Sting Fastpitch 16U White Takes the Field... And Keeps It!

Submitted by Wendy Williams, written by Dennis Melahn:

QUAKERTOWN - In a stunning, seven-game sweep, Sting left no doubt it had come to play. The event was the USSSA 2011 Eastern Pennsylvania State Championship held at Veteran's Park in Quakertown, PA on July 9 - 10. Twenty-six teams participated on the six well-maintained fields. Friday night's rain pushed back the Saturday start times, but the rest of the weekend was warm and sunny.

At the end of day, the Sting was comfortably seeded in the two slot with a 3-0 record, averaging 12 runs per game and only giving up four runs all day. Pitcher Haleigh Williams started the day by shutting down the Pennsbury Gems with nine strikeouts in 22 at-bats and only giving up three hits. The bats came alive in the second inning of the second game and never slowed down until the Sting 10-runned both LAA Extreme and Philly Energy.

Day two started off with a scare when the Montgomery Twisters came out firing and quickly put two runs on the board. Not intimidated in the least, Sting answered back in the first inning, posting 12 runs of its own. Pitcher Rachel Boone shut the Twisters down and claimed her first win of the day. Games five and six seemed routine, as Sting bats were averaging close to two runs per inning. Williams and Boone both performed brilliantly on the mound.

The championship game was against the Thornton Chaos, which is a good hitting team with solid pitching. However, it didn't seem to matter. Sting jumped out to an early lead, forcing a Chaos pitching change in the third. But, the damage was already done. Williams would not allow the Chaos to string any hits together and the occasional big hit was met with "No problem. Shake it. We'll get the next one!" The Sting victory came in six-and-a-half innings, 11-5.

Batting Totals for the Weekend:
Singles - 69
Doubles - 20
Triples - 4
Home Runs - 3 (Wynne McCann, Haleigh Williams, Gianna Bliss)

Pitching:
Haleigh Williams - 88 batters, 7 runs, 25 hits, 15 strike-outs
Rachel Boone - 57 batters, 6 runs, 13 hits, 2 strike-outs
Megan Coccia - 17 batters, 3 runs, 4 hits, 3 strike-outs

Coach Tim Canfield: "My strategic movement of offensive and defensive players at critical points in the games allowed us to maintain control at all times."

Coach Rich Williams matched up his pitching staff against each team's hitters and kept the opposition off-balance all weekend.

Third base coach Rich Loughery's perfect play calling and knowledge of the rulebook kept the opposing coaches frustrated on many occasions.

"We hit the ball," Loughery said. "We're really throwing the leather around out there."