The U12 Jr. Chargers continued their early season success by taking home 2nd place in the Mayville Summer Sting Tournament last weekend.  In a condensed format, the Jr. Chargers played two pool games on Saturday to determine bracket play for Sunday.  The Jr. Chargers accomplished their goal of being in the top bracket on Sunday, which allowed them to face tougher competition and to see defensively strong teams.  

In the first pool play game against Fondy Fusion-Emmer, Sydney York pitched 5 innings giving up 2 earned runs with 8 strikeouts. When Fondy scored three runs in the top of the 4th inning, the score was 8-5 in favor of the Jr. Chargers.  In the bottom of the 4th   inning, the Jr Chargers scored two runs after a single and several walks in the field.  Isadora McCann put the game out of reach with a two run double.  Hope Lehnen and Bridget Dwyer led the team with RBIs with two and three respectfully. The final score was a 12-5 victory for the Jr. Chargers. 

In the second game of pool play, Makenna Best was in the circle against Fondy Fusion-Giese.  She threw all four innings, only allowing one hit and one earned run while striking out seven.  The bats came alive with seven different Jr. Chargers all collecting a hit.  Ava Serembiczky and McCann both led the team with hits collecting two each.  McCann and Aubrie Peterson both led the team with two RBIs.  The final score was 10-2 in favor of the Jr Chargers. 

With the two pool play wins on Saturday, the Jr. Chargers earned the #2 seed and a matchup against the Sugar River Bombers in bracket play. The early morning start didn’t affect the Jr. Chargers.  After putting up two runs in the first inning, they posted four more in the bottom of the second inning.  After three walks and with two outs, York delivered a base-clearing triple to right field putting the team up 6-0 after two innings.  The Jr. Chargers showed patience at the plate drawing 7 walks in the game.  Isabella Ott and Serembiczky led the team with two walks each.  Best had another strong outing in the circle.  In five innings she gave up three hits, one earned run, and collected six strikeouts. The final score was 7-2, which meant the Jr. Chargers were headed for the championship game. 

The championship game was a battle between two undefeated teams, the Jr. Chargers and the Beaver Dam Tornados. The Tornados came into the championship game after only giving up six runs in three games. After the Tornados scored one run in each of the first two innings, the Jr. Chargers put one run on the board in the third. Singles by Kaitlin Schwartz and Serembiczky and a walk by Lehnen loaded the bases.  McCann then singled to left field scoring Schwartz.   With the score remaining 2-1 in favor of the Tornados, the Jr. Chargers came up to bat in the top of the fourth.  After a single by Abby McCauley, Kaylin Stendler ripped a triple to right center field.  Best then grounded out to second scoring Stendler and giving the Jr. Chargers the lead 3-2 going into the bottom of the fourth.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t hang on in the bottom half of the inning.  A couple of timely hits by the Tornados with runners on base gave the Tornados the win 6-3.  York pitched well only giving up 1 earned run in the game.   

Overall, the coaching staff is very proud of the Jr. Charger’s resilience in the championship game, the defensive plays that were witnessed on the field, and the watching the players come together for team bonding in between games.  After playing some great games and earning two 2nd place finishes to start the year, the U12 Jr. Chargers are hoping for more in their next tournament at Burlington on June 4-5.