SALISBURY, NC – In Its 49th year of existence, San Mateo experienced something they had never done before.
The Senior Girls Softball team cruised through districts, regionals and state to qualify for their first ever Little League Southeast Regionals.
No other baseball or softball team had ever advanced to the Southeast Regionals before.
Here is a run down of their amazing historic journey as told by manager Jason Edmunds.
We clinched our district on June 30, winning that sent us off to the Sectional Tournament on July 8 down in Palm Coast.
We played a very good Deltona Little League team and was actually down 9-2 in the top of the fourth when we had a two hour rain delay.
We came back out of the delay and scored 12 runs to take the lead and ended up winning a very wet and sloppy championship game thanks to the rain.
Winning this sent us to the Little League State Championship July 14-16 down in Rockledge the very next weekend. On day one we won both games beating two very good teams (Northside Little league out of Tampa and Naples.
This set us up for the state championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Defuniak Springs. This was a back and forth game until our bats came alive in the sixth inning and we took the lead and never looked back.
We won the game 11-6 in seven innings and for the FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS A TEAM FROM SAN MATEO LITTLE LEAGUE COULD CALL THEMSELVES “STATE CHAMPS”.
I felt like the whole league was there to watch this, as San Mateo really travels well during all star season no matter what league boy or girls team our community and league has always been there.
We had about 150 fans, parents, friends and grandparents and when we got the third out in the bottom of the seventh there was not a dry eye in Rockledge if you were a San Mateo Little League supporter. They all knew what memories these girls had just made for themselves to carry with them for the rest of their life!
This then sent us off to the Southeast Regional Tournament in Salisbury, North Carolina the very next week.
Once we returned to San Mateo for Practice on Monday, little did the girls know there would be 200 people lined up from parking lot to the field to welcome them home and congratulate on our first ever STATE CHAMPIONSHIP at San Mateo Little League again not a dry eye in the place and was something these girls will never forget.
We arrived in Salisbury, NC on Friday July 20 and got matched up against Georgia in the first game and won a very tight game 9-5.
This then set us up for a game against host North Carolina and we took our first loss of the tourney at 6-2.
It was a real heart breaker because if we would have won this game we would have been sitting in the championship game.
Instead it set us up for a Saturday show down against Tennessee and we had some tough breaks in this game and Tennessee eliminated us from the tournament.
This was a tough loss but in the end we did not lose at all, we made history and did something our Little League has never done in 50 years we brought home a state championship and was the first team ever to advance to Southeast Regional play.
When these girls look back a few years from now they will never forget the journey, teamwork and family bond that got them two games away from playing in their ultimate goal the Little League World Series.
This team of 15 girls are truly the definition of a Little League team, and along the way they showed all the great charters as to what Little league is all about family, friendship, winning and losing, sportsmanship and making memories that last a lifetime!
The difference in Little League and Travel ball (nothing negative against travel ball) the 15 girls that were on this team paid a 95 dollar registration fee at the beginning of the year and that was it.
We raised every penny with the girls and donations from the community to take them to all four tournaments along the way, and when you start adding 15 rooms at two nights per stop that is not only hard work on the field but they had to bust their butts off the field as well.
What I am getting at is, everything these girls done along the way was earned by them.
Coaches
Jason Edmonds (Manager)
Tim Gelaro
Stan Digorgi
Chris Connor
Players
Megan Edmonds 1B/P
Kenzie Gelaro 2B
Ashley Connor P/LF
Ally Ventrone P/LF
Shelby Duggan 3B
Madison Cannady SS
Chloe Dansky RF
Kaylee Waters LF
Emily Smith C
Autumn Pitts RF
Katelyne Gelaro CF
Karly Digorgi 2B
Deyonna Henderson CF
Shiana Simmons CF
Allissa Luddy 1B/C
Editors Note: Want to get nominated next year. Teams are selected based on how they finish at state and regional youth tournaments. Have a team going to a state tournament, regional tournament or World Series then email us a picture and results and you might be considered. The cut off for this year was June 1, 2018.
