First-Ever 12U Ridley Township District Softball Team Continues Magical Run
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Their magical run had ended. They had fell short. Sure it was fun, but it was over.
Or, so they thought.
Ridley Township in Delaware County has never put together a team to compete in the Babe Ruth Softball League district tournament, until this year, when Scott Heywood and two other Ridley Township coaches organized tryouts for girls 16, 12, 10, and eight years old.
Heywood, who coaches his 10-year-old son Brian and his 12-year-old daughter Paige, was chosen as the first 12-and-under Ridley Township Babe Ruth Softball coach.
"A few coaches got together and wanted to get the girls involved as well," Heywood explained to CBSPhilly.com.
Paige, normally a second-baseman on her in-house team, is the right-fielder for Ridley Township. Most of the girls attend Ridley Middle School and almost all of them played different positions for their recreational teams, but this is an all-star team.
"It's a good team effort and they gel really well together as a team," Scott's wife Kelly Heywood told CBSPhilly.com. "We constantly talk about being not the best player, but the best team. It's an all around great group of girls."
At the end of June, the 12U Ridley Township softball team went deep into the district tournament, qualifying for the Pennsylvania state tournament in Pennsbury on July 4th weekend.
Against the defending championship Audubon girls, Ridley was trailing 2-0 heading into their final at-bat of the state championship game. Never quitting, Ridley rallied to score four runs en route to a 4-3 win.
Next, the 2015 PA State Championship Ridley Township girls headed to Mount Olive, New Jersey to compete in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament. Once again, adversity stared them in face, as Ridley trailed Sparta Township (North Jersey) 7-2 late in the game.
True to form, the girls battled back to tie the game, but Sparta scored two runs in the 6th inning eliminating Ridley, effectively ending their season---or so they thought.
"When we left Mid-Atlantic regionals on Sunday, we thought we were done," Kelly said. "On Monday, my husband [Scott] got a phone call from the regional director and about two hours later, we got the invite from nationals."
"When the call came in, we decided we want to go forward," Scott Heywood said.
While Heywood knew Ridley was going to Florida to compete in nationals, the girls didn't. Heywood decided to create a little bit of drama. He called for a "team meeting."
"We were telling them we were just meeting to go over the season and get sized for shirts," Heywood told CBSPhilly.com. "Rumors were going around, because we were on the phone. My daughter heard. But the girls didn't know if they were true. We said they weren't.
Originally, Heywood told his team they were placed into a lottery that, giving them a one-in-50 chance. So when he admitted the truth just minutes later, jubilation ensued.
"They went kinda crazy," Heywood said.
"They all celebrated, cried, and cheered," Kelly said.
On July 29th, the first-ever 12-year-old Ridley Township district softball team will arrive in Alachua County, Florida for the 12U Babe Ruth Softball World Series. They will play at a beautiful, brand new, 16 all lit field complex at Champions Park. The tournament runs from Friday, July 31st to Tuesday, August 5th.
I'd say, win, lose, or draw it's been a successful inaugural year for the Heywood's and Ridley Township softball.
