Originally published on spysoftball.com
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 12:38
Subject: Softball Back in the Olympics

Hey team!
As many of you know, there is a vote this October in Denmark to get softball back into the Olympic games for 2016. As of now, they are planning to possibly add at least two sports and it is between us, baseball, rugby, golf, motorcross and karate. We definitely have a chance. However, we need to do all that it takes to help. I am serving as an Ambassador for Back Softball which will be the group in Denmark pleading the case to the IOC. As for American support, this list is specifically how they need our help: http://www.internationalsoftball.com/backsoftball/Flyer.pdf. This is a digitial link and I am hoping that we, as the US softball Olympians can influence and spread the word in these next critical months by having as many people as possible do as much as they can from this list. As you will see, it can be as simple as going onto their site on Facebook or watching their You Tube video to spreading the word or donating money to the campaign. We need to go into that meeting with NUMBERS, showing how many clicks You Tube and Facebook got (this is the day we live in now), showing the amount of people supporting this sport.

For those of you that have websites, feature this link on your home page (I just put "Want to get softball back in the Olympics?" and they click to get this link), so every softball fan that comes through has a way to help. Print up this list and hand it out at your clinics, email it to your teams, fans, friends and family. Coming from us will resonate a lot -- plus, I think every softball fan is searching for a way to get it back, we just need to direct them to the same place.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I am also selling Back Softball merchandise at clinics to raise money and awareness for the campaign as well, if any of you are interested in that, let me know.

Thank you for your time and help with this! Hopefully we will get this back for future girls and women to experience what we have been so blessed to do!

--
Jessica Mendoza
www.jmendoza.com

May 26, 2008
Former San Diego Renegades Players Make an Impact in College
Accomplishments from the 2008 Season

Kristie Fox—The 2007 season was Kristie’s last year of college softball ending her career at the University of Arizona as a two-time All-American, three-time First Team All Pac-10, three Pac-10 league titles, and two times World Series National Champions. In 2008 Kristie has teamed up with Rip-It Sporting Goods and will have a bat and apparel coming out in her name soon. Kristie will be playing in the National Pro Fastpitch this summer for the Chicago Bandits. In addition to all of these accomplishments, Kristie will graduate this year with a degree in psychology with a business minor.

Vanessa Soto—Vanessa played for LSU in 2005-06 and is now, as a senior, is playing for University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) in the Sun Belt conference.  ULL has advanced to the Super Regional’s by beating LSU twice. Vanessa went 7 for 15 with 5 RBI’s leading the Ragin Cajuns to the Super Regional’s to face Houston. On the season, Vanessa is hitting .333 with 62 RBIs and 22 doubles.  

Nikki Ketteringham—Nikki had a memorable season at Humboldt State where she played on the 2008 Division II national championship team. As a freshman, she won “Freshman of the Year” honors for the league, was named an All-American, and made the All-League team.

Cassi Gibson—Cassi followed another former Renegade player, Katie Ralf, to Eastern Kentucky. As a freshman, Cassi started 46 of the 49 games ending her season with a .305 batting average. 

Brenna Sandberg—Brenna pitched for Cal State San Marcos and ended her freshman campaign with a 9-7 record. She pitched 102 innings with a 2.18 ERA and holding her opponents to a .240 batting average.

Melissa Tillett—Mel started her freshman career in 2008 at Northern Iowa discovering that she required back surgery. Mel red shirted this year and is now preparing for her red shirt freshman year in 2009. Mel finished her freshman year with a 3.58 GPA. 

November 5, 2007
Washington Bellevue Blast Gold bands together to help San Diego Fire Victims

Players from the WA Bellevue Blast Gold were driving back to the Burbank Airport from the Lancaster Oktoberfest and were now thinking ahead to next week’s America’s Finest City Showcase in San Diego. The local radio station was reporting wild fires spreading through Malibu in LA County. As the plane departed Burbank, the huge fire line and plumes of smoke were visible below.

By the time the team landed back in Seattle, all national news media were reporting wildfires had spread across Orange and San Diego Counties, with one of the largest and most destructive fires hitting Rancho Bernardo. Thousands of people had already been evacuated from the path of the fire. Blast families contacted relatives in Southern California and quickly learned that the tournament’s main fields were right in the path of that fire. Within 48 hours, Tournament Director Andy Anderson notified all teams that the tournament was to be postponed.

Blast players immediately cancelled plane and hotel reservations, but couldn’t stop there. “We need to help them … and quickly,” said 18 Gold Head Coach, Bree Lewis, “our host teams need our support.”

Bellevue Blast rallied its 10 team organization and took up collections from each of its teams. Parents posted donation requests on the ASA message boards. Over the next few days, parents set up collection points and gathered bags of clothing, boxes of emergencies supplies, toiletries, food, blankets, and hundreds of dollars of cash donations. All these donations were immediately shipped down to the American Red Cross and American Medial Response in San Diego in the names of the San Diego Renegades and the Cruisers. “Blast players also designed hand made t-shirts for the host team, San Diego Renegade Gold players as a small token of our support,” said Coach Lewis.

Since the showcase tournament was postponed, Andy Anderson and his committee have tentatively planned to reschedule the tournament for mid-January 2008. “We plan to be there. We hope the San Diego softball teams are all safe,” said Blast shortstop Alix VanZandt.

November 5, 2007
Thank you for all of your support during the San Diego wild fires. Many of our players were evacuated from their homes for several days. There were several close calls reported where the fire burned to the doorstep of 2 players homes. Fortunately, no one in the organization lost their home. If you wish to help those who were less forunate, please visit the San Diego Red Cross.

October 23, 2007
The Sixth Annual America's Finest City Showcase was postponed until January 18-20, 2008 because of the wildfires that swept through San Diego. For more information, please visit the tournament website: www.afcshowcase.com

A S A /  U S A  N A T I O N A L S  R E S U L T S

14U (Portugal) -- CHAMPIONS at ASA 14U Western Nationals, in Phoenix, AZ. This earns the team an automatic berth to the 2008 Nationals when they move up to 16U.

18U-Gold (Tillett/Fox) -- 9th PLACE at ASA 18U Gold Nationals, in Oklahoma City, OK.

Congratulations to both teams for their top 10 finishes, in particular to the young 18U Gold (Tillett/ Fox) team who's 9th. place finish is the highest a San Diego Renegades Gold team has ever placed at ASA 18U Gold Nationals. This very same team finished 5th at 16U nationals in 2006.