Submitted By: STEVEN SHIPP
The ’99 Virginia Crushers Fastpitch Softball team from Prince William County traveled to Salem Virginia this weekend to compete in the 2012 National Softball Association (NSA) 12U Virginia State Championship. Twenty-four of the best 12U teams in the commonwealth entered this year’s tournament with the hopes of bringing home the title.
The Crushers had previously won the state title in their final year of 10U in 2010 and knew that this year’s championship would be a much harder challenge. They competed in and won this year’s 12U NSA Fall State Championship in Powhatan, which also consisted of 24 teams. They understood that the odds of winning both the fall and summer state championships would be difficult knowing the level of competition coming from across the state.
The ‘99 Crushers have had a goal this season. They want to repeat the success they had in 2010, their final year of 10U, which culminated in 15 out of 16 tournament wins including the NSA “A” World Series Championship and a final 10U record of 88-2-1.
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The Crushers decided to play up in the 14U division as much as possible this season in order to prepare for the NSA Virginia State and World Series Championships. The decision to play older, stronger, more experienced players in 14U paid off. The Crushers competed in the USSSA 14U “A” Virginia State Championships the weekend of June 2-3 in Sterling and went 4-2 and earned their way into the championship game where they came up just short and lost to the Hampton Roads Vipers 3-1. The Vipers came into the championship game undefeated 5-0 and had previously demolished their competition scoring 49 runs while only allowing 3. The Crushers held their own in the championship game, restricting the Vipers potent offense to only 3 runs.
This experience helped the Crushers in the first half of their goal, winning the NSA Virginia State Championship by going 6-0 this weekend in Salem. Wins in the state finals included a 10-0 victory against the Augusta Flames, a 7-1 win against 3-D Fastpicth from Gladys, Va. A 9-1 win versus the Manassas Blaze and a 3-2 extra innings win against the Williamsburg Starz.
The semi-final game resulted in a 5-2 win against Elite Fastpitch from Smithfield VA. The Elite fought their way out of the losers bracket in the double elimination tournament, but couldn’t hold on, falling to the Crushers 3-1 in the championship game. Great pitching and defense held teams to only 7 runs all weekend, 4 of which were earned. The Crushers hit a team average of .340 for the weekend and the pitchers held opposing hitters to just 25 hits in 6 games, including 32 strike-outs and 4 walks for a combine ERA of 0.65.
The Crushers season starts in the fall and runs through to the summer World Series Championships which are being held in Spartanburg SC this July. So far, they have won nine of the ten 12U tournament championships they have entered. Their 12U record so far is 55-6. They have one first place 14U championship, two second place and one third place finishes in 14U play. Their 14U record is an impressive 21-5.
The Crushers will compete next in the ASA Virginia State Championship in Sterling on June 23-24. Then, one more 14U USSSA tournament and a final 12U PONY tournament before heading off to Spartanburg SC for a chance to reach the second part of their season goal, winning the 2012 NSA “A” World Series Championship.
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