Thunder ’95 placed 17th out of a strong tournament line-up of 78 teams in the 2009 Western Nationals held in Mount Vernon, WA (July 26th thru August 2nd).  Thunder opened pool play by defeating the Irving Sting team from California 2-0.  Thunder drew the always tough Washington Lady Hawks in their 2nd pool game and promptly went out and extracted a little revenge for the weekend before lost (1-2) in the Region 15 Regional, by beating them 4-0 securing a first place pool finish behind strong pitching from both Mackenzie Spencer and Courtney Huston and timely first inning hitting.  For the first round bracket play, Thunder drew a bye thanks to their first place finish in pool play.  In the second round, Thunder drew the Orange County Dynasty.  After a rocky first 3 innings, the Thunder blew it open scoring 8 times over the last 5 innings to win handily 8-1 which advanced them to the 3rd round of play against the SoCal Wicked from Southern California.  Thunder ’95 played a flawless game defensively and at the plate winning going away 8-0 with a win that was a total team win.  In the 4th round, Thunder ran into the California Fury and also into a hot hitting catcher who hit two 2-run home runs.  Thunder was down early in the game 5-0, but battled back inning by inning, but was unable to secure the win, losing 4 to 5.  Though a loss, it was still one of the best played games of the tournament as Thunder out hit the Fury 10 to 3 and the never give up attitude was key to keeping the game close.  In the first loser’s bracket game, Thunder matched up against the Sno Co Express from Snohomish County, Washington.  The first 3 innings were back and forth scoring, both teams hitting the ball well, but in the end Thunder fell short with a 4 to 6 loss.  Of the teams Thunder played and beat: The Irving Sting placed 9th; The Washington Lady Hawks placed 6th; and the one that knocked them out, Sno Co Express finished 9th as well.  A strong finish to an amazing season for the Thunder ’95 Team.  Congratulations Thunder ’95! Thunder ’95 completed another strong run at the 2009 Region 15 14A championship (July 17-19), taking 3rd place overall in a very tough field of 17 teams from around the Northwest.  Thunder finished the tournament as the highest placing first year team which was a remarkable achievement for the girls.  Thunder opened the tournament Friday night with an impressive 1-0 win over the Washington Lady Hawks followed by successive Saturday victories over the Walla Walla Extreme 3-0 in extra innings and a tense 1-0 win over the Kelso Renegades to reach the semi-finals on Sunday.  Sunday, Thunder ’95 lost a tough played game 3-0 against the eventual champions, the Northwest Lady Sharks Faist, and upon a re-match with The Washington Lady Hawks, lost 2-1.  The Lady Sharks Faist team eventually won the championship with a 2-1 victory over the Lady Hawks. Thunder ’95 completed a strong run at the 2009 Oregon State 14A championship (July 10-12), taking 2nd place overall.  After opening the tournament with a good win over the Canby Wildcats, Thunder played a near perfect game in beating the Thunder ’94 team 5-2 in the 2nd round and then came from behind to beat Blaze ’95 5-3 in the 3rd round.  In the Semi-final game, Thunder played another strong game against the Clackamas Lobos winning by a score of 2-1.  In the championship game, Thunder faced the Lobos again who had battled back against the Blaze ’95 team in the loser bracket.  Unfortunately, Thunder ’95 could not pull out a victory in the next two games against the Lobos, who won the championship with a 5-3 and 10-4 victories.  Great Job by Thunder ’95 taking 2nd place as a first year 14A team! Thunder '95 completed the season as the 2008 12A State Champions, competed in the ASA National Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, and wrapped up the season with a great finish at the 12A Nationals in Montgomery, Alabama with a 25th place finish out of 70 teams.