Deep Run Lady Lightning Newsletter

The Bolt

Volume 3, Issue 2 July 2008

Summer Softball 2008 NEW this summer will be the Lady Lightning Summer Ball Program. The program is free to girls registered in the spring season and you will be contacted by email to participate. No registration is required. It will run once a week from Mid July to mid August on a night to be determined by the coaches. The idea is to have minimal coaching and let the girls play the game just like many of us did in our neighbor’s back yards or at the playground. So far we have a commitment from Dew Drops, Rain Drops, Bolts and Storm Coaches to run the program and there may even be a special night or two for the Pee Wee Rainbows! If any coaches are interested in running a Thunder program please contact Jeff Koenig ASAP.

Philadelphia Force Trip Join all your friends from Deep Run and attend the Philadelphia Force game on Wednesday July 9th at 7:00 PM. The Force is playing the Rockford Thunder and tickets will cost $10.00 each. Transportation is own your own or we may arrange a meeting point and car pool. Please contact Mary Ann Hennigan at [email protected] to order you tickets.

Fall Ball 2008 - Our 4th Year! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW

NEW this year Pee Wee Rainbow Fall Ball for 3 and 4 year old girls- $50 and one hour long sessions every Sunday afternoon!

The 6U thru 12U program will be held each Sunday afternoon from September 7th thru October 26th and the cost will be $65.00 per player. The program includes about 45 minutes of instruction to learn new 2008 FALL BALL skills, improve others, and then the girls are divided into age groups for a shortened game.

Also we are entering our 3rd year of VIGS 14U Fall Ball again on Sunday afternoons and if we have enough interest to field two (or more) teams we will do so. We will also field an 18U VIGS Fall Ball team if there is interest. For either 14U or 18U Fall Ball programs sign up thru the regular Fall Ball registration and fill in 14U or 18U for your age.

We urge all players to play this fall at the age group they will be playing in 2009 spring season to get acclimated to the new rules and any other changes. To sign up for any of the 3 Lady Lightning Fall Ball programs (Pee Wee, 6U – 12U, 14U/18U VIGS) complete and submit the form below and instructions for making payment will be emailed to you.

Please contact Valerie Curry at [email protected] with any questions or to volunteer to coach or help run this program. Or click here for the Fall Softball Frequently Asked Questions page

Deep Run Softball Night at Wendy’s Tuesday July 15th from 5 to 8 PM. -- Take the family to Wendy's for dinner and Lady Lightning Softball will receive 20% back from your purchase! No coupon is necessary. Drive thru purchases do not contribute to the program; please order and pick up inside for take-out. Last year we raised about $200.00 by dining at Wendy's! Don’t forget to wear your favorite Lady Lightning clothing.

Travel In 2008 Deep Run is fielding 4 Travel teams (10U, 12U, 14U, and 16U). Tryouts for these teams and an 18U Team for the 2009 season will soon be available on the website. If you have any questions about playing for any of these teams in the future, please contact Mary Ann Hennigan Travel Softball Commissioner at [email protected]. Please also check out the Travel Frequently Asked Questions Page.

DEEP RUN 12U TEAM WINS OLEY VALLEY SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT After rain washed out their entire Saturday, the Lady Lightning turned in a perfect 5-0 record on a long Sunday as they repeated as Oley Valley Tournament Champions on the weekend of May 31. Deep Run came out strong on Sunday morning, winning both pool games. In the finals against Brandywine, the Lady Lightning offense remained in high gear. Taylor led off the bottom of the first with a single. Labs followed with a triple, and came home on McCreary’s single. McCreary stole second, took third on a passed ball and executed a textbook delayed steal of home. McCreary had 3 hits and 3 runs, with a pair of hits each from Taylor and Labs. Another error-free defensive effort Front Row: A. Wolfgang, P. Decew, E. Mayhew, supported pitcher Decew, whose exceptional control held Brandywine to one hit B. Shanks, A. Horne Back Row: B. Casey, F. Knight, B. enroute to a 5-2 complete game victory and the championship trophy. The Lady Labs, K. McCreary, H. Taylor, B. Tate Lightning had a remarkable run differential in the 5 games, scoring 47 runs while only allowing 5 runs to their opponents. The 16U Deep Run Lady Lightning participated in the Memorial Day Classic on May 24th and 25th and after posting an impressive 7-2 record, they walked away as tournament champions. On Sunday the 25th the team posted five straight victories in bracket play over the Lehigh Valley Fury, Team Odyssey, Lionville Lightning and two victories over the Vipers of PA Blue, with a 6-2 win in the championship game. The team had outstanding combined pitching from Erica Smale and Taylor Bobek, while receiving superb offensive and defensive support. The team plated 51 runs in the nine games and allowed only 12 earned runs. Abbey Frost and Amber Viall shared the catching duties, while Courtney Adams and Alex Faccenda split time as first base. Rounding out the infield were Alicia Detweiler at third, Alycia Stiles at shortstop and Sarah Denard at second base. The out field consisted of Alicia Sarnese and Tess Bender in left, Lauren Wilson in center and Carly Hughes in right. There were plenty of extra base hits by the Lightning, highlighted by two out of the park homeruns by Alicia Detweiler. Alycia Stiles also showed significant power as she collected several two Kneeling L to R: L. Wilson, A. Stiles, T. Bobeck, S. Denard, E. Smale, A. Detweiler. Standing L to R: Head and three base hits. The coaches were extremely proud of the effort put forth by the team Coach T. Denard, A. Viall, A. Frost, Asst. Coach H. in all categories and by virtue of this tournament win obtained their bid to Nationals, which Frost, C. Hughes, A. Sarnese, T. Bender, A. Faccenda, Asst. Coach B. Detweiler. is scheduled for the week of July 21st through the 26th in Columbus, Indiana.

2008 Everybody Hits For the second year The Hartford Financial Group sponsored the Deep Run Valley Lady Lightning Softball program Everybody Hits for Special Needs Kids, ages 6-16. The program is a noncompetitive format with the emphasis on fun, and teaching the basic skills of the game! This program is offered as a community service and no fee was charged thanks to The Hartford’s generous donation. Instruction was provided by Deep Run softball players, and was coordinated by Alicia Detweiler. This is the first year Alicia ran the program and she did a fantastic job. We look forward to her return and all of the other volunteers who helped her with the program for several years in the future. Of course a huge thanks to The Hartford Financial Services Group for stepping up and funding this fantastic program.

Intramural 2008 It is hard to believe the intramural season is over already! Special thanks go out to all the coaches and division directors, umpires, and all parents who work very hard to make Deep Run the excellent program it is. Despite some really bad weather we got a vast majority of the games in. We added outfield fencing to field 5, a new and permanent backstop for field 1. Next year we hope to see even further improvements to field 5 and 1 and maybe our first electronic scoreboard. Registration for the 2009 regular season will begin on line in early January 2009. A meeting will be scheduled in early fall to start to address the volunteer needs we have and spreading the work from a few to many in a committee format. Brad Hughes is not returning as player agent next season and Jeff Koenig will be stepping down as Intramural Commissioner in no more than 2 years so the need is immediate to start the transition plans. The volunteers need to come from the intramural parents or surely the program will decline or fail. Please plan to attend this important meeting for the future of the Lady Lightning and be ready to take a small part of the program to run. A list of volunteer roles will be presented to all prior to the meeting and you may contact Jeff to volunteer now.

Quadruple Play? Alright so that really can’t happen but if it could it did! Picture this Field 4 on Saturday May 3rd a 12U Bolt game between Chase Home Finance and Thompson Toyota. The bases are loaded for Thompson, but Chase shortstop Katherine Walsh grabs a line drive. With the runner on second going on contact, she tagged her out before getting back to second base. The runner from first also broke at the crack of the bat and Katherine tagged her between first and second for an unassisted triple play! But she wasn’t finished she fired the ball to third and would have recorded a fourth out if it were possible. Katherine and the rest of the Chase team went on to win the Bolt championship for 2008. Katherine a Central Middle School Student going into 7th grade is was also on the 12U Select team and All Star Team and is no stranger to Deep Run Championships having helped her team to win the soccer Major B Girls Championship in 2007.

Click-In Action Photos New this season was our partnership with ClickIntell which is part of the Intelligencer newspaper to provide action photos of all Lady Lightning teams. The photographer visited each team and took high quality action photos. The photos are posted on the website at www.ClickIntell.com. To view the Lady Lightning albums on the left side of the screen click the link for "photographs", then click the link for "youth sport action photos", then click the link for "deep run valley sports association", then click the link for "Lady Lightning softball" which will bring up all the albums. You can purchase copies of the picture, digital downloads, magnets, mugs or any of several different items that would feature your photo. You have no obligation to buy, but Lady Lightning Softball does make 6% on all sales.

All Star Games In our third year of having Thunder and Bolt All Star games both games were held at the Perkasie Kulp Playground field. While the Thunder game was a twilight game the Bolt game was probably the first ever Deep Run Intramural game played under the lights. The stands were pretty full and the play on the field was outstanding. Look for the All Star games to continue in 2009. Special thanks go out to Chris Purcell for getting the field ready for the games and also to the Division Directors and all the coaches who where involved with the selection, practices and the games.

Intramural Championships The Deep Run 12U Bolts Championship game was played on Sunday June 15th between the Ken Beers team and the Chase Home Finance team. This game turned into a very exciting pitchers dual. Amber Karcher and Brianna Lechner pitched for Ken Beers with a total of 15 strike outs. Katherine Walsh and Amanda O'Hara pitched for Chase with a total of 13 strike outs. Katherine Walsh was the big hitter for Chase. Corrie Ryan had a triple and Devon Volpe had a hit for Ken Beers. Devon Volpe and Amber Karcher provided great fielding for Ken Beers and Sydney Rose and Addy Marshall were key in the defense side for Chase. An excellent game was played by all of the girls. Chase Home Finance won the 12U Intramural Champions Kneeling: J. Grasmeder, A. O'Hara, A. Marshall, J. Hunter. Standing: Coach game with a final score of 7-4. M. Herd, M. Herd, R. Pletscher, S. Fetter, K. Spangler, K. Walsh, A. Hagen, S. Rose, K. Muredda, Coach R. Herd Dr. Robert Azarik Orthodontics captured the 10U Intramural Softball Championship by defeating Re/Max Legacy 5-1 on Sunday, June 15th. Julia McKinney and Lyndee Feick scored helping Dr. Azarik’s take an early lead. Kara Wireman drove in a run by hitting into a fielder’s choice. Emma Lafty doubled and knocked in the second run. The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the 3rd. Julia McKinney scored for the second time off an RBI by Lyndee Feick. Dr. Azarik added two more runs in the bottom of the 4th when Emma Lafty and Cassie Tessier scored on fielder’s choice hits by Jess Heckler and Madeleine Whitmore. The score was 5 -0 until the top of the 6th inning. Sarah LaBouliere scored for Re/Max. Veronica Gisondi and Hannah Beck also got on base in the top of the 6th to make things interesting, but to no avail. Kara Wireman pitched three shutout, hitless innings, while Julia McKinney closed the door the final three innings. Emma Lafty and Lyndee Feick made 10U Intramural Champions Kneeling (l to r) C. Tessier, M. Brill, S. Stead, J. Heckler, M. Brill Standing (l to r) R. several highlight reel plays in the field during the game. Monika Brill, MacInnes, K. Wireman, L. Feick, M. Whitmore, J. McKinney, E. Lafty Back Row (l to r) Assist Coach T. Wireman, Head Coach B. Lafty, Assist Coach D. McKinney Margot Brill, Sierra Stead, and Rachel MacInnes did an outstanding job Missing from photo K. Young and N. Yuzwiak manning the outfield. “This was a great group of young women to coach. They worked hard, listened to the coaches and were a ton of fun,” said head coach Brian Lafty. “The success of this team would not have been accomplished without the tireless work of assistant coaches Tom Wireman and Dave McKinney.”

VIGS Select Deep Run had one U-10 team and one U-12 teams participating in the VIGS Sunday Select Program. These teams are girls from our Intramural program who commit to playing extra games and two tournaments each year against surrounding townships. If you have any interest in playing on one of these teams in 2009 watch the web site for tryout announcements or contact Jeff Koenig at [email protected].

2008 DRVSA Golf Outing Plans are under way for the 2008 DRVSA Golf Outing to be held on Friday September 12, 2008 at the Macoby Run Golf Course – registration at 12:30 with a 1:00 PM Shotgun Start. You can register on line at http://www.drvsa.org/drvsa_golf.html or by clicking here for a printable registration form. Costs are as follows: a single player is $100, a foursome costs $400, Hole Sponsor is $200, a corporate sponsorship(Includes foursome & hole sponsorship) is $550, and a corporate gold sponsorship(Includes foursome, hole sponsorship & ad on this web page is $600. Food & beverage will be available before outing and beverage locations will be on the course. Buffet dinner following the outing with great prizes/giveaways for 1st & 2nd Place, Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive, Straightest Drive, 50/50 Putting Contest, 50/50 Par 3 Contests. The registration Deadline is August, 31, 2008. We would like to have at least 4 foursomes from softball. If you are willing to play but don’t have a foursome, please contact Jeff Koenig at [email protected]

Deep Run Website Please continue to check the web site at www.drvsa.org after the season. We will update as needed and provide links to other softball sites, softball camps and clinics, and Fall Ball Information as well as Travel and Select tryouts schedules will also be posted there as will any future softball news.

The Bolt Editions will be more frequent during our softball seasons averaging once a month and less frequent during the off season. If you wish to unsubscribe please click on the DRVSA Newsletter Box on the web site home page and then choose unsubscribe for the Softball newsletter. We hope you see value and enjoy this form of communication, please contact Jeff Koenig at [email protected] for any questions about The Bolt!

The mission of Deep Run Lady Lightning Softball is continuous improvement! Programs offered include intramural, VIGS, VIGS Sunday Select, Travel, Fall Ball, Pitching Clinics, and Everybody Hits which is our community outreach program for special needs kids. If you have any questions, issues, or want to help with any of the programs, please contact Intramural Softball Commissioner Jeff Koenig at [email protected] or for travel softball contact Travel Softball Commissioner Mary Ann Hennigan at [email protected].