Galaxy 12U-Red dominate tourney
Published 8:52 pm Saturday, October 4, 2014
The Galaxy Fastpitch 12U Red softball team put on a commanding performance last weekend in only its second tournament together.
Competing against the top teams of its age group in the gold division at the 2014 Softball Nation Fall Championship in Newport News, the Galaxy squad went 6-0, outscoring its opponents 70-16.
To explain why his team did as well as it did, Galaxy coach Allen Wetmore cited “the three aspects of the game — great pitching, great defense and great hitting.”
The squad used three pitchers during the tournament, all of which are from Suffolk: Reese Byrd, Anya Colyer and Cali Hinnant.
“All three of them were dominating in the circle,” Wetmore said.
The Galaxy 12U Red team has only been together since mid-to-late August, but it is aided by the fact most of the players have played together before. Eight girls were part of Galaxy Fastpitch last year at the 10U level.
The first tournament for the 12U Red squad was a National Softball Association event, also in Newport News, and the team went 3-2, finishing third.
Wetmore noted it showed clear improvement on that performance with its undefeated run last Saturday and Sunday. It won three games on each day, with better defense and bats that came alive.
For the weekend, Anni Groves of Suffolk went 18-for-19 at the plate. Jordyn Greene led the team with 13 runs batted in, McKenzie Presson had nine, Byrd had six and Sidney Adcock had five.
Suffolk’s Karley Wetmore went 7-for-10 batting, and Peyton Penland went 10-for-15.
Getting even more specific, Coach Wetmore said, “What really made us, I think, dominant besides those stats there is just the timely hitting.”
The Galaxy squad beat Coastal Fury 14-4 to win the seven-team gold division. Before that, Galaxy topped the East Coast Diamonds 7-1 and routed the Lady Pilots 16-2.
The day before, the 12U Red team defeated Virginia Elite 03 by a 9-4 score, then achieved its initial wins against the East Coast Diamonds and Lady Pilots, 13-3 and 11-2, respectively.
To prepare for the competition, Wetmore said he put the girls through a variety of stations in practice. Those stations included things like tee drills, pitching machines, soft tosses and bunting and slapping work.
The girls do a lot of repetition and drills in practice “and it just showed up for us at that tournament,” he said.
The Galaxy 12U Red squad is back in action this weekend in Elizabeth City, N.C. for another Softball Nation tournament. There will be 10 teams participating in this event. The Galaxy team had four scheduled for Saturday and concludes playing today.
On Oct. 25 and 26, the team will travel to Richmond for Softball Nation’s Halloween Cup. It will return to Richmond on Nov. 1 and 2 for the NSA Fall Championship.