PQ softball teams earn tickets to national championship

Two Rancho Penasquitos softball teams are about to pack their bags and head to the national championships in their divisions.

The two PQ Lightning squads will be traveling to different locations for their Amateur Softball Association of America-sponsored tournaments, scheduled for Aug. 2-8.

The 12-under team will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., while the 14-under team will go to Roseville, Calif.

The squads earned their berths in the national tournaments by finishing among the top 14 teams at the Southern California ASA Championships, which were held earlier this month in Lancaster, Calif.

Teams from the Poway Girls Softball League (the 14-Under All Stars) and from the Rancho Bernardo Girls Softball League (10-Under and 12-Under) also qualified for the state tournament, but did not qualify for nationals.

Shane Hansen, coach for the PQ Lightning’s 12-Under All-Star squad, said his team tied for fifth place in Lancaster to earn its ticket to the national tourney.

“We were the only team from our district to qualify,” he added. The team is comprised of 13 girls, most from Rancho Penasquitos, although there are some players from other areas.

The girls have been playing as a team since May, after they were selected for the all-star team following the recreational season.

“It’s very impressive to take 13 kids who may or may not know each other and blend them into a team,” he said.

For some of the girls on the team, the trip to the national tourney will be their second appearance on the top stage of competition.

Kiersten Hansen, Erika Friedemann, Leanne Gehrke, Ally Hurst and Olivia Laqua went to the Nationals two years ago as part of the 10-under all-stars.

For Kylie Hetzel, this will be her third consecutive trip to the national tournament, Hansen said.

“The experience definitely has an advantage, in that the girls will be more calm because the know what to expect,” he said. “It gives them an edge over those who haven’t experienced it before.”

At the tournament, Hansen said, temperatures are expected to reach about 105 degrees by 10 a.m. The team should expect to play several games a day, especially if they keep winning.

“We have to worry about dehydration,” Hansen said. “They girls have to drink a minimum of four bottles of water to stay hydrated.”

Bill Morgan, coach of the PQ Lightning’s 14-under squad, said the girls in his team will also experience 100- to 105-degree heat in Roseville, but said the biggest obstacle for play will be the humidity.

The 14-under squads features three players with experience at the national tournament.

Alycia Morgan, Natalie Peters and Natalie Barnes went to the tournament for the 10-under team in 2007 in Las Cruces. They finished in seventh place.

“But for the majority of the girls, this is a whole new adventure,” Morgan said. The team includes one player from Poway, Nani Leonui.

Morgan said the team has exceeded expectations, and noted that at the state final, the two games it lost were as part of the International Tiebreaker rule, which puts players in scoring positions to advance the game. The PQ lightning squad lost by one point to Fullerton Hills, which ended up winning the state crown.

“We’re here to win, not just to have fun,” Morgan said.

He noted that for the older girls, those who will move on to play at the high school level next year, the tournament marks the end or their association with the PQ Girls Softball Association (those who are 13 year old may still play another year).

“This group has been together for a long time and they want to go out playing at the most competitive level.”

Both teams currently are raising money so they can travel to the tournament.

Each of the teams have target fundraising goals of $10,000 and they are organizing several fundraising events in between their practices.

For more information about these, go to the league’s website, www.pqgsa.org or contact the teams directly.

To contact the 12-under team, contact Hansen at shane44@san.rr.com. For the 14-under team, contact Claire Barnes at claire@integrated-visions.com.

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Posted by unestidstwern on Jul 21 2010. Filed under Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry