With the Spring/Summer season just about ready to go crazy, the Honey Badgers organization is staying busy in April. In addition to 1-2 weekly practices and plenty of lessons and work at home for the girls to prepare for the season, multiple teams have been in action in early April including Honey Badgers 9u Mattern and 13u Fiddler this past weekend. 

The 9u team started their Spring 2024 tournament season playing in the Ohio Storm Spring Kickoff tournament in Bolivar, Ohio. Playing in the 10u bracket against some tough, older competition, the Honey Badgers went 2-2, falling in the semifinals on Sunday. Saturday started strong with a 6-3 win over the Lady Black Sox 10u before a 4-3 loss to the Fishbird Ducks (an eventual #1 seed) to wrap up Pool Play. On Sunday they faced off with two #1 seeds, first topping Steel City Athletics 10u by a score of 2-1 before falling to the overall #1 seed Ohio Lady Mambas 10u, 4-0. Lily picked up both wins on the mound going 2-1 for the weekend and had a team high 5 hits and 3 RBI. Jessa added 3 hits and Nadia 2 while Kinze did not allow any earned runs in 3 and 1/3 innings pitching as the team played strong defense with only 1 error committed in 4 games. The 9u Honey Badgers have two weekends to prepare as they return to action the first weekend in May at the FASA Streak Tournament in Austintown.

The Honey Badgers 13u team was also in action on Saturday playing two friendlies at Sluggers as they faced off with Fire Fastpitch 14u and Sluggers 13u. Starting the day against Fire Fastpitch, Hannah Young and Elizabeth Jernigan combined for a 2-hit shoutout as Coach Nicole Fiddler's team won 10-0. After some time off between games, the Honey Badgers found themselves digging out of an early 3-0 hole against Sluggers 13u, then an 8-2 deficit only to head into the bottom of the 4th and final inning down 8-6. After 2 quick outs to start the inning, Kristina Kushner singled and Abbey Pesce doubled to put the pressure on the defense. Harper Heim added an RBI single to add to the drama as it was 8-7 with 2 outs when Elizabeth Jernigan came to bat. After falling behind 0-2 then taking a ball, two intense foul balls set the stage for the game-winner as the lefty slapper hit a line drive single to center as both runners scored and the Honey Badgers got the 9-8 victory. Randi Blackann connected on her 2nd homer of season and both Pesce and Hannah Young had doubles in the win as the ladies knocked out 12 hits. Bella Mattern picked up the win against the Sluggers in relief as Jernigan and Young both had a team-high 3 hits on the day while Blackann drove in 6 runs in the two games. The 13u team has two friendlies next weekend and on April 28th as they finally head outdoors in hopes of dryer weather before opening their season at the Choose Joy Tournament in Canfield in May. 

The other Honey Badger teams are hard at work preparing for their season with both 8u Ohl and 10u Brindle preparing for their tournaments in early May. 8u Steele will be in action this weekend facing Warriors 8u in Struthers as they prepare for their April 27/28 tournament in Hubbard.

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