Bucks-based Rock Gold captures U18 national title
In a remarkable display of mental toughness and physical endurance, the Rock Gold-Waye softball team hit the jackpot late Saturday in Plano, Texas.
After falling into the losers’ bracket Friday night, Rock GoldWaye stormed back with five straight wins Saturday to capture the USA Softball Gold 18-and-under national championship.
Finishing the tournament with a record of 11-1, Rock Gold accomplished all of this in 110 degree heat and with a line-up consisting entirely of high school players against a field loaded up with girls who played on the college level this past spring.
“This is a great group of kids; they just get it,” said coach/sponsor Rick Waye. “It was so hot you could barely move, but our girls were out there dancing and having a great time. To win this is just great because it was so set up for us not to win it.”
Rock Gold appeared in deep trouble when it suffered a tough 12-11 loss to the Ohio Hawks Friday night in a game with a controversial very tight strike zone that resulted in 21 walks.
The comeback trail began Saturday when it beat KC Gold, 5-0, Mississippi Gold Elite, 8-2, and then the Ohio Hawks, 11-3, to reach the finals.
“The win over the Hawks was the turning point,” said Waye. “(Central Bucks South’s) Kylie Kenny is our No. 3 pitcher and we decided to give her a shot. She was unbelievable. The Ohio Hawks are all college players, but Kylie pitched the game of her life.”
In the first game of the finals against Team Georgia Gold-Henning, Rock Gold prevailed, 4-1, behind a dominating showing by righty Danni Farley. Headed to the University of Florida, Farley fired a magnificent three-hitter to force the if game.
Rock Gold then completed the double dip by beating Team Georgia Gold again — this time by the score of 5-2 behind the pitching of Ashley Worrell — to capture the national title.
Rock Gold had finished as high as second in this tourney one year when it was in San Diego and also had taken a third.
“It was a tough decision,” replied Waye when asked if he considered going with Farley again in the if game. “But I made that mistake one time in the same situation and my pitcher ran out of gas.
“When they hit a homer off Ashley in the first inning, I was thinking uh, oh, but Ashley came in after the top of the first and said ‘no more (runs for them), coach.’
“I had Danni up in the seventh and told her if she goes in I wanted nothing but 68 (mph) gas, but Ashley was tremendous. We call her ‘Big Cat’ and she’s a real competitor.”
Worrell pitched a six-hitter with seven strikeouts in the last game while Zoey Jones led the offense with three doubles to set off a victory celebration for the Lower Bucks County-based team.
In addition to tremendous pitching from Farley, Worrell and Kenney, Rock Gold tore it up at the plate all week long. The team batted a robust .419 in its 12 games with 38 doubles, three triples and eight home runs.
Headed to Rider University along with Rock Gold teammate Gianna Epps (.364), Elena Gonzalez had an outstanding tournament with a .514 average and five doubles. Emma Ritter had the biggest tourney of all with a .537 average and nine doubles.
Among those also hitting the ball very well were Worrell (.378, three homers), Abby Warner (.333), Breanna Bryant (.389), Meghan Sheehan (20 hits, .500), recent Neshaminy graduate Natalie Rios (.447) and Jones (.488).
Rock Gold will now be back in action Monday morning when it plays the Louisiana Voodoo in pool play at the Junior Olympic Cup in St. Louis. Because the tourney over the weekend ran late, the team missed its original flight to St. Louis.
“The girls were so exhausted they crawled back into their hotel rooms,” said Waye. “But we were able to get some of them on new flights (Sunday morning) and others drove to St. Louis.
“I’m not sure what we will have left for the Junior Olympic Cup. At this point a top 10 (finish) would be pretty good, but these girls are tough.”