quarter-final game saw the Stars once again
going up against the Orange Crush. For the second time this tournament, the girls began poorly, and gave up 4 runs on 4 errors in the first inning. But
this time they sucked it up and battled back for an 8-6 victory. Seemingly snapping out of their fugue, the girls started their
semi-final game against the Glory in much better fashion, building a 6-0 lead, before closing out the game 9-4. The championship
game was going to turn out to be a real humdinger, as the #6 seed Vienna Stars met the #8 seed Delaware Mystics. This gave the
Stars an unexpected home team advantage (spoiler alert!). The final was a hard-fought affair between two talented and determined
teams. The Stars extended an early 2-1 lead into a 3-1 advantage heading into the last inning. Then the fireworks began! The
Magic pounded 2 doubles to go with a walk and a hit batsman, to jump into a 4-3 lead as the Stars came up to bat in the bottom
of the last inning. Things looked rough, but our girls would not be denied, as Lauren began the bottom half with a perfect
slapper's bunt. A wild pitch moved her to second, and Katelynn followed with a single through the infield, taking second as
the throw in went to third base. With girls on second and third and no one out, Katie stepped up and crushed a line drive over
the right fielder's head for a triple, and the game-winning RBIs. As a side note, in 10 seasons of coaching the Stars, I have
never before had a player hit a home run over a regulation fence. This weekend, 3 girls pulled that off. Congrats to Katie,
Daniella, and Sarah.
NSA States turn into a swim meet
The NSA State championship tournament was deluged by rain before any elimination games could be decided. So
in lieu of a tournament description, here is a picture of the Head Coach and Assistant Coach deep in a strategy meeting.
USSSA Virginia State Champions!
The Stars headed west to Leesburg this weekend to compete for the USSSA Virginia State Championship. They wound up
playing two tough, tight games against Team Glory. Both featured the Stars jumping out to an early lead, only to find the Glory
clawing back to make it excruciatingly close. On Saturday, our girls hung on to a 5-4 victory, to go 3-0, and secure the #1 seed.
On Sunday, their first game was against the Glory in the semi-finals, and the girls hung on to win 7-5. The championship was
almost anti-climactic (the way Coach Rich likes it!) as the Stars won 14-0 in three against a young Tsunami team.
Memorial Day Madness Champions!
Twenty 10U teams descended upon New Cumberland, PA to battle for the championship of the annual Memorial Day
Madness tournament. The 10U Stars stayed hotter than hot on Saturday, winning all three of their pool play games. Sunday
was the second round of pool play, and once again the Stars were victorious in all three games, earning them the #1 seed
in the Gold bracket, going into Monday's elimination play. In the quarter-finals, the Stars finally strung a few hits
together to beat the Maryland Legends 10-3. In the semi's, they faced their old friends the SJ Mystics, managing to surpass
them 7-4. The finals pit our girls against the Southern Tier Smoke, from New York. It was a tense game, where every Star run
was precious. But the defense held tight, and the girls registered a 5-0 victory to take the championship. During their
3-day weekend, the girls faced teams from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania, and went 9-0. Quite an
accomplishment, ladies!
Strike-Out Cancer Champions!
This weekend found the youngest Stars back in Annandale to use their bats in the fight against cancer. This
tournament, organized by Team Glory, sent proceeds to help conduct cancer research. Even the umps donated their time for
this worthy cause. As for our girls, everything went smoothly on Saturday, until the skies opened up, and thunder and
lightning canceled their final pool play game. Fortunately, their 2-0 record was good enough for the #2 seed, and a first
round bye. Sunday began with a victory over the Orange Crush team from Delaware, to send the Stars into the final against
our tournament host. The Glory played us tough, but we were able to scratch out runs every inning, until we came out with
a 9-1 victory.
Peninsula Open Champions!
Going south this time, the Vienna Stars visited Williamsburg to face the best the Peninsula and Tidewater had
to offer. And offer they did, as the Stars fought hard against some good southern Virginia teams, but still came away
with a 3-0 record, and a #1 seed in their pool. But the Little Stars shined bright on Sunday, beating High Voltage in the
quarters, Virginia Elite in the semis, and Galaxy in the championship; winning all three elimination games without giving
up a run. Congratulations, ladies, on a truly spectacular weekend.
Welcome To Our Nightmare Champions!
The 10U Vienna Stars headed to Voorhees, New Jersey this weekend, and came away with the gold hardware!
Saturday was another strong day for the girls, as they went 3-0. This was only good for the #2 seed this weekend,
even though they only gave up 3 runs, as the Orange Crush snatched the #1 seed by giving up only 2. Sunday started
with a tough fight by Arsenal, who played a great game and came up just short, 6-5. The semis pit the Stars against
a determined NJ Fight team, who fell 9-4, as our girls' bats started warming up. The championship game featured the
#2 seed Vienna Stars against the #1 seed Orange Crush. At this point, the girls' bats went from 'warming up' to
'ON FIRE'! A constant barrage of hits led to a strong 11-6 victory and their 3rd consecutive title.
Cherry Blossom Champions!
This weekend was the annual Cherry Blossom tournament, hosted by your own Vienna Stars! This year's event
was HUGE, with 16 10U teams descending on Caffi field from Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The competition was tough, but the littlest Stars were up to the challenge, earning a #1 seed in their Saturday pool.
Starting Sunday in the Gold bracket, the Stars first faced the PA Poison. They played well in that game and were off to
the semi-finals to go against Hanover Sports. Stellar pitching and timely hitting led to a 5-2 victory, and a trip to the
championship game, where they would face the Delaware Cobras. The Stars and Cobras engaged in a highly exciting slug-fest,
with the Stars pulling away at the very end to claim a 14-6 victory, and their second championship of the season.
Kaboom Champions!
Great news: We finally got to play our first tournament of the season! Switching fields to Fauquier County,
we deftly avoided the rain that never came. This allowed the Stars to begin their 2015 campaign with a 3-0 run in
Saturday's pool play. This gave them the #2 seed heading into Sunday's elimination play, where... **BEEP** **BEEP** WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED TOURNAMENT DESCRIPTION TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE...Uhh, Coach Rich here. Just a little advice for all you aspiring 10U coaches out there: Never let your mouth write
a check that your hip can't cash! By way of explanation: This winter the girls were enjoying a dance they made up to the
Hamster Dance song (Google at your own peril). Practice after practice: 'Coach Rich, dance the Hamster Dance'. 'Coach Rich,
dance the Hamster Dance.' 'Coach Rich, when are you going to dance the Hamster Dance?' Finally, seeking to end this endless
line of query, I told them 'When you win a tournament!' And, finally, peace was had. Fast forward to our break before this
Sunday's championship game (two months later!!!). There I was, peacefully relaxing on my folding chaise lounge. At which
point the girls come up to me and casually mention, 'Remember, if we win this game, you have to do the Hamster Dance.'
**blink** **blink** 'You promised that if we won a tournament, you'd do the Hamster Dance!' At this point, I go into
full Vinnie Barbarino. 'What?' 'The Hamster Dance' 'What?' 'You promised!' 'What?' 'You PROMISED, and now you'll HAVE
TO DO IT!' So, apparently motivated by pure spite, the girls went out and won. I tell you all this, both so you can learn
from my callow error, and so that you can understand:
this abomination
WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED DESCRIPTION... ... a called strike three, and the Stars win
the championship!
Field Of Screams
The Stars went into their first tournament of the season as rookies, and
came out as champions! Heading to Olney, MD, they played three tough Saturday games, with only a #3 seed
to show for it. But they made the most of it. After a quarterfinal game against the new Heartbreakers
team, the Stars faced #1 seed Team Glory in the semis. Jumping out to a 7-2 lead, the girls fought their
way to a 7-5 way-too-exciting victory! This put them into the championship game against the Orange Crush.
After squandering a 6-2 lead, the 10Us found themselves going to bat in the bottom of the last inning.
With girls on first and second, our next batter crushed a line drive over the center fielder's head for
a 7-6 Stars victory!
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