Softball: 12U Yorkville Foxes take second at USSSA Southeast National Championships

They kept to the mantra of one pitch, one play, one inning at a time.

It sook the under-12 Yorkville Foxes to amazing heights.

The 12U Foxes softball team, made up primarily of girls from Yorkville with one girl from Newark and one girl from Sandwich, took second place at the 60-team USSSA Southeast National Championships July 7-11 in Hendersonville, Tenn.

Stephanie Gambro, coach of the team, has coached this group of girls going back to 9U.

"Most of these girls have played with me year after year; we only picked up one new girl," Gambro said. "These girls have been playing together, they know each other well, and this is the culmination of all of that. They understand each other now."

The Foxes played teams from Georgia, Kentucky and Missouri. They played eight games total, going 1-2 in pool play and then 3-0 in bracketed play to reach the championship games, the only team to go undefeated in bracketed play in the double elimination tournament. The Foxes had to go to an international tiebreaker to reach the championship game.

"I told them we knew what we had to do – one pitch, one play – just like always," Gambro said. "As soon as we started bracketed play we had to fight our way through."

The Foxes qualified for the national tournament by winning the Lisle All-Star Bash last fall.

Then they had several months off, a wait extended by the coronavirus pandemic. They were practicing by the third week of May, twice a week for three weeks, and resumed playing in June.

"We tried to get as much game experience before the national tournament to get us ready," Gambro said. "We had one tournament that we played in that we won – the Summer Sizzler in Montgomery. The rest were scrimmages and round robins."

Gambro said there was some uncertainty of how the team would handle things in Tennessee after an extended delay.

"Even some of the parents, they thought we're not going to be ready," Gambro said. "I said we'll be ready, we'll be fine. The girls are talented, hard workers. We went into every practice preparing for nationals. We said 'let's show them that we earned our spots, show them what we can do.'"

Gambro said the thing that made the Foxes unique was they were the only real small town team at the event. Other teams pulled the best of the best from their respective states.

"They couldn't believe we had all that local talent," Gambro said. "We've won tournaments and been pretty successful, but the talent you see in Illinois is different than in some other states. Most of them play year-round. We have multiple-sport athletes, they play volleyball and basketball. We knew we were the underdogs going in. They have the heart and determination and knew going in we'd have to fight our way through it. It was fun to watch."

Also fun was the barbecue and pool party the night before the championship game. At their last practice on Sunday they had a parent/player wiffle ball tournament. Gambro said they also got really cool, heavy rings and a trophy.

The Foxes wrap up their season with a round-robin tournament at the Bandits Stadium in Rosemont on July 21, then have one more tournament in Kenosha at the end of July. Gambro, though, looks forward to having almost the whole team back next year.

"They are best friends, we call them softball sisters," Gambro said. "They have sleepovers at their houses, in the team chat we're constantly talking about things. As soon as a game is over they'll be on the chat, saying 'let's get them next time ladies.' They really do understand what it's like to be on a team and it's nice to see."

The 12U Foxes are Abby Gambro, Alivia Lathen, Addison Ness, assistant coach Tim Gambro, Kate Gambro, Ashley Moore, Grace Gilbert, head coach Stephanie Gambro, assistant coach Mike Vaghy, Jo Pavlak, Morgan Vaghy, Kayla Kersting, Brooklyn Marks and Ellie Fox.