Birthday Game

We played our 15th game today.  It was the SMASHhawks version of Birthday Ball as we celebrated Abbey, Gracie and Megs birthdays.  Jill made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting in our team colors - delicious!

Rhea received the game ball for showing great form receiving many ground balls at 1st base.  She also had 3 SMASH hits.  Way to go Rhea!

Killer Killed It!

The season is coming to an end with our final two games this week.  Annabelle had 2 more hits off of pitching.  She has come a very long way since our first practice.  Speaking of pitching, huge thanks to Shannon Smith for stepping in at pitcher the last 2 games for Coach Kevin.

The game ball went to Karina.  Coach Kevin has been working with Karina (aka Killer)  to 'hit the ball hard' and she has shown a marked improvement the last 3 games.  Saturday was the best yet: she hit the ball hard for all 3 of her at-bats.  She also hustled the entire game in the field and made a couple of outs.  Way to go Karina!

Monster X 3!

The SMASHhawks played some fantastic defense today.  We made several outs at first base and probably around 4 or 5 outs at third base.  Our team has shown significant improvements on defense over the last couple of games.  We've also shown improvements in running the bases as EVERYONE is running hard to first base now.  Awesome job girls!

For the first time in SMASHhawks team history a player caught a fly ball.  If that isn't awesome enough, she turned it into a double play by tagging the runner trying to score from 3rd base.  For this the game ball goes to Megan, way to go Monster!  (Yes, again - 3rd time, but who's counting...other than her sisters of course.) 

Ty the SMASHer

The SMASHhawks played the Seminoles on Tuesday.  The girls continued to play good defense and are starting to understand the 'out'.  This rule addition has definitely brought in a level of competition that the girls seem to love.  Karina and Megan played especially well at Pitcher.  Karina was involved in our first collision on the base paths.  Man she is tough!  She got right up and finished the play.

Coach Kevin gave the game ball to Tyler for her SMASH hits and her huge improvement in 'hitting the ball hard' over the last couple of weeks.  Way to go Tyler!

A "Monster" Game

It was our second game playing with outs and we played a very competitive team, the Bulldogs.  We learned that by hustling on the bases it increased our chances to be safe.  There were many plays where our girls beat the throw to 1st simply because we ran hard through the base.

Meg (aka Monster) was recognized today because she caught several hard throws from Teags while playing 1st base.  She also continued her torrid hitting with 4 SMASH hits.  Way to go Meg!

SMASHabelle

For our 10th game of the season we began playing with outs.  If a batter makes an out, they return to the dugout.  It made the game more competitive and our SMASHhawks did not disappoint!  Grace made a nice play in the 2nd inning when she decided to tag out a runner going to 2nd base.  In the 3rd inning Rhea (Pitcher) made a strong throw to Teagan who made a great stretch and catch at 1st base.  There were many more tag outs and throw outs to 1st base - too many to remember!

Coach Kevin gave the game ball to Annabelle.  She continues to show improvement at the plate.  She had 2 hits off pitching and another SMASH off the tee.  Way to go Annabelle!

The SMASHhawks Rocked It!

The SMASHhawks continued their awesome hitting on Saturday.  The Illini coach said to me after one of our smash hits, 'What are you feeding your girls?  They are all monster hitters!'  That's pretty cool for our entire team to be recognized like that from the other team's coach.

But there was one player who stood above the rest, Megan!  She had not one, not two, but three deep drives.  They all nearly made it to the outfield grass.  Great game Megan - you had quite a day at the plate!

Last Night...

We had many sick little girls on Thursday.  Annabelle, Meg, Grace and Teagan (not sick, big brother graduation!) we missed seeing your smiling faces on Thursday!  Special thanks go out to Shannon Smith for pitching in place of Coach Kevin - we should have had you in there the first inning too.

The game ball went to Tyler for 3 SMASH hits in innings 2-4!  Way to go Tyler.

Way to Go, SMASHhawks!!

Half a team but a full heart!  The SMASHhawks continued to play awesome softball on Saturday vs. the Tigers.  Defense was the theme of the day as the girls tallied 6 OUTS (can't pinpoint the 6th, but I know we had 6!):

(1) 1st Inning: Karina fielded a ground ball at first base and beat the runner back to the base.

(2) 2nd Inning: Rhea fielded a ground ball at pitcher and threw to Brooklynn for the out at first.

(3) 2nd Inning: Brooklynn fielded a ground ball at first and beat the runner back to the base.

(4) 3rd Inning: Karina fielded a ground ball at pitcher and beat the runner to home plate.

(5) 4th Inning: Brooklynn fielded a ground ball at pitcher and threw to Teagan for the out at first.

Brooklynn received the game ball for Saturday's game for being involved in 3 outs during the course of the game.  Great defense Brooklynn!

These Girls Can Hit!

It was another great night of hitting for the "SMASHhawks" (aka the Jayhawks)! There were several hits that made it out to the grass!! We also had some nice fielding plays. We'll continue to work on the accuracy of throwing, but the girls are doing a great job keeping in front of the ball.  Congrats to Abbigail on earning the game ball. She had not one, not two, but three "SMASH" hits! Way to go, Abbers!!!