The Armstrong Cooper Girls Fastpitch Association 10U team wrote a chapter in association history recently, winning the 10U Bronze bracket championship at the Monsta Nationals tournament in Bloomington July 28.
The team includes: Marlo Dobrin, Brooklynn Drew, Alanna Silva-Hammer, Stella Gilbert, Kaylee Loftus, Rylee Madson, Sydney Carson, Reagan Chismar, Rose Adelle Graham, Brynden Halupnick, Brynn Le, Charlene Wokson and Anna Frey.
Armstrong Cooper, faced with difficulties with player availability, put together a 13 girl team of players from their 10U teams to take on nationals. The group struggled in pool play, facing 12-5, 9-7, and 8-2 losses. The results put Armstrong Cooper in the bronze bracket. The 10U team entered bracket play off a difficult run and with questions of what was left to be achieved, but when push came to shove the girls showed up.
Rejuvenated hitting and pitching helped the team beat the Bloomington Blast White 12-0 before winning 15-2 over Anoka Ramsey Silver. This moved the team to day two of bracket play, where Armstrong Cooper last a close battle 5-4 to Rosemount White. Now in the elimination bracket, the 10U team won a rematch with Bloomington Blast White, now 10-0, and also beat Richfield Black and TRAA Warriors. This put Armstrong Cooper in a rematch with Rosemount White in the final. Rosemount were undefeated up to this point and Armstrong Cooper would need to beat them twice to claim the championship.
Game one almost went Rosemount’s way, with Armstrong Cooper trailing 7-4. The 10U underdogs came back into the game, however, and won 9-8 to force game two. A clearer 16-7 win for Armstrong Cooper which saw every single player at-bat to help the team ensure the championship.
10U coach Chris Gilbert, who guided the team alongside Angela Chismar, told the Sun Post that he was endlessly impressed by the work ethic and teamwork he saw during this tournament.
“I’ve never seen any group of girls of any age help each other out the way this team did,” Gilbert said. “Each one of them had their moments of weakness on Sunday from the heat, stress, injuries and everything combined. ... It truly was an unbelievable thing to watch. I know us coaches were exhausted, I can’t even imagine how the girls were feeling. Yet they just kept fighting and fighting.”
Gilbert also said he was impressed by the team’s ability to move past their early loss to Rosemount and thrive under pressure in their rematch.
“One of the biggest strengths I saw in the team, was when we had to beat Rosemount twice in order to win,” he added. “As exhausted as the girls were, it would’ve been easy at that point to just throw up their hands and say we don’t have a chance. But they found something down deep inside that kept the fight alive. Hopefully they realize they’ve always had that strength inside and never forget it.”
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