In only their second tournament into the 1999 summer season, the Kansas City Lasers swept the Muskogee, Oklahoma National Qualifier on June 5 and 6 and earned their trip to the 1999 ASA Nationals in Marietta, Georgia in August.
Saturday’s games produced victories over the Jenks Force (20-1), Oklahoma Mavericks (4-0), and the Blazer Blast (8-0). Sunday’s play picked up with the Lasers defeating the Broken Arrow Power (9-1) before meeting up with the Mavericks again in the championship game.
After going six scoreless innings, Keri Tanner led off the top of the 7th with a single and was sacrificed to second by Katie Wienke. Carly Lang then attempted to sacrifice Tanner to 3rd but after an outstanding play by the Maverick’s shortstop, Tanner remained on second. Jackie Sells then ripped the winning single up the middle to drive in Tanner for what was the eventual game winning run.
With only the one run lead, the Lasers had to hold their lead through the bottom of the 7th inning. Pitcher Tracie Tiensvold got the first Maverick batter to pop up to second baseman Kendra Power. The second batter then grounded back to Tiensvold who threw to Lang at first for the second out. Tiensvold then fanned the third and final batter for the victory.
Pitchers Katie Gregg and Tiensvold combined for an ERA of 0.32 and recorded 33 strikeouts in five games. The superior defensive play by the entire Laser team held opponents to only two runs and combined for a team fielding average of .939 for the tournament. Offensively the Lasers finished with a team batting average of .336 and pounded out 42 runs for the tournament total. See Team Photo
The Memorial Weekend Holiday was the first weekend the Lasers had their full team back since winning the championship at the O’Fallon, Illinois NSA Qualifier in late February. The Lasers captured first place on Monday, May 31 at Adair Park in Independence, Missouri. After losing to a very talented Shock Wave team in Sunday’s round of games, the Lasers hit their stride on Monday and played five games back to back as they battled back through the loser bracket. They avenged their loss to the Shock Wave by beating them twice in the double elimination finals. Pitcher Tracie Tiensvold recorded victories in all five games on Monday.
Winning 11 of 12 games over the holiday weekend, the Lasers score 45 runs and allowed only 11 and held seven opponents scoreless.
Their season record stands at 31 wins and 10 losses in which they’ve scored a total of 162 runs and held opponents to only 43.
Members of the 1999 Lasers are Bree Beattie, Katie Gregg, Sydney Halbhuber, Katherine Hoffman, Carly Lang, Heather Maggard, Kendra Power, Jackie Sells, Keri Tanner, Tracie Tiensvold, Katie Wienke, and Kim Herriott Woodson. Mike Gregg manages the Lasers and is assisted by coaches Frank Halbhuber and Mark Tanner. See Team Photo
