The 16U Kansas City Lasers girls’ fastpitch softball team brought home the fourth place trophy from the 16U Colorado Fireworks Tournament held June 28 - July 4, 1999 in Aurora, Colorado. They were the only 16U KC area team invited to participate in this year’s tournament that included 40 teams in the 16U division from all over the US. The team scored 19 runs and held opponents to only one run in winning their pool play on Thursday. They finished the tournament with a total of 40 runs scored against 15 by opponents. Six teams were shut out by the Lasers.
Batting leaders for the tournament were Keri Tanner with a .429 avg.; Katherine Hoffman hit .333; Kim (Herriott) Woodson and Katie Wienke each batted .300; and Bree Beattie hit .269. RBI leaders were Tanner with 7; Carly Lang and Wienke with 5 each; and Kendra Power and Jackie Sells with 4 each. Lang and Tanner each had an inside the park home run. The Lasers also had a strong offensive contribution from Heather Maggard with 4 walks and only 1 strikeout in 10 games played.
Defensively, special mention goes to the Lasers’ speedy centerfielder, Katherine Hoffman, who made three spectacular snags and leftfielder, Sydney Halbhuber, who had a solid defensive performance with a fielding % of 1.000.
Laser pitching was strong again throughout the tournament. Katie Gregg finished with a .22 ERA and Tracie Tiensvold recorded 31 strikeouts in 33 innings. For the season, the team is averaging .257 in batting and .918 in fielding. Pitchers Gregg, Tiensvold, and Maggard have a combined .51 team ERA.
In addition to their fourth place finish in Colorado, the KC Lasers have won three tournaments this year that have qualified them to play in the 16U ASA Nationals and 18U AFA and NSA Nationals. They also captured first place in the 16U Memorial Day Tournament in Independence, Missouri. See Team Photo
