Wahoo Frenzy Champs

This was our third straight weekend on the road with our Clay travel team. The first weekend, we finished 3rd out of 22 teams. The second weekend, "Mother Nature" was declared the winner. This past weekend, we were in Wabash, Indiana for the Wahoo Frenzy tournament. There were 14 teams from all over the state. We swept through our Pool Play on Saturday with a perfect 3-0 record - which made it nice because we didn't have to play an early game on Sunday morning.

But, prior to those three wins we were up early and on the road at 5:45 a.m. for our two-hour drive to Wabash. 15-16-17 year old girls don't always function well for those early morning games. It takes an hour or so of warm-up just to get their eyes open, their arms throwing, and the bat connecting with the ball.

We played two games at 9 and 11 and then we had to figure out what we were going to do with them for the next 5 hours, until our evening game. We ended up at Pizza Hut and then checked into the hotel. While the girls napped, the parents sat around by the pool and refreshed ourselves with beverages. Then, it was back to the park for the 7 p.m. game, which we end up winning in 5 innings. As the game ended, I heard Kelli laughing and pointing out beyond her Center Field position. Looks like we had a unpaid guest.

We got back to the hotel in time for the girls to take a quick dip in the pool (before management locked the gate). The coaches ordered pizzas, the girls all escaped to ONE room and the parents sat outside and stayed as far away from girls as possible.

I dont' think any of the three players in my room budged until almost 10 o'clock on Sunday morning - and that was only because we had to check out by 11. We made a stop at McDonald's and then it was back to the park for our first game at 2 o'clock game. Of course, there always seems to be time to just lay around on a blanket until coach tells you that it's time to get going.

So, we won that first tournament game against Logansport, and then faced off against Elkhart Memorial at 4 o'clock and won that one, which brought us up against Mishawaka Marian for the championship game at 6 o'clock. It's kind of funny - to be that far away from home and do battle against a high school that's 15 minutes away from your high school back home. Most of the girls on both teams knew each other - either from Little League or from Travel Teams. Marian jumped on top 1-0, but we came back in the 4th inning with 2 runs to take the lead and never looked back. We won the championship game by the score of 4-2 and took home the trophy.

... and here's Kelli and Angela modeling their championship t-shirts.