Freedom Firebirds Red coach Kim Perdue wasn't feeling overly confident about her girls' chances in the Central Maryland Fastpitch League's 12-under division at the beginning of this season.
Her girls were 11-year-olds playing their first season in the loop against opponents a year or more older. And, they had to get used to new rules that they'd never played under.
But judging from the results, it looks as if they learned those rules well, and they quickly overcame any fear of playing older kids. They had one of the division's best regular-season records and then swept four games to take the postseason championship.
Her Firebirds of 2012 had been quite a little powerhouse. They'd won the CML10-under division postseason tournament after taking first in the regular season.They also won the 2012 USSSA Class C 10-under World Series for the Eastern Region which includes the states of Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
The Firebirds gained recognition for those exploits, too. They were USSSA's number one-ranked 10-under fastpitch softball team in both Maryland and the Eastern Region.
But this year's playing field would be different. Two of the new rules for 12-under players allow them to steal home and also take first base when the catcher drops a third strike. At their age, those changes were significant changes for Perdue's girls.
Consequently, she hoped they could use this year as a learning experience and then try their hand at winning big, next season. To get ready for the tougher competition and stronger pitching she expected to see this season, Perdue and assistant coaches Jody Madron and Meg Nies tried to prepare their team to play what she terms the "short game." Like "inside baseball," softball's "short game" emphasizes speed. It involves a lot of bunting, slapping the ball to the opposite field and base stealing.
In such a game, she feels that batting left-handed is a big advantage because the batter is closer to first base. A fast batter has a better chance of reaching safely from the left side of the batter's box than the right when she slaps a grounder to the left side of the infield.
To bolster her team's chances in that aspect of the game, Perdue converted a couple of her right-handed hitters to lefty swingers, thus giving her four southpaws in the lineup.
Even so, she said, "I felt [the season] would be a challenge."
However, the coach quickly found she wouldn't need lots of runs to win. She had a strong mound staff with number one pitcher Logan Heydon, Samantha Miller and Kacie Madron, who filled in as number three hurler.
"Our pitching was always good. Defensively, we held teams to minimal amounts of runs. And our hitting improved over the course of the season," she said.
Freedom went 12-2-2 in the regular season, slightly behind the Gaithersburg-based Red Raiders who were 12-1-1.
"We did much better than I anticipated. They caught on really quickly and did a great job," she said of her players.
Their winning ways would carry over onto the postseason.
Kaitlin Pfarr scored the first Firebirds run of the championship tourney, July 13, as they blanked the Lutherville/Towson Lazers White team, 3-0. Miller hurled a complete game, three-hit shutout, fanning five in her seven innings of work.
Megan O'Keefe and Jenna Harmon each had a hit and RBI in the game.
Heydon also went all the way as her Freedom squad defeated the North Carroll Hot Shots Blue Devils, 9-3, in game two. Heydon fanned seven in seven innings.
Sammi Perdue was 2-for-2 with a run and RBI. Morgan Harmon had a hit and RBI, Kacie Madron an RBI, and Emily Kain, two RBI for the winners. Freedom's Molly Nies scored two runs.
Nies was 1-for-1 and scored the winning run in Freedom's next game, a 3-2 squeaker over the North Carroll Hot Shots Thunder squad. Miller singled her in with the tie-breaking marker.
Freedom had a lot easier time in the championship game, beating the Winfield Sting Gold team, 9-2. The Firebirds and Sting had tied in their regular season meeting, 4-4, and Kim Perdue was expecting a tough re-match.
"We were very excited to play them.I thought it would be a very close game," Perdue said.
But as things turned out, the Firebirds' bats carried the day.
Miller had three hits and drove in two runs, and Gina Martin had two hits and an RBI. Amy Stetser added two hits for the winners.
Perdue says she gained more satisfaction from this year's championship than from last year's, even with the honors her team won then.
"Last year we were a third-year 10-under team, and we expected to win. This year, we were a first-year 12-under team, and most of the teams we faced were second year.We really didn't know what to expect, and it was definitely more exciting to play so well this year," she said.
"It was a lot of fun."
Perdue already looks to next season, and she believes her Firebirds will again qualify for the Eastern Regional World Series. She said a big need is to work on hitting during the off-season, but she is confident that her kids will be ready.
"I have great expectations for next year," she said.
