Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Vipers win national title

The 10U Atlanta Vipers fastpitch softball team traveled to Peoria, Ill., over the Labor Day weekend to play in the National Softball Association Super World Series, and they made it worth the trip, winning three straight games to bring home the championship.

Participants in this tournament qualified one of two ways, by earning one of four Super NIT tournament spots (two on the East Coast and two on the West Coast) or they by finishing in the top six of the World Series (one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast) held in July.ÊThe Vipers qualified both ways; they not only won the Super NIT tournament in Raleigh, N.C., they also finished in the top-five spot at the National Softball Association World Series in Rock Hill, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C.

Only the top 16 teams in the nation could participate in the Super World Series.ÊThe Vipers won the "A" level title.Ê

Starting in January of this year with tournament planning, the coaches knew this team was special and they could expect big things from these girls.ÊThe path was established early, as the coaches strategically mapped out how this team would make it to the Super World Series.

Coach Kevin Taylor knew it would be a long tough season to make it there, but he and his coaching staff were sure it would happen.ÊCoach Rich Terry handled the arrangements for the tournaments needed to get to the Super World as well as providing the girls’ mental training.ÊCoach Kevin Woody provided both offensive and defensive drills keeping the girls’ skills sharp, while Coach Gene Dalton is in charge of pregame warmup drills.ÊIt takes a complete program to produce an elite travel softball team, which includes physical as well as mental training.

By winning the Super NIT Tournament, the Vipers earned a top seed in the Super World Series.ÊThis meant a bye was earned in the first round of games, which is pretty important when the tournament format is double-elimination and no pool play.

The Vipers met the Ohio Lady Lasers, a rather large team, in the first game and won 3-1 by taking charge of pitching and defense. By remaining in the winner’s bracket, the Vipers would not meet up with half the teams in the tournament.

The next meeting was against the Maryland Lakeshore Lightning, probably one of the toughest teams the Vipers had ever faced.ÊThe Vipers jumped out in front during the first inning, scoring 3 of their 4 runs.ÊFastpitch is such a mental game that jumping out to a lead of several runs really puts the pressure on the opposing team, and the Vipers won this game 4-0 to get into position for the championship. At this point, any opposing team would have to beat them twice to take the title.

After a time of wait-and-see to determine who would come up out of the loser’s bracket, it was the Maryland Lakeshore Lightning who earned the other spot in the finals. The weather had turned cold and rainy, but the Vipers finally put the first score on the board in the third inning.ÊThey scored again in the fourth and won the game 2-0 to take the championship.

The Vipers finished their season with 98 wins, 10 losses and 2 ties (pool play).ÊThey earned two state championship titles, one for the National Softball Association and the other for the Amateur Softball Association, but none any sweeter than the National Softball Association Super World Series Title.ÊIt took the efforts of Haley Williams (Tyrone), Macy Terry (Woodstock), McKenzie Woody (Fayetteville), Haley Richards (Fayetteville), Chelsie Huffman (Powder Springs), Kaitlyn Baskin (Temple), Nicole Fox (Peachtree City), Jessica Clifton (McDonough), Brittany Taylor (Fayetteville), Andrea Dalton (Tyrone) and Rebecca Creswell (Senoia).Ê

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