Friday, July 30, 2010 * Mattoon Jounal Gazette

A new Pride success story

ROCK HILL, S.C. - After years of success but no NSA championships for the Mattoon Pride, this year's 16-and-under Pride has changed that.

Three come-from-behind wins on Friday, capped by an 8-1 rout over the Schaumburg Sluggers, gave the Pride the National Softball Association World Series championship.

"We finally cracked the ice," Pride coach Wade Bradley said. "I'm very proud of the kids and very proud of the organization. It's a good achievement."

Previous Pride teams had four second places, two thirds and a fourth in NSA tournaments.

"I'd say it's more unexpected than expected," Bradley said. "I don't guess you ever expect to win a national championship. But I thought we could go in there and finish in the top four. Things kind of came together for us."

Nothing was easy as Mattoon had to rally from deficits in each game and overcome an injury to pitcher Kacey Starwalt.

The Pride's Friday began with a 4-2 win over the Virginia Shooting Stars team that had sent Mattoon to the losers' bracket on Thursday.

This time Katie Lange continued her strong national tournament pitching the win while Morgan King contributed three hits sending the Pride into the all-Illinois finals against a Schaumburg team that had lost to Mattoon earlier in the season but stood unbeaten in the NSA double-elimination tournament.

The Pride fell behind 1-0 in the fourth inning then had Starwalt injured in the fifth when diving for a popped up bunt and hitting her face on catcher Hannah Cole's kneeguard.

The game was delayed for 20 minutes as Starwalt was taken from the field on a stretcher but was diagnosed with no concussion.

The Pride stayed behind until the seventh when Maura Cummins reached on an error on a hard-hit grounder.

She was on second base with two outs and then stole third on what Bradley called the play of the game.

"She saw the catcher framing a pitch," the Pride coach said. "Based on that she gambled. That's just a gutsy move on her part. When she saw something she could do something with she took advantage of it."

Then Cummins scored on a passed ball to score the tying run.

With Tana Rentschler on second base using the international tie-breaker rule in the top of the eighth, King put the Pride ahead with a single to left-center field, Kali Gosser advanced Rentschler with a sacrifice and Kayla Jacobs drove in an insurance run with a single.

In the bottom of the eighth Gosser, playing second base, caught a hard liner and turned that into a double play to stop Schaumburg's threat.

Elizabeth Everingham got the win with 3 1/3 innings scoreless relief innings after Starwalt's injury and then started the final game throwing a five-hitter with Schaumburg's only run unearned.

Schaumburg did score in the first inning and the Pride was scoreless until the fourth when Cole singled, Everingham had a sacrifice, Rentschler hit the game-tying single, King singled, Gosser had an RBI single and Jacobs, batting ninth in the order, made it 3-1 with a two-out single.

The Pride broke things open in the fifth as Rentschler singled, King singled and one out later, Lange's squeeze bunt got home a run and Jacobs had an RBI double. Jordyn Fones followed with a walk and after a double steal, Jacobs scored on a pickoff attempt. Cole singled in the last run.

"It seemed like all week long we'd make an error that put us behind by a run or two," Bradley said. "It just seemed like we'd come out too relaxed sometimes. But when the chips were on the table our hitters stepped up. Two-out hits in key situations were really the road to victory, I'd say."

Winning eight of nine games at the NSA tourney, the Pride 16s finished the season 39-7.

"Not too bad," Bradley said. "I think we'll have five kids that will move up to 18-and-under and six that will stay down. It's kind of a good mix.

"We played all year without Melanie Sparks, who had an injured knee, and Paige Roytek couldn't make the trip down here. We had kids out of position in the infield on Friday and they really adapted to whatever we needed."

Game 1

Stars 200 000 0 - 2-9-0

Pride 003 010 x - 4-13-1

Winning pitcher: Katie Lange 7 innings, 9 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

MATTOON: Jordyn Fones single; Maura Cummins, single, RBI; Hannah Cole double, 2 RBIs; Elizabeth Everingham 2 singles; Tana Rentschler single; Morgan King 3 singles, RBI; Kalli Gosser single; Lange single; Kacey Starwalt 2 singles

Game 2

Pride 000 000 12 - 3-4-1

Sluggers 000 100 00 - 1-6-1

Winning pitcher: Elizabeth Everingham 3 1/3 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts; Starting pitcher: Kacey Starwalt, 4 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

MATTOON: King single, RBI; Lange single; Kayla Jacobs single, RBI; Starwalt single

Championship

Sluggers 100 000 0 - 1-5-1

Pride 000 350 x - 8-12-1

Winning pitcher: Everingham 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 walks, 1 strikeout

PRIDE: Fones 2 singles; Cole 2 singles; Rentschler 2 singles; King 3 singles, 2 RBIs; Gosser single, RBI; Lange RBI; Jacobs double, single, 2 RBIs

Monday, June 21, 2010 * Mattoon Jounal Gazette

Pride 16s come back to capture NSA state title

KANKAKEE - The Mattoon Pride 16-and-under softball team rallied to beat the Black Widows 8-7, after trailing 5-0 Saturday, and went on to win the National Softball Association state tournament by beating the Schaumburg Sluggers 3-1 and the Quad City Firebirds 9-1 Sunday.

The Pride finished the tournament with a 6-1 record.

After pool play Friday the double elimination tournament started Saturday with the Pride beating the Iroquois County Chaos 8-0 and the Lemont Rockers 7-3.

Kacey Starwalt picked up two victories, while Elizabeth Everingham had two as well and Katie Lange had one.

Starwalt pitched a three-hit shutout in the win over Iroquois County and Hannah Cole of Windsor had two doubles, a home run and four runs batted in as the Pride beat Lemont.

Sunday in an 8 a.m. game Mattoon trailed 5-0 against the Black Widows after two and a half innings. The Pride climbed back to within one with four runs in their half of the third only to have the Black Widows score two in the fourth for a 7-4 lead. The Pride scored a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to force an extra inning game due to the time limit.

After holding the Black Widows scoreless in the international tiebreaker rule (the last person at-bat in the previous inning starts on second) Mattoon began with Kalli Gosser on second. She was sacrificed to third and Jordyn Fones drove her in on a fielder's choice as Gosser just beat the tag at home.

"Katie Lange threw a tremendous game and we ended up wining by one run," said Pride 16 coach Wade Bradley. "It was the key moment of the tournament because otherwise we would have had to play in the loser's bracket."

The Pride scored all three of its runs in the first two innings in the battle of two undefeated tournament teams to beat Schaumberg 3-1 with Fones driving in two runs and Kayla Jacobs hitting a single and a double.

Coming out of the losers' bracket was the Quad City Firebirds and the Pride scored four runs in the first, three on a two-out, two-strike home run over the fence in right field by Jacobs.

"That put us in the driver's seat," said Bradley of the four-run inning. The Pride added one in the second and third and ended up winning by the eight run after five inning rule.

"Hannah Cole hit three home runs in the weekend and all of them were not cheap shots," said Bradley. "We did all of this without two starters in Melanie Sparks, who is out for the year with a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and Paige Roytek was at a basketball game. It is a good feeling to win this. We beat four quality teams. This group of freshmen and sophomores - it is the first one (state title) for them and it is a good feeling for them to be involved in that. They had finished second and third in this tournament (as 12's and 14's) previously."

Mattoon, 13-1, is to travel to East Peoria Friday for an ASA tournament.

Saturday's games

Mattoon 103 40 8-10-0

Iroquois County 000 00 0-3-2

Winning pitcher: Kacey Starwalt 5 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts

MATTOON: Jordyn Fones single; Hannah Cole 2-run homer; Elizabeth Everingham home run, 2 doubles; Tana Rentschler single; Kayla Jacobs 2 singles; Kalli Gosser 2 singles

Mattoon 202 03 -7-10-1

Lemont 100 11 -3-4-1

Winning pitcher: Everingham 5 innings 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

MATTOON: Fones single; Maura Cummins 2 singles, triple; Cole 2 double, home run, 4 RBIs; Everingham single; Rentschler single; Gosser single

Sunday

Black Widows 104 200 -7-4-1

Mattoon 004 121 -8-7-2

Winning pitcher: Katie Lange 3 2/3 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout: Starter: Kacey Starwalt 2 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 1 strikeout

MATTOON: Fones 3 singles, 3 RBIs; Cummins single; Everingham single, 2 RBIs; Rentshler single; Lange single

Schaumburg 000 001 -1-9-0

Mattoon 120 000 -3-6-0

Winning pitcher: Everingham 6 innings, 9 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

Pride: Fones 2 singles, 2 RBIs; Evringham single; Jacobs single,, double; Starwalt double

Mattoon 411 03 -9-7-0

Quad City firebirds 000 01 -1-5-1

Winning pitcher: Starwlat 5 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts

MATTOON: Fones 2 singles; Cole home run; Jacobs home run,, 4 RBI; Goser single, double; Lange single

Pride 18s finish in a tie for fifth at NSA qualifier

KANKANKEE - The Mattoon Pride 18-and-under softball team finished in a tie for fifth place in the National Softball Association qualifier, going 3-2 and playing all of its games on Saturday due to rain on Friday.

The Pride 18s played three straight games Saturday and five in nine and a half hours. Mattoon began the day by beating the Waukegan Renegades 7-2 before falling to the Quad City Firebirds 14-0. The Pride bounced back with a 10-0 blanking of the Downers Grove Rebels and earned another shutout with a 3-0 win over the Elgin Heat before falling to the Milan Aces 6-1.

"For the weekend I thought we played real well," said Mattoon coach Mike Dow. "The one game against Quad City they were an excellent hitting team. I don't think we will face a much better team than that no matter where we go. I have not seen a hitting team like that in a long time. Amber Shedelbower and Alison Kimble (of Cumberland) kept us in games. We made a few errors in both games and that came back to haunt us. We responded well after the loss to Quad City."

For the tournament Megan DeWerff, who is headed to Parkland, was 10-of-13 (.769) and is batting .621 (18-of-29) on the season. Casey Sowers was 7-for-10 in the tournament and is batting .538 on the year, while Bailiegh Basham of Mattoon was 6-for-11 in the tourney and is batting .563 for the season. Monica Rondon is batting .586 on the year.

"We hit the ball well," said Dow. "We just didn't get them strung together except for one game."

DeWerff, Kimble and Kellye Kohn all drove in two runs each in the win over Waukegan. Games were limited to an hour or five innings due to Friday being rained out. The Quad City Firebirds had 16 hits in their win and Mattoon committed three errors.

Shedelbower allowed just three hits in the win over Downers Grove and the Pride banged out 16 hits, scoring five runs in the first. Shedelbower had a perfect game going through four innings against Elgin before an error, a walk and a hit were allowed in the fifth. DeWerff was prefect in three at-bats. In the final game Milan scored five unearned runs in the third to win. Basham and Sowers were 2-for-2 in the contest.

Mattoon, 9-2, is to travel to Collinsville Friday for another NSA qualifier. The first game for the Pride is set for 8:30 p.m. against the St. Louis Spirit.

Game one

Mattoon 030 04 -7-9-0

Waukegan 000 200 0 -2-4-0

Wining pitcher Alison Kimble (3-0) 3 2/3 innings 3 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout; Amber Shedelbower (save) 1 1/3 innings , 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts

MATTOON; Megan DeWerff 2-for-3, 2 RBIs; Kimble 2-for-3, double, 2 RBIs; Casey Sowers 2-for-2; Rachel Bishop 1-for-3, RBI; Kellye Kohn 1-fo-1, 2 RBIs

Game two

Quad City 330 26 14-16-0

Mattoon 000 00 -0-4-3

Losing pitcher: Sheldelbower (2-1) 4 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs, 4 earned; Kimble 1 inning, 7 hits, 6 runs

MATTOON: Glenn 1-for-2; DeWerff 1-for-2; Bailiegh Basham 1-for-2; Sowers 1-for-2

Game three

Downers Grove 000 0 -0-3-0

Mattoon 523 x -10-16-0

Winning pitcher: Shedelbower (3-1) 4 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 5 strikeouts

MATTOON: Glenn 1-for-3; DeWerff 3-for-3, 2 RBIs; Basham 2-for-2; Monica Rondon 1-for-2, RBI; Kimble 1-for-2, RBI; Bishop -for-2, RBI; Shedelbower 2-for-2, 2 RBIs; Sowers 2-for-2; Chelsea Knight 1-for-1, RBI

Game four

Mattoon 102 00 -3-7-1

Elgin Heat 000 00 -0-1-1

Winning pitcher: Shedelbower (4-1) 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts

MATTOON: DeWerff 3-for-3; Basham 1-for-2, RBI; Rondon 2-for-3, 2 RBIs; Kohn 1-for-2

Game five

Mattoon 000 1 -1-6-4

Milan 105 0 6-4-1

Losing pitcher: Kimble (3-1) 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

MATTOON: Dewerff 1-for-2; Basham 2-for-2; Rondon 1-for-2; Sowers 2-for-2; Shedelbower sacrifice, RBI

Posted in Sports on Monday, June 21, 2010 9:22 pm

Monday, January 18, 2010 10:22 PM CST

LLC's Tinsman lands spot on the roster at Indiana State

BY BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor

bnielsen@jg-tc.com

MATTOON -- Hailey Tinsman admits she was ready to reluctantly give up on her softball playing career.

The former Mattoon and Lake Land shortstop figured she had fallen too far behind academically to get another shot.

“Oh yeah, I talked to coach (Throneburg) and told him I didn’t think I could do it,” Tinsman said. “It is because of him that I made it through this.”

Now Tinsman is at Indiana State, eligible to play this coming season.

Throneburg, who after last season relinquished the Lake Land softball coaching duties to concentrate on his athletics director job, does not deny that the paper work took some time but spreads around the credit.

“Coach (Brenda) Coldren at Indiana State did an excellent job in the recruiting process,” Throneburg said. “She was very persistent and very professional in making sure everything was done right. We did have to make sure everything academically was in order.

“The bottom line is Hailey’s success in the classroom this fall. Hailey did what she had to do this fall. She had a 2.88 GPA taking 14 hours and because of that she is eligible to play Division I this year.”

Indiana State now has an All-Great Rivers Athletic Conference first-team shortstop and NCJAA All-Region 24 second-team choice who as a sophomore hit .464 with 11 home runs and 12 doubles helping Lake Land set a school record for wins going 46-8 with a No. 11 national ranking.

“I’ve never doubted Hailey’s ability to play Division I,” Throneburg said. “I’ve told her she is one of the best shortstops I’ve ever coached. I really think the only person who doubted that was Hailey. I’ve coached a lot of good shortstops but Hailey is as good as I’ve ever coached. Sometimes kids need to be told those things.”

Considering Throneburg’s daughter Dara earned All-American shortstop honors playing for the last three of her father’s six IHSA Class A state championships at Casey-Westfield, the “as-good-as-I’ve-ever-coached” statement is no small statement.

Tinsman had not lost her softball interest, helping in Lake Land’s fall practices while taking classes.

Now she has spent a week as an Indiana State student-athlete.

“I really like it,” Tinsman said. “I’m practicing in the infield so we’ll see game time what I can play.

“Basically I want to do well in all my classes and do my best in softball.”

Throneburg is among no doubt many from the Mattoon/Lake Land softball family glad to see she has reached this point.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for her academically and a great opportunity for her athletically,” Throneburg said. “I think she has a good chance to go in and start. I think it’s a good chance for her geographically, close to home. She got a great package financially. We couldn’t ask for anymore.

“I’ve coached a lot of kids in her situation. It just takes some a little more time to get from point A to point B. Not always is it a smooth ride but one of the most satisfying things in coaching is to see kids succeed in whatever they choose to do. I’m really proud of her to take this step. It would have been easy just to take the easy way out and I’m glad to see she’s accepting this challenge.”

Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.

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