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BASES Hosts Visiting NCAA Softball Teams
One of the NCAA regional tournamnets for fastpitch softball is being held the weekend of May 21,22, and 23 at the University of maryland at College Park. Four teams, Oklahoma, Fordham, Maryland, and Syracuse are competing in this regional bracket for a chance to advance to the Super-Regionals.
On Wednesday, May 19th, BASES played host to the women from 23rd ranked Fordham University out of New York. The team used the BASES facility to get in their final batting practice and hitting drills before the tournament begins Friday evening. The Fordham team is planning to return to BASES on Friday morning for some additional work.
On the afternoon of Thursday, May 20th, Syracuse University used the BASES facility for final workouts much like the Fordham team did on Wednesday. One of the more well-known individuals with the Syracuse team (for now) was Angela Tincher. Many of you may remember the night that she defeated Team USA while a pitcher for Virginia Tech. Angela is now a coach with the Syracuse Orangemen.
Friday will signal the start of the regional tournament with top seed Oklahoma facing 4th seed Syracuse while 2nd seed Fordham faces 3rd seed (and host) Maryland at 7PM.
Best of luck to all teams involved. (Wouldn't it be great to see one of our visiting teams be crowned 2010 NCAA National Softball Champion?)
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| Syracuse Coaching Staff - Angela Tincher on Right |
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BASES Hosts Iraqi Baseball/Softball Organization
On Wednesday, May 12th, BASES was privileged to play host to a stop by a group of prospective baseball and softball players from Iraq. The group, comprised predominantly of Iraqi teens, was visiting the USA on a week long mission to learn about and experience the sports of baseball and softball. BASES instructors, Alan Haddaway, Ron Baker, and Renee Ferguson donated their time and talents to provide a two-hour hitting and pitching clinic to the group. Four boys and four girls along with several coaches and other dignitaries from Iraq and the US Department of State formed the delegation.
"Planning specific instructional content for our visitors was a bit difficult because we did not know how difficult the language barrier would be. However, after the translators relayed our initial greetings and instructions, the language of the sport pretty much took over", said Bob Lubaszewski, BASES owner. "While watching Alan instruct the girls in hitting a softball and basic catching skills I realized that all it took was physical demonstration on the instrutors part while the students did their best to imitate what they saw. The girls seemed to have the most fun with the sport while the guys were a little more somber and serious. Everyone appeared to be excited about the opportunity to learn", he added.
The girls watched in amazement as Coach Renee demostrated the art of windmill pitching and taught the basic concepts of delivery and release. The guys worked with Coach Ron on hitting balance and bat motion. Toward the end of the session each player was video-taped and their swings were loaded in the BASES Right View Pro Video Analysis software. A short analysis of basic swing mechanics, within the bounds of the language translators, followed. Each player was provided with a Right View Pro picture strip of their efforts which matched their new found skills aside a major league or Team USA olympic athlete.
The stop at BASES was the last instructional stop on the player's short tour of the USA. During their visit they attended an Orioles' game, a Nationals' game, a Baysox game, an umpire clinic among their many stops. The trip was arranged by the US Department of State.
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Saints Open 2010 Season!
The newly formed Saints 13U Baseball Team, the first BASES sponsored team, kicked off their 2010 season at Sports at the Beach in Rehoboth, DE on March 27 and 28. This team, under first year coach Matt Lubaszewski (BASES Instructor), showed great potential and exhibited fine character throughout the 2-day tournament.
The Saints opening game was against Frozen Ropes Rampage, a strong team out on New Jersey. Although the Saints took an early 2-0 lead, the Rampage was too much for the young kids from MD. Nerves kicked in and the Saints dropped their first ever game 14-2.
The Saints followed that crushing defeated with a character building loss to Diamond Dreams by a 6-3 score. Stephen Grantland pitched extremely well in his first outing, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning. Grantland reached his pitch limit in the fifth as the opponent started catching up to his sinking fastball. He left the game allowing only three hits and 1 earned run. The Saints ran into the two-hour time limit which kept them from making a late run and batting again in the 7th.
On Sunday morning, the Saints continued their improvement as a new team. Bradford Strennen pitched well and left the game with a 7-3 lead. Like Grantland the day before, Strennen had reached his early season pitch limit and had begun to show some signs of tiring when pulled by coach Lubaszewski. The Saints failed to hold the lead and fell by a final score of 8-7. Although they did not come away with any tournament victories, the team was very upbeat and encouraged about their perfomance. They are looking forward to their opening day double-header on April 11th as their MABA season gets under way.
The team is also coached by Brandon Webster and former Oriole, Randy Milligan. They will be attending several other tournaments later this year.
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BASES Local Sports Submittals
If you would like to have your local team or organization highlighted here on BASES web-site, please submit your story (with electronic photos) to:
basestraining@verizon.net
Completed stories requiring little editing are preferred. Other items that may be submitted are stats, line scores, box scores, or other items of interest.
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