2015 ASA Womens Open National tournament report!
2015 ASA Womens Open National Tournament
Oklahoma City, OK
October 1-2
Erika Citron from Armed Forces hitting in the championship against Derby Girls
Derby Girls Christan Dowling hits a 3 run homer in the winner's final
Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the ASA A and Womens
The 2015 ASA Womens Open division featured 6 teams in a 3 game guarantee bracket. The favorites were the 2014 Champion Derby Girls and the All Armed Forces all stars. The two teams met in the finals of the 2014 tournament and 2015 would be no different. Both teams advanced to the Saturday night winner's bracket championship without any problem at all. Derby Girls defeating Lady MVP 13-3 with a bunch of early extra base hits and ground rule doubles, and Armed Forces knocking off Askarben Skers 15-2. In the undefeated game Armed Forces jumped out to leads of 3-0 and 6-4 on Derby Girls in a game which featured great diving stops, sliding outfield catches, and extra base hits! Derby Girls getting 3 of the runs on a homer by Christan Dowling. Then in the top of the 4th Derby Girls reached base safely 8 times in a row and scored 4 runs to take their first lead 8-6. In the bottom of the 5th Armed Forces fought back with 5 hits of their own including a bases clearing triple by Marjorie Mills and grabbed the lead 13-10 scoring 7 runs in the inning. Armed Forces would get 4 insurance runs in the bottom of the 6th and Derby Girls came back with 5 runs in the top of the 7th but came up short 17-15.
On Sunday morning Derby Girls crushed Askarben Skers 15-4 as pitcher Tara Salcedo went 4 for 4 and advanced to the championship rematch with a very good Armed Forces team. The championship though would be all Armed Forces as they scored 10 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning and held a 16-4 lead after 3 complete. Armed Forces had 4 triples in the game including MVP April Ortezo's and she was 2-3 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored. All of the Armed Forces starters had at least one hit and they won the championship 16-6 in just 5 innings.
I have to say that this year I have been able to watch some of the top womens teams in the country play a number of games and the Saturday night winner's final was the best women's game I have witnessed in many years. The defense and the great plays made as well as the number of extra base hits made for an entertaining brand of softball as well as the contrast between Combats power and the Armed Forces speed. Great show!
Another great defensive play between these two teams
Armed Forces in the championship game
Derby Girls Combat in the championship game
Video Highlites brought to you by:
2015 ASA Womens Open Awards
First Team All-Americans
IF- April Ortenzo – U.S. Armed Forces
IF- Kami Marrott – Derby Girls/Combat
IF- Marjorie Mills – U.S. Armed Forces
IF- Erika Citron – U.S. Armed Forces
IF- Victoria Pzsyk – U.S. Armed Forces
OF- Stefanie Watt – Derby Girls/Combat
OF- Miranda Sanderson – U.S. Armed Forces
OF- Holly Leiter – Derby Girls/Combat
OF- Teresa Herring – U.S. Armed Forces
UT- Tara Salcedo – Derby Girls/Combat
UT- Abby Beach – Askarben Skers
UT- Bri Benesh – Derby Girls/Combat
UT- Christan Dowling – Derby Girls/Combat
UT- Ashley Tarver – Lady MVP
P- Krystal Cavette – U.S. Armed Forces
Batting Champion – April Ortenzo – U.S. Armed Forces
Home Run Champion – Christan Dowling – Derby Girls/Combat – 3
Tournament MVP – April Ortenzo – U.S. Armed Forces
Tournament MVP: 2nd Lt April Ortenzo is a 2014 graduate of West Point Military Academy where she also played softball. She was the MVP, Batting Title winner and All Tourney for the Armed Forces women. She also led the All Army women's team to a 9-0 record and Gold Medal at the 2015 Armed Forces Softball Championships a few weeks ago. She is originally from Parkland, Florida and is now stationed at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state.
1st Place – Armed Forces 3-0
2nd Place – Derby Girls 2-2
3rd Place – Askarben Skers 4-2
4th Place – Lady MVP 2-2
Tied 5th – Toxic Swirl 0-3
Tied 5th – WoldpackToxic Swirl 0-3
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Leave a Reply