Dirt Dawgs fear no evil as they walk through Tri-Valley en route to fourth-straight championship
Taking a 13-1 record and three tournament championships into the Summer Slam Softball tournament, Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17, at Avondale Youth Park, in Zanesville, the Holmes County Dirt Dawgs - who, let there be no doubt, are a group of wonderful little girls entirely from Holmes and Wayne counties, and are fully certified as a recreation league team by the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) - learned that not all adults belong in youth parks during good, clean, competitive, fun youth sporting events.
Advancing to the Summer Slam semifinal game Sunday afternoon, by knocking off Lakewood (14-5), Chandlersville (8-5) and Tri-Valley (17-11), during Saturday pool play, and beating Philo 15-0 in quarterfinal competition Sunday morning, the Dirt Dawgs faced a rematch against a Tri-Valley team, which had managed to score more runs against Holmes County than any other opposing team this summer.
But instead of a competitive second meeting between two groups of 8 year olds, all trying to learn the game, get better and have fun, the rematch quickly showed just how ugly unfit adults can make youth sporting events.
After retiring Tri-Valley in order in the top of the first, Holmes County got two runners in scoring position, with two outs in the bottom half, when Jasmine Knapp doubled to chase Callie Cline around to third.
Morgan Allen followed with a shot to center, which brought home both Cline and Knapp, but after Knapp crossed the plate - bumping Tri-Valley's catcher, who was standing on the dish despite there being no play at home - Tri-Valley's coach erupted from the dugout, positioning himself to obstruct Knapp's path back to her own dugout, quickly backing her up near the backstop, while, in the words of one eyewitness (and based on Knapp's own account), "beating her down verbally and shouting in her face, 'You think you're so great? We've read about you.'"
Springing immediately into action, Dirt Dawgs head coach Ron Allen separated the Tri-Valley coach from his player, as Tri-Valley's "adult" field leader was ejected from the game, choosing to forfeit and go home instead, embarrassing himself, his players, opposing fans, and the spirit of competition along the way.
Not to mention scaring a group of 8-year-old girls who did nothing to provoke the inexcusable, premeditated attack, which was not a "heat-of-the-moment" reaction to on field events - the Tri-Valley contingent had also printed and posted around Avondale Park online articles written by Graphic Publications, Inc., in order to mock and intimidate a talented team of youngsters - other than begin preparing for the season all the way back in January and playing amazing softball all summer long.
Thankfully, the championship game, later Sunday afternoon, was a completely different story, pitting the Dirt Dawgs against an extremely classy Lakewood team, which had rallied to reach the tournament final despite going 0-4 in pool play, as head coach Jeremy Saling joked, "they must have got some rest last night. I think they all went swimming on Friday."
They were barely treading water against the Dirt Dawgs by the end of the third inning of the championship game, however, trailing 8-1 after Holmes County scored the maximum number of runs allowed in an inning (5) during the bottom of the first, got a two-run-homer to dead center off the bat of Knapp in the third, and tacked on one more on an RBI base hit from Hannah Baker.
"I'm proud of my girls, they did the job to get here, but this team is awesome," said Saling. "They hit the ball hard."
And while they banged out three more hard hits in the fourth to plate two more runs and complete the mercy-rule win 10-1, the Dirt Dawgs defense was equally impressive keeping Lakewood at bay, turning three double plays over four innings and getting two outfield assists, as Michaela Folks nailed a runner at second and Brynley McVicker fired a laser to retire another runner at third.
"We hit the ball, but what defense, man," exclaimed Ron Allen after watching his team wrap up its fourth championship in four tries. "These girls, jiminee Christmas, you can't describe it. They play better than most 12-and-under teams defensively. It comes from starting in Glenmont, Jan. 7, repeating fundamentals, repeating fundamentals. The girls were so sick of fundamentals by the time we started that it was just natural to them.
"I really didn't think we'd go 4-for-4, that's highly unlikely, but we're here and we did it, and we have two to go," added Allen, whose team will finish its 2011 tournament schedule at the Dixie Days Tournament in Mt. Vernon, July 21-24, and the Youth League World Series, back down in Zanesville, August 6-7. "What makes it good is when you have another team like Lakewood. They come here, class act, they played the game like it's supposed to be played. They got beat, they go home, they treat everyone with respect. No hard feelings, and that's the way it's played."
"We had a little trouble with [Tri-Valley] yesterday too," explained Saling. "I don't get it. I mean, they're 7, 8, 9 years old. It's all fun. I was kind of glad we were playing these guys in the final. These guys are great. You guys have got a great community out there. A lot of good girls, a lot of good girls."
And don't anybody forget that when they read about them or watch them play.