Text Box: Thunder Pics & Stuff:

Hanover Thunder Fastpitch Softball!

Thunder Pride...

WFC Battle at the Beach

November 21-22 in Myrtle Beach, SC

         Hanover Thunder Blue wrapped up the 2008 campaign down South in the beautiful & sun-drenched Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  With the temperature in the mid-60’s with soft ocean breezes coming from the east, the Thunder played in the 23-team tournament featuring some of the best 14U fast-pitch softball teams in the south-east.  The Thunder played 2 pool play games Friday night before heading into double-elimination bracket-play starting Saturday morning...ok, maybe it wasn’t quite 60 degrees...maybe closer to low 40’s — and maybe the wind was blowing a little harder...15 to 25 mph...but isn’t that true softball weather — wind chill in the 30’s?  Anyway...riding a 16-game win streak, the Thunder rolled through their first 2 opponents on Friday night.  In the initial game, the Thunder scored 3 in each of the first 3 innings to cruise past the Gators 9-4.  In a very chilly night-cap, the Thunder put up 7 in the 1st inning and coasted to the 10-0 win.

         The Thunder started bracket-play Saturday morning against the Coastal Sting — Taylor S started the Thunder bats with a triple  in the top of the 1st and the rest of the Thunder jumped in to put up 6 runs in the inning.  After going down quietly in the 2nd and 3rd, the Thunder put the game out of reach with 4 more in the 4th.  The 10-0 win extended the Blue Win Streak to 19!

Text Box: Other Thunder Stuff... The Thunder continued with the quick starts — in the 3 Thunder wins, 16 of the 29 runs scored were in the 1st inning… Thunder individual highlights: Best Start of a Game: In the 1st game of bracket play, as the visitors, Thunder lead-off hitter Taylor S rocketed the first pitch of the game over the right-fielder’s head for a triple… Most Hits in a Game: Shannon A went 3 for 3 with 2 RBI and a run-scored against the Crushers… Defensive Gem of the Tournament: Julie P, playing left-field, with runners on first and 2nd in the 5th inning made a diving catch on a line drive hit down the left-field line to keep things close against the Intimidators… Best Pitching Performance: Against the Coastal Crushers, Kelsie B retired all 9 batters that came to the plate striking out 7! She retired the 1st 5 batters on strikeouts, before a ground-ball out, she then struck out the next 2 batters before the final out—a popup to shortstop… Hardest Hit of the Tournament: In the 3rd inning of the final game against the Titans, Traci S smashed a “frozen rope” line drive to right-field that was caught by a very tall leaping right-fielder…

Thanks to Karen B, Dana K, Joncie A, Wendy I, and Karen S for the great pics!

 

“We do not remember days,

we remember moments”

Cesare Parese

“Thanks to everyone in the Thunder family for contributing to the
‘moments’ of 2008!”

         In a match-up against a very strong Intimidator team, the Thunder came up short—dropping a 6-1 decision for their 1st loss (of double-elimination).  Down only 1-0 through 3 innings, the Thunder retired the first 2 batters in the 4th and had an 0-2 count on the next batter — the Intimidators were able to take advantage of a “tight strike zone” and a couple of hits to put up 3 runs in the inning.  The Thunder scored in the bottom of the inning on singles by Taylor S and Megan I, a sacrifice bunt by Lindsey N and an RBI single by Shannon A.  Helped by a couple of Thunder miscues, the Intimidators scored another 2 in the 5th to end the scoring for the game.  After nightfall, in frigid conditions, the Thunder faced a Carolina Titan powerhouse — a team that had already won 2 WFC tournaments in November.  In a 7-inning battle, the Titans prevailed 3-0, scoring all 3 (unearned) runs in the 2nd inning.  Kelsie B and Shannon A combined to give up only 3 hits in the game.  The Thunder had 4 hits in the game (2 by Megan I).  The loss eliminated the Thunder from the tournament.  The 2 teams that the Thunder lost to finished in the top 10 of the tournament — the Intimidators finished 7th while the Titans finished 3rd…

         For the year, the Thunder won 6 of 14 tournaments entered — Won 52 games (only lost 17) — and won 23 of their last 26 games!!
Line Callout 3: “Look mom, no hands…” We are (Thunder) Family!