Ford Park
Beaumont, TX
July 25-31, 2005
124 teams; 6 game guarantee (3 pool, modified double elimination bracket)
Despite stumbling in their second game, the Aces won their pool in the AFA National tournament. The Aces beat the Texas Thunder 4-0 on Monday (and made the local news!), then lost to the Oklahoma Impact 2-4 Tuesday morning. However, while the Aces played the Texas Shockwaves and beat them 2-0, the Texas Thunder beat the Oklahoma Impact 5-1 for a three way tie. Aces won by allowing fewer runs scored against them. The pool win set the Aces up to face a 4th place team in the first round of bracket play.
In the first bracket game, the Aces stumbled once again, as they played the Texas Panthers on Wednesday morning. Maybe it was just the 8:00 am start, but the Aces made several errors and couldn't seem to find their bats. The 0-4 loss gave the Aces the rest of the day off and time to practice and regroup, and another 8:00 am start on Thursday. This time, the Aces were determined to do better, and beat the Texas Energy 4-1. On Friday, the Aces started by run-ruling the Oklahoma Dynamite 8-0 in 4 innings. Next, they took care of the Illinois Orland Park A's 3-1.
The highlight of the tournament was the following game, where the Aces faced the Cy-Fair Intruders Gold, in a game which lasted for 12 innings. In the first 7 innings of play, the Aces didn't have a single baserunner. However, the Aces defense was outstanding, and they kept the Intruders from scoring, including a play at the plate in the 3rd where Brytish threw to Kelsea to stop a run from scoring. The Intruders had runners in scoring position in three different innings. When the game went into ITB, the Aces got their first baserunner! However, neither team scored in the 8th or 9th inning. In the 10th, Kesha got the Aces first hit of the game and drove in a run, and an error allowed Kesha to score on Amber's sac bunt. The Intruders didn't give in. In the bottom of the inning, after a walk, the next batter hit a double to drive in two runs and tie up the game at 2-2 with no outs. However, the outstanding defense once again kept any further runs from scoring, and sent the game into more innings. Neither team scored in the 11th. In the top of the 12th, the Aces got a second baserunner with an Intruders' error, and an infield hit by Kesha loaded the bases. Amber, Rhiannon, and Cotton hit back-to-back singles to score 4 runs. The Aces held the Intruders in the bottom of the inning for the 6-2 win.
The Aces came back on Saturday and run-ruled the Elk Grove Heat 5-0 with Morgan on the mound. The Aces then sent home the Louisiana Stingers with a 2-0 win with Rhiannon pitching. Morgan was injured when she was hit by a pitch in that game, so Rhiannon pitched the following game as well. This time, the Aces were up against the Beach Girls Gold, which had top players from seven different states (New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusettes, Florida, California, Texas, and Colorado). Brittany Barnhill from Texas pitched against the Aces. The Aces defense and pitching held strong for the first couple of innings, but fatigue was beginning to show against the strong bats in the 3rd. The Beach Girls hit a couple of line drive shots that the Aces got leather on but couldn't stop, then another single and back-to-back doubles drove in four runs for the Beach Girls. The Aces played tight defense the rest of the game, and got double plays against the Beach Girls in the 5th and 6th innings. The Aces also got a run of their own in the top of the 5th, when Megan singled and Sarah drove her home with a double. Rhiannon also doubled in the 6th but was left stranded. The final score was 1-4.
The Aces were the last team standing that had lost their first bracket game and advanced through the loser's bracket. The best the others did was 33rd overall. The Aces finished 4th in the green bracket, tied for 13th with the other 4th place teams. It was a great way to end the season!
| Opponent | W/L/T | Us | Them | |
| Texas Thunder |
|
|
|
|
| Oklahoma Impact |
L |
2 |
4 |
|
| Pool 3 | Shockwave 16U |
W | 2 | 0 |
| Texas Panthers |
|
|
|
|
| Texas Energy |
|
|
|
|
| Oklahoma Dynamite |
|
|
|
|
| Orland Park A's |
|
|
|
|
| Cy Fair Intruders Gold |
W | 6 | 2 | |
| Elk Grove Heat |
W | 5 | 0 | |
| Bracket 7 | Louisiana Stingers |
W | 2 | 0 |
| Bracket 8 | New Jersey
Beach Girls |
L | 1 | 4 |
Final Order of Finish
| Place | State | Team | Place | State | Team | Place | State | Team |
| 1st |
TX |
Beaumont
Blast Gold |
49th |
TX |
Texas
Peppers Gold |
97th |
TX | Lightning |
| 2nd |
TX |
Tomboys |
OK |
Oklahoma
Storm |
NE |
Lincoln
Swingers |
||
| 3rd |
TX |
Houston
Power Gold |
TX |
Texas
Elite Easton |
TX |
Roughriders
Orange |
||
| 4th |
IL |
Stone
City Sharks |
TX |
Texas
Sting Gold |
TX |
Texas
Select |
||
| 5th |
LA |
Cajun
Peppers |
LA |
Louisiana
Crushers |
TX |
MC Elite
(Seals) |
||
| TX |
Sudden
Impact Gold |
TX |
Texas Challengers (Flores) | TX |
Texas
Jets |
|||
| CA |
Runnin'
Rebels (Bob) |
CA |
California
Rage |
TX |
Sugar
Land Shock |
|||
| LA |
New
Orleans Voo Doo Gold |
TX |
Travelers
'89 |
TX |
Thunderbolts |
|||
| 9th |
TX |
Texas
Eclipse Gold |
TX |
Roughriders
Blue |
TX |
Avengers |
||
| TX |
Hearts
of Texas Blue |
TX |
Cy-Fair
Sliders |
TX |
Mystixx
(Jay) |
|||
| TX |
Mesquite
Skeeters |
IL |
Orland
Park A's |
TX |
Beaumont
Blast Red |
|||
| NJ |
Beach
Girls Gold |
CA |
California
Titans |
NE |
Omaha
Quakes Red |
|||
| 13th |
TX |
Texas Aces |
TX |
Tomball Sting (Hallmark) | TX |
Texas
Cobras |
||
| TX |
Cy-Fair
Intruders (Parrish) |
TX |
San
Antonio Royals |
TX |
Texas
Travelers |
|||
| TX |
Texas
Storm (Dixon) |
TX |
Cy-Fair
Battz |
TX |
Austin
Storm Red |
|||
| LA |
Redstick
007's |
TX |
Texas
Panthers |
CA |
Strike
Force |
|||
| 17th |
LA |
Louisiana
Stingers |
65th |
TX |
San
Antonio Nightmare |
TX |
Texas
Starz (Hutchins) |
|
| CA |
Tornadoes |
CA |
American
Pastime |
TX |
Centex
Sluggers |
|||
| AL |
Alabama
Thrillers |
CO |
Colorado
Quicksilver |
MO |
St.
Louis Illusions |
|||
| TN |
Memphis
Fusion |
CA |
Shilos |
TX |
Sugar
Land Cyclones |
|||
| OK |
Oklahoma
Impact |
TX |
Texas
Thunder |
TX |
Texas
Heat (Krysiak) |
|||
| LA |
Louisiana
Magic |
TX |
Connection |
TX |
San
Antonio Smoke |
|||
| WA |
Dragin'
Magic |
TX |
Beaumont
Blast Select |
TX |
Legends |
|||
| TX |
Mystixx
Gold (Garza) |
TX |
Hit Away
Gold |
TX |
Katy
Express Pink |
|||
| 25th |
CA |
So Cal
Select |
TX |
Texas
Challengers (Joe) |
CA |
Poison |
||
| OK |
Oklahoma
Rebels |
OK |
Oklahoma
Magic |
CA |
So Cal
Faith |
|||
| OK |
Oklahoma
Babes |
LA |
Louisiana
Force |
TX |
Texas
Energy |
|||
| LA |
Louisiana
Express |
TX |
Texas Sox |
|||||
| TX |
Rapid
Fire |
LA |
Louisiana
Pride |
|||||
| CA |
California
Thunder |
CA |
Athletics |
|||||
| TX |
Wicked |
TX |
San
Antonio HITT (JB) |
|||||
| IL |
Elk
Grove Heat |
TX |
Beaumont
Blast White |
|||||
| 33rd |
TX |
Katy Heat |
xx |
Polar
Crush |
||||
| CA |
So Cal
Wildfire |
TX |
Shockwave |
|||||
| OH |
Ohio Ice |
CA |
California
Jets |
|||||
| CA |
So Cal
Rebels |
TX |
Texas
Heat (Lemons) |
|||||
| TX |
MC Elite
(David) |
TX |
Lethal
Weapon |
|||||
| TX |
Centex
Babes |
TX |
Austin
Storm Blue |
|||||
| TX |
Terminators |
TX |
Katy
Express (DM) |
|||||
| LA |
Louisiana
Rippers |
TX |
Orange
Crush |
|||||
| TX |
Katy
Express (Munoz) |
CA |
Riverside
Rookies |
|||||
| TX |
Fireballs |
CA |
California
Stars |
|||||
| TX |
San
Antonio HITT (Dismike) |
OK |
Oklahoma
Heat |
|||||
| TX |
Cy-Fair
Intruders Gold
(Dan) |
OK |
Oklahoma
Dynamite |
|||||
| TX |
SMI
Texas Steelers |
TX |
Texas
Stars (Erin) |
|||||
| TX |
Texas
Smash |
TX |
Houston
Wave |
|||||
| TX |
Texas
Playmakers |
CA |
Runnin'
Rebels (MT) |
|||||
| TX |
High
Voltage Gold (Morris) |
TX |
Texas
Challengers (Newsome) |
Coming soon...
Pool Game
2 - vs Oklahoma Impact. Aces lost 2-4.
Coming soon...
Pool Game
3 - vs Texas Shockwave 16U. Aces won 2-0.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 1 - vs Texas Panthers. Aces lost 0-4.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 2 - vs Texas Energy. Aces won 3-0.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 3 - vs Oklahoma Dynamite. Aces won 8-0.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 4 - vs Orland Park A's. Aces won 3-1.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 5 - vs Cy Fair Intruders Gold. Aces won 6-2.
In the first 7 innings of play, the Aces didn't have a single
baserunner. However, their defense was outstanding, and they kept
the
Intruders from scoring. Neither team had a baserunner in the
first two
innings. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Intruders led off with a
single
and the runner advanced on a wild pitch. After Rhiannon struck
out
one, the next batter singled and moved the lead runner to 3rd.
The
Intruders were back to the top of their lineup, and a hard hit grounder
to short seemed sure to score a run, but Brytish fired the ball to
Kelsea at the plate,
where Kelsea tagged the
runner for the out.
A fly
foul to Kesha in left field
ended the scoring threat with runners at
2nd & 3rd. In the 4th, the Intruders hit two more singles
with one
pop up in between, then another runner reached on an error to load the
bases. However, a pop up to Brytish
at short and a ground out to
Lindsey at 2nd again
kept the Intruders from scoring. Once again
in
the 6th, the Intruders led off with back to back singles. The
next
batter grounded out to Lindsey at
2nd and advanced the runners to 2nd
& 3rd, but Rhiannon struck
out the next two to leave the runners
stranded. Two strikeouts and a fielder's choice after a walk kept
the
Intruders from scoring in the 7th.
Finally into ITB, the Aces got their first baserunner! However,
after
advancing the runner to 3rd, the Aces couldn't score. Neither
team
scored in the 8th or 9th inning. In the 10th, Brytish started at
2nd
base and advanced on a sac bunt by Sarah.
Kesha got the Aces
first hit
of the game and drove in Brytish for
the first run of the game.
Kesha
stole 2nd, and Amber was
safe on a sac bunt that forced an Intruders
error and allowed Kesha to
score. The Intruders didn't give
in. In
the bottom of the inning, after a walk, the batter at the top of the
lineup (who had the 2nd highest batting average in the Houston area
during the high school season), hit a double to drive in two runs and
tie up the game at 2-2. A ground out to Rhiannon advanced the
runner
to 3rd. On the next grounder to 3rd, Megan chose to hold the
runner at
3rd and allow the batter on base. That plan worked out well, as
the
next batter popped up to Rhiannon,
and the final batter popped up to
Sarah at 1st base, to
send the game into yet another inning.
Both teams failed to score in the 11th. In the top of the 12th,
the
Aces started with Megan at
2nd. Kendall hit for Brytish, and
reached
on a sac bunt with an error. Brytish
came back in to run.
After a
strike out, Kesha got an
infield hit between 3rd and short which loaded
the bases. Amber hit a
single to left to score one run, and
Rhiannon
followed with a single to right to score another. Cotton followed
with
yet another single to left center to score two more, before a fielder's
choice and a fly out to left ended the inning. The Aces allowed
one
additional baserunner on in the bottom of the 12th on a throwing error,
but a pop
up to short, a line drive to left, and a final pop up to the pitcher
left two runners stranded and sent the Intruders home.
Bracket
Game 6 - vs Elk Grove Heat. Aces won 5-0.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 7 - vs Louisiana Stingers. Aces won 2-0.
Coming soon...
Bracket
Game 8 - vs New Jersey Beach Girls Gold. Aces lost 1-4.
Coming soon...
[2004-2005 Schedule]
Texas Aces Home
Webmaster: Julie
Kliesing
Copyright © 2000-2005 Texas Aces. All
rights reserved.
Last Updated 8/6/2005