SARATOGA MISS SLIDES TO TITLE WIN
10U squad wins Miss Shen Slide into Summer tourney
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » Saratoga Miss Thunder Red 10U Coach Dave Soltis had a few things he really wanted for Father’s Day Sunday — a No. 1 seed in the Miss Shen Slide into Summer tournament, a quick semifinal win and a championship plaque.
His Thunder Red team didn’t disappoint their coach, rolling through the Slide into Summer tournament with pitching and stellar defense to capture the weekend title with a 5-2 win over Wynantskill-based Classie Lassies Boom Sunday afternoon at the Clifton Common Softball Complex.
Saratoga Miss Thunder Red earned the No. 1 seed after Saturday’s pool play with a 9-0 win over the Mid-Hudson Rebels followed by a 15-0 rout of Brunswick Blitz B and capped it off with a 16-0 shutout of the E.G. Express.
On Sunday afternoon, the Saratoga Miss Thunder Red dropped the Berkshire Force 9-1 before taking on a weary Classie Lassies Boom squad that had to play two games to advance to the tournament final and was coming off an extra-innings win over Miss Shen Thunder, 9-7, moments earlier.
“We’ve won quite a bit, won four tournaments this year,” Sara-
toga Miss Thunder Red 10U Coach Dave Soltis said. “We’ve been the bridesmaid. It’s very hard to win these tournaments, it’s very hard.”
The Thunder Red made it look easy with Hadley Donnelly and Ryann Soltis in the circle all weekend, combining for five wins and only give up three runs.
Donnelly, a Ballston Spa resident, went the distance in the finale, earning the championship chip.
“We’ve won a lot of second place, so it’s kind of a relief to win first place and to get the first seed was good too,” Donnelly said.
She relied on her twoseam fastball along with a change-up to keep the Classie Lassies Boom offbalance.
“My change-up moves the most, I use that if I’m ahead in the count,” Donnelly, who was staked to an early five-run lead, said. “It’s helpful because I know if I have a bad inning we’ll go back in and score a bunch more runs.” The Thunder Red squad was aggressive at the plate all weekend, led by Natalie Conroy’s eight hits and Katlyn Harrington driving in six runs.
“We’ve been trying to work on more aggressive stuff with the inside pitches and getting out in front of the ball,” Soltis said. “With this age group, girls are usually behind the ball and they’re scared. We’ve tried to break that and we’ve been doing a good job as coaches, but the girls have been executing it.”
While the summer break is just beginning the Saratoga Miss Thunder has been active, sporting a 51-7-1 overall record this year with four titles and four second-place finishes.
“A lot of the girls have been playing together for a long time, they’ve been friends for a long time,” Soltis said. “There is some drafting, recruiting involved, but for the most part we have a core group and they’ve stayed together and they’ve learned how to not make a lot of mistakes.”
The Thunder Red will be on the road this weekend, heading to Toms River, N.J., for a tournament as they look to hone their skills before the USSSA Fastpitch Eastern World Series tournament in Ocean City, Md., July 12-16.
“This brings us to a place where we’re going to be going away, going to nationals and we can compete on a national level without a doubt,” Soltis said. “As long as we pitch well and play good defense and are disciplined, we’ll be fine.”