12U Hawks Third In Tournament

Playing in their first PONY National Qualifier Tournament against teams that have been on the tournament trail for as many as two months, the 12U Hawks’ softball team had a strong third-place finish this past week.

The Hawks faced the eventual tournament champion, the CT Raiders, in the first game of pool play and came out with a 4-4 tie. In the five-inning contest, Lauren Wilcox tallied 11 strikeouts and only gave up one earned run, while the offense was led by Katie Laaksonen with a single, double, and two RBI, Caitlyn Linden with two singles and an RBI, and Wilcox with a triple that led to the tying run in the last inning.

The Hawks followed up with a strong performance against the CT Shock, winning the game 4-3. In six innings, Wilcox had ten strikeouts and struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth to secure the one-run victory. Offensively, Haley Ryan led off with a single and worked her way around the bases to score on a wild pitch and also had a sacrifice for an RBI, Liz Townsend had an RBI single, Kelly Merrick had two singles, Laaksonen had a single and scored the winning run on Wilcox’s RBI single.

Pool play concluded with a loss to eventual second place finisher, the Fairfield Lights. Wilcox and Townsend combined for five strikeouts and Linden had the lone hit for the Hawks.

Seeded fifth going into the single elimination round, the Hawks played perhaps their best all-around game of the year, bettering the CT Titans 6-3. Getting off to a strong defensive start in the first, the battery of Wilcox and Laaksonen combined to throw out a bunt attempt at first, tally a strikeout, and then throw a runner out at second attempting to steal after a walk. The defense held up throughout the game with big plays at key moments.

In the third with runners on second and third and one out, Linden fielded a grounder at shortstop, made the throw to first for the second out and Ryan relayed a strong throw to Laaksonen at the plate for the tag; an awesome 6-3-2 double play to get out of the inning.

The bats were again strong, led by Linden with a triple, double, and an RBI, Kelly Merrick with two singles and an RBI, and Townsend, Ryan, Laaksonen, and Katie Reilly all contributing singles. Wilcox finished with seven strikeouts over five innings, including three in the last inning to ensure the win.

In the semifinals the Hawks once again faced the Fairfield Lights, a team that had mercy ruled them the day before and two weeks earlier in a league contest. The Hawks were determined, and came out strong with four runs in the first with walks by Ryan and Brianna Baranowksi, Sydney DiMartino, a single by Linden, and RBI by Laaksonen and Rose Pagett. The team put together three innings of scoreless defense with DiMartino chalking up four putouts from second base, a runner caught stealing third and several more strikeouts. Another single and triple by Linden later in the game, however, were the only other offense the Hawks could muster and the Fairfield team eventually broke open for four runs in the fourth inning and six more in the fifth to take the game from the Hawks 10-4.

The Hawks next tournament action is June 19-20 when they play in the Southington Strikes Out Breast Cancer tournament. The team extends its thanks again to its sponsors: Papa Al’s, Bill Hart Mortgage Lender, Hawleyville Wines, Diamond Avenue Self Storage, Burgerittoville, Freedom Fence, Dina and Associates, wubbaworld.com, Newtown Chiropractic Drs Richard and Aaron Coopersmith, Home Quest, Dr Baum, The One-Eyed Pig, and My Place Restaurant.