Though Alpena's youth softball teams have enjoyed great success this summer, they'll finally get a chance to capture a share of softball tournament glory on their home turf as the second annual Thunderstruck Tournament begins today at 4 p.m.
Games will be played at Reynolds Field and Sobeck Field at the Alpena Huron Shores Little League Complex and at the JV and varsity fields at Alpena High School.
Though the tournament is only in its second year, it's attracting a lot of attention. Visiting teams had a lot of good things to say about Alpena and Greg Gerhke, coach of the Alpena ThunderCats 14U team, said he had to turn down nearly a dozen teams who had expressed interest in playing this year.
Gerhke, who's team reached the semifinals last year, said the key for success this weekend will be simple: his team needs to score runs.
"Our big thing is scoring runs. If we score runs, we'll win ball games," Gehrke said.
This year's tournament field is broken into 12U, 14U and 16U divisions and features 24 teams from all over Michigan as well as Northern Ohio. Alpena has a ThunderCats team in each age group and the Alpena Shock will also compete for the 14U title. Onaway will have teams in each division competing as Moran Iron Works. The Presque Isle Panthers will compete in the 16U division.
Fact Box
Today
Reynolds Field
ThunderCats 12U vs. Tawas Bay Waves, 4 p.m.
T.C. Thunder vs. Moran Vulcans 12U, 5:30 p.m.
Sault Legacies 12U vs. Ogemaw Outlaws, 7 p.m.
Sobeck Field
ThunderCats 14U vs. Sault Legacies 14U, 4 p.m.
Moran Vulcans Red vs. Kalkaska Blazers, 5:30 p.m.
Northern Storm 14U vs. Alpena Shock, 7 p.m.
AHS JV Field
Alpena Shock vs. Oakland Cobras, 4 p.m.
Ogemaw Outlaws 14U vs. Moran Vulcans Black, 5:30 p.m.
NFWB Impact vs. ThunderCats 14U, 7 p.m.
AHS Varsity Field
ThunderCats 16U vs. P.I. Panthers, 2:30 p.m.
Line Drive Express-Black 16U vs. Ogemaw Outlaws 16U, 4 p.m.
Air Bear Travel vs. Lookouts '96, 5:30 p.m.
Genessee County GatorCats 16U vs. Northern Storm 16U, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Reynolds Field
ThunderCats 12U vs. T.C. Thunder 10 a.m.
Tawas Bay Waves vs. Moran Vulcans 12U, 11:30 p.m.
T.C. Thunder vs. Sault Legacies 12U, 1 p.m.
Ogemaw Outlaws 12 U vs. Tawas Bay Waves, 2:30 p.m.
Sault Legacies 12U vs. ThunderCats 12U, 4 p.m.
Moran Vulcans 12U vs. Ogemaw Outlaws, 5:30 p.m.
Sobeck Field
Ogemaw Outlaws 14U vs. ThunderCats 14U, 10 a.m.
Oakland Cobras vs. Moran Vulcans-Red, 11:30 a.m.
Moran Vulcans-Black vs. NFWB Impact, 1 p.m.
Alpena Shock vs. Moran Vulcans-Red, 2:30 p.m.
NFWB Impact vs. Ogemaw Outlaws 14U, 4 p.m.
Kalkaska Blazers vs. Oakland Cobras, 7 p.m.
AHS JV Field
Oakland Cobras vs. Northern Storm 14U, 8:30 a.m.
Moran Vulcans-Black vs. Sault Legacies 14U, 10 a.m.
Kalkaska Blazers vs. Alpena Shock, 11:30 a.m.
Sault Legacies 14U vs. Ogemaw Outlaws 14U, 1 p.m.
Northern Storm 14U vs. Kalkaska Blazers, 2:30 p.m.
ThunderCats 14U vs. Moran Vulcans-Black, 4 p.m.
Moran Vulcans-Black vs. Northern Storm 14U, 5:30 p.m.
Sault Legacies 14U vs. NFWB Impact, 7 p.m.
AHS Varsity Field
ThunderCats 16U vs. Line Drive Express, 8:30 a.m.
Genesee County Gator Cats 16U vs. Air Bear Travel, 10 a.m.
P.I. Panthers 16U vs. Ogemaw Outlaws 16U, 11:30 p.m.
Northern Storm 16U vs. Lookouts '96, 1 p.m.
Ogemaw Outlaws 16U vs. ThunderCats 16U, 2:30 p.m.
Northern Storm 16U vs. Air Bear Travel, 4 p.m.
P.I. Panthers 16U vs. Line Drive Express, 5:30 p.m.
Lookouts '96 vs. Genesee County Gator Cats 16U, 7 p.m.
Sunday
Reynolds Field
12U
Third place group A vs. Second place group B, 9 a.m.
Third place group B vs. Second place group A, 10:30 a.m.
Third place group A/Second place group B winner vs. First place group A, noon
Third place group B/Second place group A winner vs. First place group B, 1:30 p.m.
12U Championship game, 3 p.m.
Sobeck Field
14U
Game 1: 5th place group A vs. 4th place group B, 9 a.m.
Game 2: 4th place group A vs. 5th place group B, 10:30 a.m.
Game 3: Game 2 winner vs. 3rd place group B, noon
Game 4: Game 3 winner vs. 2nd place group A, 1:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 4 winner vs. 1st place group B, 3 p.m.
AHS JV Field
16U
Game 1: 4th place group A vs. 1st place group B, 9 a.m.
Game 2: 3rd place group A vs. 2nd place group B, 10:30 a.m.
14U
Game 6: Game 1 winner vs. 3rd place group A, noon
Game 7: Game 6 winner vs. 2nd place group B, 1:30 p.m.
Game 8: Game 7 winner vs. 1st place group A, 3 p.m.
AHS Varsity Field
16U
Game 3: 4th place group B vs. 1st place group A, 9 a.m.
Game 4: 3rd place group B vs. 2nd place group A, 10:30 a.m.
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 4 winner, noon
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 1:30 p.m.
16U title game, 3 p.m.
14U title game, 4:30 p.m.
Fresh off of a victory in last weekend's PIGS Tournament, the Alpena ThunderCats 16U team will try and add another summer tournament title to its resume this weekend. The ThunderCats are the defending champions of the 16U bracket and
"We found some things last weekend that needed some fixes, but we're hoping to carry that into the last tournament," manager Romeo Bourdage said. "We're hoping to hit the snot out of the ball. There's three teams we haven't played yet and we're looking forward to it."
A full schedule of tournament games can be found on Page 4C.