Sudden Impact wins 18-under World Series

August 14, 2008 12:21 am

— By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
Rich Storm, head coach of the Sudden Impact 18-under softball team, wasn’t surprised at his team’s success in the Triple Crown World Series.
“This is the sixth Series we’ve done,” he said. “What you really find out is there is pretty good ball in this area, and when you get away from here, you can play with about anybody. There is good baseball and softball played in this area.”
Sudden Impact capped a 35-10 season by winning the 10-team Triple Crown 18-under B Division World Series in Park City, Utah, with a 5-0 victory over Mountain Thunder from Arizona. Sudden Impact, which went 3-0 in pool play and 4-0 in bracket play, also blanked Mountain Thunder 2-0 in the winners’ bracket final. Amanda Storm tossed both shutouts, and Kaitlin Wilson was named the tournament’s offensive most valuable player.
“That team was averaging like seven runs a game against everybody else,” Coach Storm said.
Triple Crown is a softball organization found mostly in the West.
“There is no Triple Crown in our area,” Storm said. “We went to a USSSA tournament in Colorado two years ago. The guy who was tournament director switched to Triple Crown, and he gave us an invitation the last two years.”
Most of the Sudden Impact team are from Carl Junction — Wilson, Storm, Kelsey Wilson, Mannie DeCastro, Dawn Cates, Maddie Stevenson and Sagan Graskemper.
Also on the roster are Morgan Amayo from Joplin, Amber Beckner from Carthage and Haleigh Sills from Riverton. Amanda Walker is assistant coach.
“We had quite a mixture,” Coach Storm said. “Most of them are going to be juniors this year. We had a couple of girls who graduated who were still eligible under 18-under rules, and we had one who is going to be a sophomore. We had most of these girls last year. There were three that I brought on this year.”
In addition to the World Series championship, Sudden Impact won tournaments at Four Seasons Sports Complex in Joplin and another in Kansas City. It also finished second in three tournaments.