thursday,august 8, 2013 - County Times - Southern Maryland Online

Sp rtsThe County TimesSouthern MarylandShockers Win 2013World SeriesThe Southern Maryland Shockers areWorld Series champs again.The Shockers, consisting of 11 softballplayers age 13 to 15 from Calvert, Charles andSt. Mary’s counties, outlasted 53 other teamsand won all 10 of their games to capture the2013 USSSA Class B 16-and-under World Seriestitle Aug. 3 in Salisbury, Md.They won the USSSA 14-and-under ClassB World Series last year.“All but one of our girls could have played14U again this year, but we decided to keep theteam together and move up everyone to 16Uthis year,” said Bobby Rawlings, the Shockers’manager. “They love playing together, andthey’re a great group of girls.”The Shockers defeated the Howell Heatfrom New Jersey 11-4 in the title game at HarryS. Parker Sports Complex.Valerie Hammett, an All-County shortstopas a freshman at Chopticon, was namedthe tournament’s most outstanding offensiveplayer. She hit a two-run homer in the championshipgame and had a three-run homer earlierin the tournament. Andrea Davis, who won 16games for Chopticon in the spring (the most fora Braves pitcher since 1985), was named thetournament’s best pitcher. Davis was the winningpitcher in eight of the team’s 10 tournamentgames.Janae Lyles (Stoddert Middle) and EmmaThompson (St. Mary’s Ryken) each had 13 hitsin the tournament for the Shockers. ShannaPeters (Chopticon) had 11 hits and Alyssa Bilodeau(La Plata) had 10. Center fielder CourtneyTaft (Chopticon) had nine hits, includinga leadoff homer against the Brandywine Blastfrom Wilmington, Del. Left fielder Gabby Sandy(Lackey) had eight hits, including a two-runhomer against the Junior Pride Crusaders fromMonroe, N.Y. Third baseman Jolie Rawlings(Chopticon) had a .560 on-base percentage, andsecond baseman Samantha Donaldson (Mc-Donough) reached base safely 15 times.“Winning the World Series is a great accomplishment,and I feel it really started whenwe got through some tough games in the statetournament,” said Rawlings, whose team had a54-16-1 record this season.Back in June, the Shockers won all six oftheir games to win the USSSA Class B 16-andunderstate tournament at Rockburn BranchPark in Elkridge. The tournament featured 18teams from across the state.The Shockers defeated the Forest Hill(Harford County) Heat 5-0 in the winner’sbracket final and beat them again 12-4 in thechampionship game. The final game was tied4-4 after six innings, and the Shockers scoredeight runs in the seventh to seal the title.Bilodeau was the winning pitcher in thestate title game. She gave up eight hits in thefirst six innings, but shut down Forest Hill 1-2-3in the final inning.“Alyssa really stepped up for us in thatgame, as well as the entire tournament,” Rawlingssaid. “Andrea was sick that weekend, sowe had to depend on Alyssa. She came throughfor us by winning five of the games.”The Shockers began the state tournamentwith an 11-1 victory over the Harford Diamonds,then beat the top-seeded Southern MarylandOspreys 5-1. The Shockers then slipped past theOlney Cougars 4-3 in eight innings and TerrorFastpitch White (Frederick County) 7-3 beforemeeting Forest Hill.The Southern Maryland Shockers — Top row (left to right): Chuck Donaldson (coach), Courtney Taft, Allison Mattera,Valerie Hammett, Alyssa Bilodeau, Janae Lyles, Andrea Davis, Bobby Rawlings (manager). Second row: Gabby Sandy,Shanna Peters, Samantha Donaldson. Front row: Jolie Rawlings, Emma Thompson.By Ronald N. Guy Jr.Contributing WriterThursday, August 8, 2013 24A View From TheBleachersAvoiding TheDespicable You, TooThe Nationals and Orioles are off limitsas column topics. In spring training I laudedthe Nats’ potential and romanticized about afairytale season. That looks smart, huh? Idiotsportswriter. Last month, I cast my writtenword spell on Orioles first baseman Chris“Crush” Davis by recklessly celebrating his37 first-half home runs with a hearty NattyBoh toast. It prompted a 10-game homer-lessstreak after the All Star break. Chris, I’msorry, hon. Davis has warmed up recently,though, evidence that my “Crush Curse”lacks the omnipotence of my “Nats Enchantment.”Whew. Moving on…A few years ago, in the wake of the movie The Despicable Me’s release,I wrote an article for this very column that identified Barry Bonds as“the despicable you.” The piece, written during Bonds’ perjury trial wasa scathing, open letter of sorts, summarizing the juiced slugger’s considerablesins and soiled baseball legacy.Bonds’ most lasting scar on baseball history occurred on August 7th,2007 when he broke/defiantly relieved himself on the irreproachable HankAaron’s hallowed record of 755 career home runs. As Bonds’ 756th bombsailed over the fence, the only shred of peace I could find amidst the mockerywas that Bonds wouldn’t be long for the home run throne. There wasa guy “on pace” to surpass Bonds’ ultimate tally. When he did, baseball’smost sacred record would again test negative for Performance EnhancingDrugs (PEDs).That “guy” was Alex Rodriguez. By 2007, Rodriguez, then 32, hadhit 518 home runs. As time would tell, on Bonds’ record-breaking nightI had sought respite from one cheater by turning to another. In 2007, Rodriguezemphatically denied PED use on “60 Minutes” in a polygraphbustingperformance worthy of Lance Armstrong. Two years later headmitted what had become obvious: his performance was “enhanced.”Rodriguez, as of this writing, is currently in negotiations with MLBregarding his connections with Biogenesis – a juice joint in Florida – anda lengthy suspension seems likely. Fool me once (Bonds), shame onyou. Fool me twice (ARod), shame on me. With the recent release ofThe Despicable Me 2, I guess ARod’s officially my “despicable you too.”Wonderful.Despite his transgressions, Rodriguez proved recently that he’sreached a level of delusion unique to PED abusers (think Roger Clemensblaming his wife for HGH possession and Rafael Palmeiro’s Congressionalfinger point) by claiming in a Sports Illustrated piece that he still wantsto be a role model. Excuse me?Oh ARod is a model – of a disturbing trend in baseball. As salarieshave waxed, the need, or even the inclination to do the right thing haswaned. Suspensions, ruined reputations and the promise of a reclusiveand vilified retirement – the stuff that moves most people to goodness -are often inadequate deterrents to the $10s of millions of dollars at stakefor performance boosts. And unlike Gen-1 ‘roiders Mark McGwire andBonds, Rodriguez and cronies like Ryan Braun knew the ramifications ofPED use – and it didn’t matter.Regardless of profession, human frailties will surface. Len Bias’ andDexter Manley’s poor decisions broke my young heart; but that disappointmentwas counteracted by men-among-men like Cal Ripken and ArtMonk. However, the transgressions of modern athletes are so prevalentand so significant that it threatens to sour the entire batch. It’s enough fora kid seeking his or her Cal Ripken to give up and…just adopt Cal Ripken.What do we say to those kids? What do we say to OUR kids? Thatthere are good guys in baseball, of course. They lurk below the headlines– so do your homework. I personally watched Nationals third basemanRyan Zimmerman spend considerable time with sick kids – my daughterincluded - at Children’s Hospital in D.C. There were – shocker - no camerasand no press coverage. Such things likely occur regularly in everyMajor League town. How many are reported? Right. Welcome to lifein the information age. Role models are out there - but shop with caution.That’s what I’m going tell my kids. Oh and good luck avoiding a “despicableyou” or “you too” to call your own.Send comments to rguyjoon@yahoo.com