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| Lady Magic survives 144-team field, crowned ASA national champions |
| Written by John Hull - Citizen Sports Writer |
| Tuesday, August 05 2008 00:00 |
|
They can now be referred to as “national champions.” The Lady Magic, a girls’ softball organization which has been fielding high school-aged all-star teams for 40 years, swept through a huge 144-team field of age 16-and-under teams from virtually every state to grab the American Softball Association’s national title. Led by Sheldon High School All-Americans Jolene Henderson and Lindsey Ziegenhirt, the Lady Magic wrapped up the big crown by defeating a St. Louis (Mo.) team, 13-5, on Sunday in Owensboro, Kentucky. And it wasn’t just the Henderson-Ziegenhirt battery that shut down all opponents. Pleasant Grove High School sophomore Ally Carda shared the mound with Henderson to combine for five shutouts, including one no-hitter, in 11 tournament games. With short appearances by Elk Grove High School’s Shelby Wisdom, too, the Lady Magic gave up only 13 runs total. In the sole loss of the tournament, the Lady Magic surrendered three runs in a loss to an Oregon team in extra innings. That was during pool play. But, after the teams were seeded in the massive double-elimination bracket, the Lady Magic was virtually un-touchable. “They all pitched great and hit their marks really well,” Magic coach Joe Henderson said. “We had great depth in pitching, so our girls’ were never tired (during the tournament).” Their closest contest was Saturday against the defending champs, the Orange County Bat Busters, a 1-0 win. Ziegenhirt accounted for the lone score for the Lady Magic with a solo homer. Ziegenhirt, a senior-to-be for the two-time defending Sac-Joaquin Section champions, had an outstanding tournament with the bat, not just behind the plate. In the opener in bracket play last Wednesday, she drove in all of her team’s runs in a 9-2 defeat of a team from Midland, Texas. The future Cal Bear had a three-run homer, a grand slam and a two-run double. By the end of the tourney, she had seven home runs, including a pair of solo shots in the championship game. Cheyenne Cordes, from Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, also showed her power with five long shots, including two three-run homers in the tournament clincher. Like Ziegenhirt and Henderson, she’s already committed to attending Berkeley when she graduates. Simone Heyward of Rosemont High School emerged as another hot hitter, going 3-for-4 in the championship game. The center fielder batted over .600 for the tournament. The team brought home what coach Henderson referred to as “a big piece of rock” for the championship trophy. “But, each girl got a large blue plaque that is really special and something they can take home, hang it up on the wall and be proud of what they accomplished,” he said. “Every girl did their part in helping us bring home the championship. All fourteen had a role in each game, some were just situational, but our whole team has an awesome hitting ability and they all played great.” Thursday night, Carda took the mound and shut down the Germantown Reds from Kentucky, 11-1. The future UCLA Bruin allowed only two hits and fanned 11 in four innings. The game ended via the mercy rule in the fifth inning. Wisdom pitched the fifth inning but was a star at the plate. The Herd’s probable starting pitcher in 2009 had a home run and two doubles. Cordes drilled a home run, while Jessyca Rios from Patterson High School had two hits. That put the Lady Magic into Friday’s game against the East Cobb Cobras from Georgia. Henderson took the win by pitching a three-hitter in a 10-0 shutout. The senior-to-be struck out 11 and walked none in going the distance. Cordes had a homer and a double, while Heyward went 2-for-2. It set the scene for the Lady Magic’s entry into the tournament’s Sweet 16. They played three games Saturday and won all via shutouts. In the first game, Carda pitched a one-hitter in a 7-0 whitewashing of the Oregon Rampage. Henderson, who was a first baseman for the game, was 3-for-3 with a double. Heyward went 3-for-4. Then, in the early afternoon Saturday, the Lady Magic faced the Bat Busters with Henderson allowing just three hits and striking out eight. Saturday evening, in the national quarterfinals, they took on the St. Louis (Mo.) Chaos. Carda started the game and allowed three hits over five innings and led the Lady Magic to a 6-0 win. Wisdom pitched the final inning. Ziegenhirt was 3-for-4 with two home runs, while Sheldon’s Danielle Henderson and Katie Mathis from Bear River High School each had two hits. To open play on Sunday, bats were popping again for the Lady Magic as they defeated the So Cal Firecrackers, 10-2, in a five-inning semifinal game stopped by the tournament’s eight-run mercy rule. Henderson was again tough by striking out five in a six-hitter. Heyward continued to lead the offense with a double, and Danielle Henderson added three hits and Hayley Miles of Center High School had two. The Lady Magic then faced St. Louis, again, which played itself out of the losers’ bracket. The Chaos had a 5-4 lead off Carda going into the Magic’s half of the sixth inning. Then the floodgates opened and the California gals scored four times and added five more in the seventh inning to grab the national championship trophy. Jolene Henderson came in to pick up the win by pitching the final two innings. So what did the Magic do, in a town like Owensboro, to celebrate winning a national title? “We’re bowling,” Henderson said on the phone Sunday just two hours removed from winning the blue plaques. “Its’ become a tradition after a win to go bowling.” The best the Lady Magic had finished in the ASA nationals was a runner-up in 1986. The previous year, 1985, their all-stars finished fourth. This group of Lady Magic did get a third-place finish when they were 12-year-olds in 2004. As published in the Elk Grove Citizen |
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