Sportsplex USA of Santee is one of two premier complexes in the San Diego area with the second Sportsplex USA in Poway. For full details visit their website at www.sportsplexusa.com.


By Jim McCurdy Santee, CA. --- Sami Fagan had just chipped her teeth,


bloodying her mouth trying to slide into home. An inning later, a hard hit ball caromed off her eyebrow, cutting her face open again. "Her face was gushing blood," pitcher Carley Hoover said. "She didn't cry. She was just laughing." That game was no laughing matter though for Team


North Florida as it lost to New Town Rock (Pa.), 5-4, in the winner's bracket final of the ASA 18 Gold Nationals in late July at the fabulous Sportsplex USA in Santee, CA. The loss made the road a longer one for North Florida, a team that had finished runner-up in the 2010 national tournament. But it was a road the girls from the Sunshine state were


ready to take. North Florida beat Texas Impact, 4-2, in the semifinals. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, North Florida loaded the bases on singles by Stephanie Hartness and Shellie Robinson and a walk to Alex Powers. Bailey Schinella hit a bases-clearing double to propel North Florida to the championship series. Hoover picked up the win in relief. Hartness was 2


for 2, and Emily Carasone went 2 for 3. So onto the championship series North Florida met up with New Town Rock again, needing to win twice to take home the championship. In the first game of the championship series, North


Team North Florida lost to New Town Rock (Pa.), 5-4, in the winner's bracket final then bounced back with a 4-2 defeat over Texas Impact, and a 5-2 and a 2-1 victory over New Town Rock for the ASA 18 Gold National title.


Florida trailed 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth. Kelsey Carpenter drove in North Florida's first run on the fourth consecutive single of the inning. Powers had a two-run single to make it 3-2, and Ronnie Gajownik drove in two insurance runs to give North Florida a 5-2 win. Hoover worked the final three innings in relief,


allowing a hit, three walks and no runs to pick up the win. Fagan, who joins her sister, Kasey, at the University of Florida, went 2 for 3. It was redemption for Hoover, who lost the earlier game to New Town Rock when the Pennsylvania team scored five runs in one inning. New Town Rock tried to ride one pitcher the whole way, and North Forida capitalized. "I think she got tired and we finally got to her," Kevin


Fagan said. "The sixth inning, it just came together for us. You know how hitting is, it was contagious." North Florida opened the championship game with two


runs in the top of the first, jumping out on New Town Rock on Carpenter's two-run double. New Town Rock scored a run in its half of the first before the game turned into a


defensive battle. One in which North Florida prevailed, 2-1, to win the


national championship. "It's kind of like we scraped by in those last few games, and that's what made us champions," said Hoover, who went the distance in the title game, allowing five hits." Fagan, Hartness and Carpenter each went 2 for 4 in


the championship. "We had a lot of focus," Kevin Fagan said. "We had a pretty loose team before the tournament. The bottom line, they just weren't going to be denied." North Florida went 47-3 in the summer, and 8-1 at the


National Championship. Six players from this team moved on to play NCAA Division I softball. "They expect to win these tournaments," Kevin Fagan


said. "It was just really rewarding to win it, and finally come through. It was a super team. Sometimes you get these quote-unquote all-star teams with egos. It was just a really rewarding season. The group of kids makes it or breaks it."


11


Softball Today • August 2011


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