The 18 Gold Minnesota Irish have been invited to attend the 2010 Sun City Showcase event in Kissimmee, FL in November.

This event features the top Gold teams in the country, and is held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. More information on the event can be found at http://www.teamnjsoftball.com/2010_Sun_Classic.htm.

A second tryout date has been added for Saturday, August 14, at Erickson Park in Rosemount. Those that did not make the first tryout, or those who have been asked to come back again are invited. Times are as follows:

• 16U/18U – 10 until noon
• 14U – noon until 2pm

If you cannot make the designated time for your age, attend the other time slot. Please complete a registration form, which can be found on the home page if you have not done so. Any questions should be directed to Tim Johnson at 651-322-1628.

The Minnesota Irish 18 Gold have traveled to Marietta, GA to face the top 64 teams in the country in what is affectionately called “the big show”. The week starts with two pool play games which have no bearing on the bracket, but offer all the college scouts an opportunity to see the student athletes in action, and the coaches a chance to play all the girls on the roster without concern of the tournament outcome. Once bracket play begins on Wednesday, the double elimination portion of the event raises the stakes for the top prize in amateur fastpitch softball.

The ASA moved the tournament out of Oklahoma City for the first time in several years, and returned to West Cobb County just northwest of Atlanta. The weather this week is supposed to be between 75 and 95 with high humidity and scattered showers. The ASA will be attempting to webcast the games on fields 1, 2, 4 and 5. They will also be trying to provide live stats via GameTracker along with box scores and play recaps, but after viewing the first pool play”s stats, they”ve got some work to do to provide accurate results as they are missing many substitutions. In the meantime, all Irish games will be webcast on the mnirish.ihigh.com website with the approval of the tournament. Photos will also be loaded into Flickr for viewing, downloading, and slideshows.

All game schedules and brackets are available on the ASA 18 Gold website. The Irish games will be updated on the 18 Gold team page. Remember all game times are in the Eastern time zone.

Best of luck to our lady Irish!

The Minnesota Irish 14U Lattery endured extereme heat and humidity and went undefeated to take the Conference USSSA crown in Shawnee, KS. The team went 5-0 in defeating the top regional talent. They won $1200 in team prize money for travel and USSSA conference championship rings.

Here were the scores:

Missouri Pride 2-1
Iowa 24 Gold 6-5
Iowa Rebels 5-3
KC Elite 2-0
KC Elite 5-3

The 16U Irish-Hahn team finished their 2010 Minnesota season on a strong note, finish tied for 5th at the ASA State Tournament in Mound, MN this past weekend.

The Irish knocked off the ’93 Snocatz in their first game, a team they had lost to earlier in the season.

In their second game, they staged a nice comeback against the tournament favorite Renegades ’93, winning 6-5 on two runs in the last of the 7th inning.

Sunday play saw the Irish lose 4-2 to the eventual tournament winner Blizzard, and then they were knocked out of the tournament by the ’94 Snocatz in a 1-0 pitching duel.

The MN Irish 14U Lattery team went to the Cat Osterman Experience in Bellevue, NE and made it to the championship game. The girls played 11 games in 4 days. They went 6-1 in pool play with our only loss 3-4 to MN Blast. They played 3 back to back games on Friday morning as it was a single elimination bracket. The first game at 11:30 Friday was against Pleasant Hill Panthers (California). Game 2 was directly after at 1:15 against Something Special from Vancouver Washington. In game 3 we knocked out the #1 seed, the Omaha Quakes with a score of 4-3. The top 3 seeds had all been knocked out and the Mn Irish #4 faced Smitty”s Terminators, the #6 seed.

They lost the first and last game of the tournament finishing with a 9-2 record to take 2nd place. Three countries and 22 states were represented. These are the teams they defeated:
Pleasant Hill Panthers, CA
Something Special, WA
Storm Softball, IA
St Charles Comets Elite, IL
Camby Chaos, IN
Omaha Quakes, NE
Elmwood Park Lady Tigers, IL
S.W.A.T. Softball, MO
South Valley Bandits, UT

A special thanks to the Northern Blast that sat with us and cheered our girls on…..(after their tough loss)….during the entire Quakes game. Their girls, coaches and parents were great!

Photos by Joel Lauterbach

The Minnesota Irish 18 Gold had a strong showing at the Louisville Slugger Independence Day Tournament in Boulder, Colorado. Despite going 4-2 in pool play, they won three in a row in single elimination play including a stunning 2-1 victory over the defending ASA 18 Gold National Champion California Sorcerers. The Irish also defeated Illinois Chill before losing 3-1 to New Jersey Pride in a tough game.

In the victory over the Sorcerers, Jadyn Spencer got leadoff hits with Brittany Lauterbach sacrifice bunting and Myriah Rodgers hitting both RBI”s. Other highlights of the tournament included a 2-home run game for Jadyn Spencer against California”s Case Batbusters, and Brittany Lauterbach”s home run against the tournament”s runner-up California Lady Magic.

Eight Irish batters had extra base hits in the tournament. Jadyn had 2 home runs and 3 doubles. Brittany had 1 home run, a triple, and 2 doubles. Jenna and Myriah had 3 doubles while Lauren and Miranda had 2 with Kirstin and Rachel having 1.

Jenna led the team with 13 hits, Jadyn had 10, Kirstin and Emily had 9.

Jenna also led the team in runs scored with 8, with Jadyn plating 7 times and Kirstin 5 times. 11 players crossed homeplate.

Lauren led the team in RBIs with 7 in just 5 games played, with Jadyn driving home 5 and Brittany and Myriah with 4. 10 players had RBIs.