Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Hudson Valley Hurricanes 12-U Girls Team Win PONY State Title

The New City-based Hudson Valley Hurricanes 12-U Black team won the New York State PONY championship over the weekend in New Windsor, NY.

 Team goes 7-0 in competition in New Windsor, NY.


The team went 7-0 over the weekend, beating teams from throughout the state, including top teams from Long Island, Westchester, the Bronx and upstate.

The Hurricanes fastpitch team is made up of girls mostly from Rockland County who are hoping to go on to play high school softball. The team is managed by Kristen Sullivan, a Suffern High School graduate who was induected into the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame on April 30.

The team outscored opponents 65-12. They went 4-0 on Saturday, securing the 1st seed in the tournament.

The pitching for the weekend was led by Taylor Sullivan (Suffern), Kelsey Oh (Verona), Sarah Gunderson (Upper Saddle River), Reese Guevarra (New City). Hurricanes pitchers struck out 53 batters in 39 innings.  Taylor Sullivan pitched no-hit shutout with 9 strikeouts.

The offense was led by Megan Sneeden (Valley Cottage) with 10 RBIs. Guevarra had 9 RBIs and scored 12 runs. Gunderson had a double and 8 RBIs. Deangie Jimenez (Spring Valley) had a grand slam and 7 RBIs. Clutch RBI triples were had from Amanda Schweitzer (Stony Point) and Alicia Bertolino (Stony Point). Taylor Adolff had 4 RBIs.

Defense throughout the tournament was led by key plays from Gabby Palumbo (Bardonia), Alicia Bertolino, Amanda Schweitzer and Taylor Sullivan. Catcher Megan Sneeden erased the running game by catching 6 out of 8 base runners attempting to steal.

The championship game against Team Long Island 98 — which took 1st place in a PONY NQ in Connecticut recent — was an exciting one. The Hurricanes went down 0-3 in the 3rd inning with an uncharacteristic 3 errors in one inning. The girls were very upset with themselves. Team LI 98's pitcher at that point had been dominant only allowing one hit and looked like she was getting better.

Manager Kristen Sullivan spoke to the girls between innings, which seemed to help.  The Hurricanes got a run back in the 4th when Deangie Jimenez with one out hit a triple. Sarah Gunderson knocked her in with a hard ground ball making the score 3-1.  In the 5th inning with the score still 3-1 and one out, Alicia Bertolino hit a triple against Team LI's tough lefty pitcher.

Taylor Sullivan and Gabby Palumbo promptly reached base with bunts loading the bases for Reese Guevarra. Guevarra grounded into a fielder's choice but scored Bertolino making the score 3-2 with two runners on. Sneeden on a 1-1 count hit a triple scoring Palumbo and Guevarra from 1st base allowing the Hurricanes to take the lead 4-3. Jimenez knocked in Sneeden to make the score 5-3. That was all the Hurricanes needed as Kelsey Oh closed the door allowing Team Long Island 98 no more hits for the rest of the game. Final score was 5-3.

http://newcity.patch.com/articles/hudson-valley-hurricanes-12-u-girls-team-win-pony-state-title

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