EFFINGHAM — Sam Vineyard noted that the Flame Elite Midwest 14-and-under softball team was ready for something special to happen.
Since the group started playing together when they were 10 years old, the Flame Elite assistant coach said that the team had won — in the neighborhood of — 18 to 20 softball tournaments.
Over that time, Vineyard has seen this group of athletes grow into special players.
“Watching this group since they were 10 and watching them grow and learn the game; there were times when we didn’t know how to win games when they were very young,” Vineyard said. “Slowly, we started to put things together and finish the close games and it sort of snowballed. They’ve won somewhere between 18 and 20 tournaments since they were 10 years old.”
Flame Elite Midwest capped off a 23-10-1 summer this past July with a national championship in Nashville, Tenn. The team went 7-1 over the five days they were there.
Flame Elite Midwest outscored their opponents 63-21.
“We’ve been there three years in a row and were in the top 20 each year, but winning the nationals this year meant a lot,” outfielder Gieah Schlanser said. “It was a little emotional and made me feel great.”
Flame Elite Midwest lost one game during the tournament: a 5-2 loss to RIOT 2K09, who it later beat to win the national championship.
Catcher Keagyn Koenig said of her team’s national win, “I think it shows how much we play as a team and how determined we are to beat those good teams. It shows how much we want to win.”
Infielder Kinli Michl added, “It shows that all of our hard work paid off and that we all can work hard as a team and that we can all be together.”
Michl, a Dieterich sophomore, finished the year batting .429 with a .495 on-base percentage, .740 slugging percentage, 33 hits, 11 doubles, five triples, 22 RBIs and 35 runs scored. She is the team’s starting shortstop.
“I love shortstop the most because I feel like I have control and can see all the positions,” she said.
Koenig thought the same about the position she primarily plays, which is catcher.
“I’m involved in every play. I’m always doing something back there,” she said.
Koenig finished the year batting .397 with a .473 on-base percentage, a .705 slugging percentage, 31 hits, nine doubles, three triples, three home runs, 27 RBIs and 18 runs scored.
While the team’s catcher, she is also the head coach’s daughter, though that comes with risks.
“There’s a fine line between being dad and being coach,” Kenny Koenig added. “Sometimes, I cross that. Sometimes, she crosses that — it’s hard both ways.”
Kenny has been the head coach of the 14-and-under team for the last four to five years.
He said it was “awesome” to win a national championship and represent a team filled with mostly Effingham County girls.
“Going up against the competition that we did, some of the best, shows these girls that even though you’re from a small community, you can go out and put in the work and dedicate yourself and do things the right way that you can go out and compete against the best and we did,” Kenny said.
Altogether, Flame Elite Midwest is made up of girls from seven different high schools: Sadie Vineyard and Julia Schultz (St. Anthony), Kera Hartke (Teutopolis), Aubrey Poe, Keagyn Koenig, Maci Hayes, Kylie Harminson and Schlanser (Effingham), Michl (Dieterich), Avery Herschberger (Arthur Christian), Kaiya Seessengood (Richland County) and Kinzie Cleland (Tuscola).
The team opened the national tournament with a win over Fusion 10 Schoonover. They then fell to RIOT 2K09, defeated SmashHouse, Northern Indiana Wolfpack, Grayslake Pride, Team Nitro LI, Freedom Firebirds, and RIOT 2K09.