07/20/2026
All good things must come to an end.
We finished up our 2026 season in Buffalo, New York this past weekend. The girls played well, going 5-2 and losing in the semis to the eventual champion. On the season, the girls played nearly .500 softball with a very difficult PGF / Alliance schedule while dealing with terrible injuries to key players. Overall, I think they learned a lot about playing high level softball.
On a bigger scale, this marks the bittersweet end of an era as this team won't continue together next year. A few will stay together on different teams and others will go on their own as they start high school. I will miss these girls terribly but look forward to watching their high school games this season.
Five years ago, we started as the Phoenix Flames in 9U. We eventually became Ohio Thunder in 11U and Finesse this year. Over that time, we played 412 softball games in 6 states. We won a lot of tournaments and had a lot of fun--both players and parents.
Thank you to the many girls and parents who played for me over the years. I probably made more mistakes than we had errors in five years but I hope I helped each girl a little along her softball journey!
Next season, I'll be going back to 10U with Finesse 10U Stubenrauch. See you on a field somewhere!
