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2001 in Review |
| Brakettes Finish Third in ASA Nationals The third time was supposed to be the charm. However, it didn't work out that way on August 18, 2001 in Phoenix, AZ, as the Stratford Brakettes had to settle for another third place finish in the ASA National Championship tournament at the Rose Mofford Sports Complex. It was the third year in a row the Brakettes finished in third place and each time they were sent to the sidelines by the Phoenix Storm. Playing the defending champion Storm tough during a four-game regular-season series in Stratford, where three of the games went into extra innings, the Brakettes entered the national meet extremely optimistic. Their 62-7 record and strong year-end finish, combined with the addition of National High School Player of the Year Cat Osterman, the touted left-handed pitcher from Houston, had Brakettes faithful envisioning a 24th championship banner. Following a narrow 2-1 first-round victory over the Bloomington, IL, Lady Hearts on August 16, thanks to Frankie Spruce's one-out suicide squeeze bunt which plated both runs in the last of the seventh, thus enabling Leslie Malerich to pitch a no-hitter on the winning side of the score, the Brakettes fell victim to the ASA tie-breaker rule later that night against the California Hurricanes. With Osterman breezing along with a harmless 2-hitter, the Brakettes squandered several golden scoring opportunities to suffer a 1-0, nine-inning loss when the Hurricanes scored on Suzy Brazney's single to right field, which plated Erin Rahn, who was placed on second base to start the tie-breaking procedure. Osterman finished with 18 strikeouts. Keri McCallum and Germaine Fairchild both had two hits. Now the Brakettes needed eight straight wins to capture the title. Manager John Stratton's club managed to reel off five straight victories to get another shot at the Storm in the loser's bracket final for the third year in a row. Victories were posted over the Phoenix HotShots 1-0, behind Osterman's 1-hitter and Sara Jewett's RBI in the fifth, and San Diego's Shiloh's 12-0 as Jen Smith pitched a five-inning no-hitter and Fairchild went 3-for-4 with three RBI and Martha Covington homered on August 17. In a game that began at 1 a.m. on August 18, the Brakettes left the diamond three hours later with a 3-2, nine-inning win over Team Texas, the 2001 runners-up. Jewett's squeeze bunt delivered the winning run off Olympian Christa Williams, while Osterman picked up the win in relief of Malerich. The Brakettes were back on the diamond at 8 a.m. and responded with a 1-0 win over the Decatur, IL, Twister as Alicia Smith drove in the run in the third inning and Osterman (4-1) hurled a 2-hitter. They were back at work 15 minutes later as Malerich (24-4) stopped ABCO Marketing of Texas 1-0 on three hits and Lea Mishlan scored the run in the top of the fifth inning. McCallum's two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh gave the Brakettes a 1-1 tie with the Storm. However, with the tie-breaker now in effect, the Storm scored three times in the top of the eighth to prevail 4-1 and oust the 68-9 Brakettes from the nationals, where they were 6-2. During the season, the Brakettes successfully defended their title in the Bob Caravan Tournament in Allentown, PA and they also won their fourth straight Northeast Seaboard Women's FastPitch League Championship with a 2-0 win over the Adirondack Ice in the finals. Malerich tossed a 3-hitter and Mishlan and Spruce drove in the runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the semifinals, the Brakettes blanked the Connecticut Classics 2-0 behind the 1-hit pitching of Jen Smith, who also drove in a run. Spruce had the first RBI. Following a 2-1 loss to the Ice in the round-robin opener, which saw Theresa Hornick lose for the first time after 14 wins, the Brakettes won three straight to earn the top seed in the single-elimination format. Malerich stopped the Allentown Pates 5-0 on two hits, while Smith also had a 2-hitter to beat the Classics 3-0. In the finale of round-robin play, Hornick hurled a perfect game with 10 strikeouts in beating the Hamden Eclipse 8-0. Fairchild captured the team batting title with a .361 average as she had an outstanding year. |