The KC Lasers 16U Girls Fastpitch team captured the championship for the second year in a row at the St. Louis Sluggers Indoor Tournament held in O'Fallon, Illinois February 26 - 28. In Sunday's championship game, the Lasers defeated the 18U KC Invasion 1-0 to bring the championship trophy home again in 1999.
Advancing through pool and bracket play undefeated, the Lasers scored victories over the KC Extreme (5-1), Stanford, Illinois Oly Fire (8-0), St. Louis Sluggers (3-0), Moline, Illinois Sudden Impact (8-0), Quad City Shockers (5-0) before the 1-0 win over the Invasion.
After several scoreless innings in the championship game, the 0-0 tie was broken when Katie Wienke scored the Lasers's run on Carly Lang's game winning RBI. For the tournament, the Lasers scored 30 runs to their opponents' 1 and notched 44 hits to 12 by their opposition. Pitchers Katie Gregg and Tracie Tiensvold combined for an ERA of 0.00. Defensively, the Lasers averaged .964 in team fielding. Heather Maggard lead the team's offensive attack with 6 RBI's. Jackie Sells and Tiensvold finished the tournament each with a .500 batting average.
The 1999 KC Lasers roster includes:
#3 |
Kendra Power |
Overland Park, KS |
Shawnee Mission Northwest High School |
#5 |
Bree Beattie |
Olathe, KS |
Olathe East High School |
#6 |
Keri Tanner |
Overland Park, KS |
Olathe East High School |
#7 |
Jackie Sells |
Lee's Summit, MO |
Lee's Summit High School |
#8 |
Sydney Halbhuber |
Raymore, MO |
Raymore Peculiar High School |
#9 |
Katie Gregg |
Raymore, MO |
Raymore Peculiar High School |
#10 |
Carly Lang |
Overland Park, KS |
Olathe East High School |
#14 |
Katherine Hoffman |
Overland Park, KS |
Notre Dame de Sion High School |
#18 |
Heather Maggard |
Blue Springs, MO |
Blue Springs High School |
#19 |
Kim Woodson (Herriott) |
Kansas City, KS |
Shawnee Mission Northwest High School |
#22 |
Tracie Tiensvold |
Independence, MO |
Truman High School |
#29 |
Katie Wienke |
Lee's Summit, MO |
Lee's Summit High School |
Mike Gregg has managed the team since it was established in 1991 and is joined again for the 8th year by coach Frank Halbhuber. Mark Tanner has joined the coaches this year after several years coaching in 10U and 12U divisions.
In 1998, the KC Lasers placed 5th in their first year of 16U competition at the ASA Nationals in Novi, Michigan. In June, 1999, the team will resume tournament and league play for the summer season. In addition to working to qualify for a return trip to the 16U ASA Nationals in Marietta, Georgia in August, the team has been selected to compete in the Worth Colorado Fireworks Tournament, June 30 - July 4 in Aurora, Colorado. Travelball Magazine has the Lasers ranked in 3rd place nationally in the 16U division.
See Team Photo