2010 North Valley U-18 Rapids. Back row (l-r) Tonya Walker, Lauren Vestal, Coach Hardy Vestal, Manager Tito Cervantes, Coach Richard Walker, Kayla Spini, Emily Stokes. Front row: Haley Harris, Ally Bryant, Tori Weatherford, Cassidee Turpen, Taylor Gerhardt, Molly McWilliams

Rapids U-10s have successful season

Submitted article and photo

The North Valley Rapids played their hearts out last week at the ASA U-18 “A” Nationals, held in Hemet, California. The 2010 Nationals started on Sunday, August 1, and the Rapids played up to Friday night, August 6, before running out of steam after a hard, grueling schedule.

Two players from Siskiyou County played on the Rapids, Tori Weatherford and Kayla Spini, both from Mt. Shasta High School.

The Rapids started out the bracket play with a loss against American Athletics out of San Diego, 4-1. That set up a long road in the loser bracket. The Rapids then started playing, like there was no tomorrow. They kept winning one game after another, coming from behind in every game.

Then on Friday, the Rapids had a grueling schedule. In order to make it in the top 10 and play on Saturday, the Rapids would have to win five games in-a-row. They spent 14 hours at the ball field but came up short in game five, the final game of the day.

The Rapids played teams from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida and Southern California.  In most cases, the opposing teams consisted of the best players in their state, including 19 year olds that have played Division I college ball.

The magnitude of the Rapids accomplishment becomes that much larger considering the Rapids only had one senior, five juniors, three sophomores, and one freshman. This was the tenacious ten and they played their hearts out and finished in the 20^th spot out of the best 104 teams in the United States, with a record of 9-3 in the tournament.

The Northern California area was very well represented in the softball world.  Not only did the team meet new friends from other states, they also presented great sportsmanship by following their new friends and cheering on the other teams from the bleachers. It was great to see such team bonding.

Coach Tito Cervantes said that even after coaching for over 30 years, that is still a good feeling to end the season with.

North Valley Rapids U-10

The U-10 Rapids team also posted a successful season, going 34-12-3, and receiving an invitation to the ASA Western Nationals, held in Medford Oregon.

Siskiyou County residents Sydney Cross and Ashley Cox played on the U-10 Rapids.

Over the course of the season, the Rapids won three tournaments, and also finished second three times.