08/30/2026
🔥 ANOTHER LONG, HOT DAY — AND I WOULDN’T CHANGE IT FOR THE WORLD! 🔥
What a day for our Lady Dukes! 💙🖤
We battled all day in the A Bracket against five very talented teams, including teams with girls from some of the top premier programs and one of the best pitchers in our area.
We played 7 games with only one break, finishing the day by playing 4 games in a row in bracket play. Over 12 hours at the ballpark after getting up at 5:00 AM, and these girls never stopped fighting. Along the way, we had two of our pitchers get hurt, battled sickness, and had multiple girls fighting through injuries. These girls pushed through when it would have been easy to quit, and I couldn’t be more proud of the grit, toughness, and fight they showed today.
Everyone knows us for being a great hitting team, and that’s something I take a lot of pride in — both in our girls and in the work my coaches and I put in with them. Our offense was good today, and we came through with big hits when we needed them. But I was just as proud of our defense. Our girls made big plays all day, stayed locked in, and continued to battle pitch after pitch. Our offense and defense both showed up today, and that’s what makes me proud of this team.
THIS IS OUR TEAM. We play with OUR girls, we fight with OUR girls, and we compete with OUR girls. 💪🏼
We battled our way into the championship game after facing a very good and well-coached Venom team. Big shoutout to Coach Pete. We had already turned in our roster and batting everyone, like I always do, when one of our girls went down with a knee injury. She was in tears and couldn’t continue. Instead of taking the out, Coach Pete allowed me to scratch her from the lineup. That was a class act and something I truly appreciate. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Coach Pete, and that only added to it. Much respect, Coach! 🤝🏼
Then it was championship time! We won the first game 9-0, with an incredible pitching performance from Aurora, who absolutely shut them down. So proud of her! And Rachel came through with a BIG-TIME HOME RUN to help lead the way! That meant we had to turn around and play again for the championship. And just like great teams do, the Lady Rockies showed why they have some of the top talent in our area. They shut us down and took the second game 8-0.
We may not have finished with the trophy, but I couldn’t be more proud of this group. They battled through heat, sickness, injuries, fatigue, and adversity and never quit. That kind of fight is what makes a TEAM. We’ll take a week off now, get everybody healthy, and then we’ll get right back at it.
Proud to be their coach. Proud of these girls. Proud of my coaches. Proud to be a Lady Duke.
💙🖤 GO LADY DUKES! 🖤💙
