Liberty clinches ASA Nationals bid
Returning from a victorious, though rain-shortened, trip to Philadelphia in which it went 2-0 and won its bracket at the Pennsbury Invitational Tournament, the Lake County Liberty captured the championship of the Elimination in Elgin ASA Qualifier Tournament and earned another bid to prestigious ASA Nationals.
The Liberty, the 18U travel team of the Lake County Fastpitch Softball Association, improved to 30-3.
Following Pennsbury, no-hit performances by both Emily Ott (8-0 over the Maryland Stars) and Amanda Daly (4-0 over New Jersey's Top Gun Gold), the Liberty got started in Elgin with pool play wins over the WG Cats (4-1) and the McHenry County Heatwave Gold (7-0). Lake County also posted shutout wins over the DuPage Training Academy Elite (5-0) and the Barrington Hurricanes (2-0), before taking on the Illinois Chill.
Facing each other in the circle were all-state players Devin Miller (Loyola) for the Chill and Ott (Maine West) for the Liberty. Though Lake County had runners on base in each of the first three innings, the game was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Liberty's Shannon Lauret (Zion-Benton) led off with a single to center. Two batters later, Sara Jacobson (Jacobs) pulled a line shot to right for a two-run homer off Miller, giving the Liberty all the runs it needed in its 2-0 victory.
Ott once again was strong in the circle for Lake County, going the distance and limiting the Chill to 3 singles. For the tournament, Alex Booker (Warren) led the team, batting .542, while Ott, Nikki Ramsay (McHenry), and Jacobson hit .526, .400, and .385, respectively.
With the Elgin championship and bid, the team has now earned a berth at ASA Nationals for the third consecutive summer. After winning the 2006 ASA Northern Nationals Championship in Brooklyn Park, Minn., the Liberty has posted a 16-4 nationals record over the last three years.
The ASA, established in 1933, is widely recognized as the national governing body of softball. This year's 18U ASA National Tournament will be held in Las Vegas.