In just their second tournament of the spring season, the Chiefs finished as runnerups in the USSSA Warmup one day tournament on April 30, 2017.  The combination of good pitching, hitting and defense led the Chiefs to the finals against the Nationals 12U Blue after playing 5 games where they went 4-1.   After beating Team Nitro '05 11-2, the Chiefs lost to the Storm Academy 7-6 after mounting a late comeback attempt that fell short.  A couple of oddball occurrences in the 1st inning cut short a Chief fast start scoring rally in the 1st inning.  After that game the Chiefs went on to win 3 straight games winning 13-2 against the Nationals 12U, 9-2 against Nitro '04, and 8-2 against the Surge.

The Chiefs looked unfazed on having to face the Nationals 12U Blue team in the finals, knowing that they were going to face some heat from their ace pitcher.  What was not known before the game, was that the game was going to be only a 4 innings, as opposed to a 7 inning game, because darkness was going to occur in the next half hour.  Go figure.  The start of this game looked very promising as our batters were really making their pitcher work for outs.  In the first inning alone, the pitcher threw over 30 pitches to the 3 batters she faced.  The feeling was that if we could get through the lineup a couple of times we would eventually get to her.   Our pitching and defense did a great job holding them only to 3 runs, which wound up to be the final score after 4 innings of play.  

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GIRLS FOR THEIR 2ND PLACE FINISH WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU. THE HARD WORK IS PAYING OFF!

The Chiefs Black '04 team started off the tournament on Saturday with some torrid hitting going 3-0 in pool play, beating LI Crush 04 Black 9-4, Aztecs 9-3 and Honeychucks Black 10-3.  When Sunday's bracket play day came, they would do the same by run ruling Thunder '05 by the score of 15-4 to advance to semi-finals and a rematch against LI Crush '04 Black. Unfortunately the team fell short in this one by losing 13-10 in extra-innings under international tie breaker rules. Defense just couldn't make enough plays to win this one. Despite the loss the team went 4-1, which was the second best record for the tournament and scored the most average runs per game at 10.6.

The Chiefs '04 Black team won their first tournament of the season going undefeated for the two days with a record of 6-0. Great defense, pitching and timely hitting led the Chiefs through this tournament.  The Chiefs beat Team Nitro '04 6-5, Nationals 12U 3-1, and Aztecs 7-5 in pool play on Saturday.  On Sunday the Chiefs would again face the National, this time beating them resoundly 13-1.  Then beat the the Hellcats 10-0 in the semifinals.  In the finals, the Chiefs beat Nitro '04, 3-0, with several terrific defensive plays and good pitching.  The pitching and defense for the day held opponents in 3 games to 1 run.

The team has now has now gone 14-3 over their last three tournaments.

Whats most important in all of this is they have shown such maturity, confidence and development in their game.

CONGRATULATIONS CHIEFS '04 BLACK!

The Chiefs won their second tournament in a row, going 4-0 over the two days and beating a good LI Pride team in the semi-finals 3-2.  The semi-finals game ended in exciting fashion when in the top of the 7th inning (Chiefs leading 3-2), 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, the Pride hitter lined a single to right field.  Brigid tried to throw the runner out at first to no avail. However, with the Pride trying to score from second on the play, Kaylee then threw home where we caught the runner in a run down for the game ending out.  Great defense, pitching and timely hitting were keys to this weekend's success.

The Chiefs have now been in the finals in 3 of their 4 last tournaments, compiling a record of 18-3 over the period.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CHIEFS 04 BLACK FOR ANOTHER TOURNAMENT WIN!

Chiefs finished in second place in the LI USSSA State Tournament held on Fathers Day losing to the Thunder '04 team in the finals. After playing some great defense up to the finals, the team let its guard down in the finals and played its worst game in awhile.   Chiefs just couldn't overcome the mistakes and a 5 run deficit.  Overall not a bad tournament as the team went 4-2 and showed some mental toughness in a nail biter 2-1 win over the LI Express in the semi-finals.

Congratulations to the girls for finishing 2nd and making it to the finals for the 4th time in the last 5 tournaments!

Chiefs finished in 1st after going 3-1 in a shortened tournament due to rain-out on Saturday.  Good pitching, great defensive plays in key situations, and timely hitting were a key to Sunday's success.   The team showed more mental toughness in a close 3-2 win over the Pride, as well as coming back to beat the Aztecs 6-3, after losing 3-1 to them in pool play. 

The team has now made it to the finals in 5 of the last 6 tournaments, winning 3.

Great job girls!

The team went upstate to Chester, NY to play in the Yard Fest Tournament ("At the Rock") over the weekend and finished in 2nd place after escaping a thrilling semi-final game with a win.

In Saturday's pool play the team went 1-2 losing close games to NY Bluefire 05 and the Impact Panthers, while trumping the Larchmont Tigers 11-3.  Sunday's playoff bracket play produced better results and a trip to finals.  The team walloped the Lady Bandits (2nd seed) 17-3 in their first game of the day.  Then took the momentum into the semi-finals game by jumping out to a 6-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings against the Panthers, who beat us in the pool game.   The Panthers refused to give in and scored 2 runs in the 4th and another in the 5th.  What could be considered as one of the best managerial moves of the season, the Panthers facing 2 outs, down 6-3 and their runner on 2nd in the 5th inning with 1 minute left in the game, had their runner step off 2nd base early to force a third out.  The move insured another inning of play before time expired (no new inning after 1 hour & 20 minutes).  They took advantage of it.  After we scored 1 run in the top of the sixth, they answered with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the score.

The next inning (7th) brought international tie-breaker rules, whereas a runner starts at second base on each teams 1/2 inning of play.  Each team would score 1 run in the 7th.  In the 8th, after we scored a run on a big 2 out base hit, the Panthers would have their chance again of tying it.  With a runner starting on second, the first Panthers batter attempted to bunt, which bounced up high and hit her out of the box for the first out.  The second Panthers batter fouled off a ball a third of the way up the first base line that Jules, coming out from behind the dish, made a diving catch on.  Facing 2 outs, the next Panthers hitter singled to centerfield.  With the runner attempting to score from second, Ella fielded the ball and threw a one bounce throw to the plate, in which Jules held on for the final out after a collision at home plate.

What a heart-stopping finish!

The team then went on to play a very good NJ Pride team in the finals and lost.

It was a great weekend in which the team battled hard and were able to enjoy time together and with members of the Chiefs 04 Red team.

This was the teams 6th trip to the finals in the last 9 tournaments they played in.

Great Job Team!