Around Town: Spring Grove's Raiders U11 softball team celebrates success

Only two years after the Diamonds Softball Academy in Spring Grove was formed, the 11U DSA 2K2 Raiders won a USSSA World Series title July 16 to 19 in Maumee, Ohio.

The core of the team, made up of local players, started in the McHenry recreational league before moving over to DSA in 2013.

Raiders coach Sean Finnegan said his players are involved in a lot sports other than softball. It’s something he encourages and that has been more of a benefit than a hindrance.

“It’s a good problem to have. (With the players) being 11-years-old, we don’t want them to focus on just one sport,” Finnegan said. “Their overall athleticism is what separated us from a lot of the teams in the area.”

Having good overall athletes, it was just a matter of getting their heads focused on softball.

“It’s a sport where 70 to 90 percent is mental,” Finnegan said. “Once we got them tuned into softball, the athleticism gave them a head start.”

That showed in some impressive feats – the Raiders turned three 4-6-3 double plays during the season.

“We’re the only team I’ve seen do it,” Finnegan said of the double plays. “It opens some eyes.”

At the World Series, the Raiders went 8-0 and outscored their opponents, 79-27. In their three pool play games, they won by a combined 45-14.

“In our pool play games there was a pretty wide margin,” Finnegan said. “We kind of bowled over some teams.”

Moving into bracket play, Finnegan told his team that it wasn’t going to be quite so easy.

“I tell my girls all the time, when you get into bracket play there’s really not much difference in the talent level,” Finnegan said. “What separated us was our heart . We never gave up.”

After starting bracket play with an 8-0 win, the Raiders needed three come-from-behind one run wins to advance to the championship game.

“Coming from behind is almost a trademark of our team,” Finnegan said. “Our girls have definitely been there before. They knew what they needed to do to win.”

That momentum carried through to the championship where they defeated Devils Fastpitch 02 from Michigan, 11-0. The success of the Raiders is centered on defense, which gives their pitchers the confidence to just throw strikes and not worry about being perfect.

“I think we have the best defensive team going,” Finnegan said. “It doesn’t hurt when our pitchers are a little bit off.”

World Series awards to Raiders players included tournament MVP, shortstop Peyton Bannon of Spring Grove, outstanding pitcher, Scout Kram (Lindenhurst) and all-tournament team: second base Jocelyn Currie (McHenry), catcher Anne-Marie Fabiani (Burlington, Wisconsin), first base Molly Finnegan (McHenry) and third base Taylor Zoephel (Lakemoor).

The rest of the Raiders' roster consists of Lexi Gerner (Johnsburg), Jenna Golembiewski (Woodstock), Valerie Novy (Crystal Lake), Ryan Regnier (Twin Lakes, Wisconsin), Lauren Sena (McHenry) and Baylee Snell (Crystal Lake).

• Rob Smith is a sports writer for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at rsmith@shawmedia.com.