The 18-under Louisiana Chaos must like their softball like most people think Cajuns like their food – hot!
That’s how it was Tuesday afternoon at The Summit of Softball Complex, where the team’s second shutout secured the top seeding from its pool heading into elimination play in the National Softball Association A Division Eastern World Series.
The Chaos, from the Baton Rouge area, are coached by Ben McDonald, who pitched nine years in the major leagues, including seven with Baltimore. Before that he starred for LSU and was a member of the 1988 gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team.
“It was hot out there,” McDonald said, “but it gets hotter than this at home.”
He made a pitching change after four innings in his team’s afternoon game Tuesday, unaware that Haylee Grantham was working on a no-hitter. Kendall Stevenson gave up a single to the first batter she faced, but a double play took care of the runner. Kaylee Guidry allowed two hits in four innings pitched in the morning game when temperatures were more pleasant.
“We’ve played in this all summer,” McDonald said. “We feel like we’re in shape for it. Wait until Friday when some teams start playing three games a day. Mentally is where you get beat up.”
Gators’ pin wins
The NSA held its annual World Series trading pin contest, and this year’s winner is the 14-under Indiana Gators ’96. After consulting with daughter and team member Stephanie and daughter and personal art critic Ashlee, scorekeeper Bill Janczak came up with the model for the pin.
“We wanted something that worked, something different,” Janczak said. “We’ve been to a couple or three different ones of these. It’s always the unique ones people are wanting to trade for.”
The Gators’ pin features the girls’ personalized bats leaning against a wall alongside a personalized coaches’ bucket, all underneath the team name and a logo of an alligator gripping a softball. Some shadowing is used around the bats and the pins have a sparkle to them, thanks to the insistance of Angela Sutton, one of the team moms. Images of the 24 pins the NSA chose from can be viewed at nsafastpitchworldseries.com/2011-Pin-Entries.html
Mendoza guest star
The opening ceremonies featured speaker Jessica Mendoza, who plays in the National Pro Fastpitch League for the USSSA Florida Pride. She let those in the crowd at Camp Jordan on Monday know that she had been where many of them are this week.
Before getting into her speech, Mendoza first announced that Chattanooga was the location of her first out-of-state trip for softball when she competed in a 14-under national tournament as a member of the Summertime Blues, based in Ventura, Calif. She went on to give an inspiring talk, cut short slightly by a pop-up thunderstorm, based on her life’s motto: “Love it; dream it; live it.”