Windmills Team Steals Second in Fast-pitch World Series

Each year, the Windmills sponsor several teams to compete in local girls' fast-pitch softball tournaments with the goal of reaching national competitions.

This summer, the 11-and-under team played in the United States Specialty Sports Association's (USSA) World Series in Iowa.

Oak Park-River Forest Patch talked with head coach Mike Ziegler and his daughter Ellie about making it to the final game in the USSA tournament, which wrapped up late last month.

"Our final tournament was almost a reflection of the previous nine months wrapped up into five days -- full of moments where we didn't meet our own expectations, but somehow in the end the team rose to the occasion," Mike Ziegler said.

Here's how they got there in going 20-9 overall during the season.

The team was losing to older opponents throughout the year, and "11U" team was in a funk.

So coach Ziegler wanted to level the playing field and entered the girls — Ireland Flannery, Lyndsey Hoyd, Anyssa Iliopoulos, Amanda Karnatz, Chardonnay Leark, Samantha Linde, Gabrielle Magnifico, Katie Mullins, Karah Ritacco, Hannah Sklar and Ellie Ziegler — into the USSSA state tournament in Rockford, allowing the girls to compete against all 11-year-olds.

The strategy paid off. The team came in fourth place at the Rockford tournament,  earning them a bid to the USSSA World Series in West Des Moines, Iowa.

After winning their first game 11-1 against the Sioux Falls Diamonds, they were beaten three times in a row.

"Losing . . . in the first round of elimination play usually means an almost impossible route to a championship game," Ziegler said. "The team could have very easily given up and gone home. It sure would have been much easier than trying to fight back."

But fight back they did.

The team put together a nine-game win streak, which pitcher Ellie Ziegler, the coach's daughter, said helped boost the team's confidence. 

"We just felt better and better every time we won," she said. "We never thought we could beat those teams."

Mike Ziegler took notice of the girls' confidence and tried to keep the team on track.

"Our strategy was to focus only on the moment, not the next game," he said. "And to focus on only what we could control, ignoring the occasional mistake along the way."

"It was amazing how every player and coach bought into it," he added. "Players, coaches, parents didn't change a thing during that two-day run.  Same uniforms, warm-up routine, location of fans . . . no one wanted to stop the mojo."

He said the team's fans in the stands — and back home — couldn't resist the excitment on the march to the championship round. 

"It was so cool to hear about the support we were receiving back home," Ziegler said. "Parents, siblings, neighbors, co-workers, friends, coaches - everyone was enjoying this final tournament and amazing run we were having."

But in the end, the pure physical drain — they played 10 times over a 48-hour period during the winning streak —  proved too much, and the team was blanked in the championship by the Diamond Skilz-Heide from Grain Valley, Mo. 

The Windmills settled for a second-place finish after a 4-0 loss to their Missouri opponent.

Reflecting on the tournament, coach Ziegler and his daughter Ellie said it was a fun, if impropable, end to a grueling year.

"[It was] pretty cool," he said. "It's something none of us will every forget."

Here are the game scores from the World Series run:

Oak Park Windmills        11    Sioux Falls Diamonds    1
KC Blaze                                    6     Oak Park Windmills    3
Arkansas Wildfire                  5     Oak Park Windmills    1
Wasco Diamonds 98             5      Oak Park Windmills    1
Oak Park Windmills       12    Chaos 98    0
Oak Park Windmills       12    Tidal Waves 98    0
Oak Park Windmills       12    Beaverdale Panthers    0
Oak Park Windmills       6      Sterling Steam 98    2
Oak Park Windmills       4      KC Blaze    2
Oak Park Windmills       11    St Joe Oz    2
Oak Park Windmills       6      11U Esprit    4
Oak Park Windmills       13    St. Louis Chaos    0
Oak Park Windmills       7      Arkansas Wildfire    0
Diamond Skilz-Heide           4     Oak Park Windmills    0