ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Taking the east
Submitted photo
The Southern Maryland Shockers, consisting of 12 softball players from Charles and St. Mary’s counties, won all nine of its games in late July to win the United States Specialty Sports Association Class B 14-and-Under Eastern World Series in Wicomico County.
In the front row, from left, are Emma Thompson and Lindsey Keller. In the second row are Gabby Sandy, left, Mackenzie Owens, Jolie Rawlings, Sam Donaldson and Shanna Peters. In the back row are manager Bobby Rawlings, left, Janae Lyles, Valerie Hammett, Courtney Taft, Alyssa Bilodeau, coach Chuck Donaldson, Andrea Davis and coach Ernie Keller.
The Southern Maryland Shockers, consisting of 12 softball players from Charles and St. Mary’s counties, won all nine of their games in late July to win the United States Specialty Sports Association Class B 14-and-Under Eastern World Series in Wicomico County.
The tournament featured 48 teams from seven states.
The Shockers defeated the Loudoun (Va.) Storm Red, 7-2, in the championship game July 28 at Henry S. Parker Athletic Complex in Salisbury. Andrea Davis, a freshman at Chopticon High School this fall, gave up four hits and struck out four as the winning pitcher. She struck out 64 batters in eight games and was named the tournament’s most outstanding pitcher. On offense, she hit .467 during the tournament.
Valerie Hammett, a rising freshman at Chopticon, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player by hitting four over-the-fence home runs and batting .400.
“We finished second in the state tournament, which was great, but we felt we could play even better,” Shockers manager Bobby Rawlings said. “The girls played hard and really played well together.”
Shortstop Sam Donaldson, a freshman at McDonough High School in the fall, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player. She had 12 assists and seven putouts during the tournament. Janae Lyles, headed into the seventh-grade at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School in Waldorf, had a .581 batting average with a team-high 18 hits for the Shockers.
The Shockers breezed through pool play by beating the New Jersey Nightmare, 13-0, the New York Panthers Red, 10-2, and the Lyon Station (Pa.) Storm, 11-1. In bracket play, the Shockers defeated the Exton (Pa.) Magic, 8-0, the Oxford (N.J.) Rampage, 4-2, the Diamond State Swoop, 11-0, the Delaware Magic South, 6-2 and the Loudoun Storm Red 5-1. Loudoun made it back to the title game, where the Shockers closed out the tournament with their five-run victory over the Virginia outfit.
Even though the Shockers posted a 61-17 record this season, this was the team’s only tournament victory of the year.
“We have finished second in so many tournaments this year. I kept hearing, ‘We’re always the bridesmaids,’” Rawlings said. “It was all worth it because now we can call ourselves a World Series champion. It’s a great way to finish out the season.”
Center fielder Courtney Taft, a rising Chopticon freshman, had a .418 on-base percentage as the team’s leadoff hitter. Third baseman Jolie Rawlings, a rising eighth-grader at Margaret Brent Middle School in Helen, had a team-high .625 batting average. Left fielder Gabby Sandy, a rising Lackey High School freshman, had three hits in the championship game.
Catcher Shanna Peters (rising Chopticon freshman), first baseman/pitcher Alyssa Bilodeau (rising La Plata High School freshman) and outfielder Emma Thompson (rising St. Mary’s Bryantown School eighth-grader) were cited as a defensive standouts.
Peters had a .400 batting average during the tournament, Bilodeau hit .350 and Thompson hit .364. First baseman/outfielder Mackenzie Owens and outfielder Lindsey Keller, St. Mary’s Ryken High School rising freshmen, also played well over the nine-game tournament.
This report was submitted by Monty Wood, Southern Maryland Shockers 14-U team contact.