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The Ashburn Shooting Stars is one of the East Coast’s premier travel  softball programs.  In recent years, Shooting Stars teams have won national & state championships, and provided local high schools with an excellent source of varsity players.

The teams in the program train year round and typically play in the fall, spring and summer.  Try-outs for the teams are held in August for rosters that will play together from September to the following July.

For more information on the Shooting Stars program, please contact Trudi Grillo via e-mail tgrillo12@msn.com. Links to individual 2007/8 season team web sites available so far are shown below:-

Shooting Stars 18U
Shooting Stars 16U Gold
Shooting Stars 16U White
Shooting Stars 14U Gold
Shooting Stars 14U White
Shooting Stars 14U Grey
Shooting Stars 14U Black
Shooting Stars 12U
 

 Individual 2007/8 team coaches can be contacted as follows:-

Shooting Stars 12U - Coach: Jim McDaniel, 703 729 7997, coachjimmcd@gmail.com

Shooting Stars 14U Black - Coach: Phil Broderick, 703 626 0143, philbroderick@comcast.net

Shooting Stars 14U Grey - Coach: Dan Boyle, 703 380 2947, dano43222@aol.com

Shooting Stars 14U White - Coach: Ted Kramer, 703 930 9896, coach-ted@comcast.net

Shooting Stars 14U Gold - Coach: Keith Ball, 703 723 5122, kball8@comcast.net

Shooting Stars 16U Gold - Coach: Rich Blessing, 703 729 7822, rblessing@domaindrivers.com

Shooting Stars 16U White - Coach: Gail Gilstrap, 703 430 0123, va_softball_mom@comcast.net

Shooting Stars 18U  - Coach: Bryan Tiplady, 703 858 2966, bryan@tiplady.com

Team Highlights

shooting stars asa reg champ 08 sm

Shooting Stars 16U Gold
The Ashburn Shooting Stars 16U Gold earned a berth to the 2008 ASA 16U National Championship in Owensboro, Kentucky. They achieved their goal by winning the Maryland – DC ASA Regional Championship on July 12th in Westminster, MD.
Pictured:
Front Row: Cassie Phillips, Khristin Kyllo, and Anna Blessing
Middle Row: Stephanie Buchko, Kate Fowler, Brittany Clendenny, and Michelle Tilson
Back Row: Coach Tom Kyllo, Carly Schmidt, Coach Joe Buchko, Jenn Soroka, Megan Sullivan, Laura Wolff, Coach Rich Blessing, and Lindsay Packard.

Shooting Stars 14U Black
The 14U Ashburn Shooting Stars Black won the 2008 VA PONY State Tournament held July 12th - 13th in Smithfield, VA.  The team faced tough competition both days, but their strong defense, hitting, and pitching/catching overpowered their opponents.  They won 5 games and tied 0 to 0 with the VA Lady Titans whom they defeated the next day in the Championship Game 3 to 2 to clinch the State Title.

pony state champs
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Shooting Stars 14U Black
The 14U Ashburn Shooting Stars Black soared through the PONY 2008 Keystone Cup held at the Hagerstown, MD Fairgrounds on June 21st – 22nd to clinch the tournament championship.  The Shooting Stars won 5 games and had their first tie of the season despite a strong late game rally. The girls hit consistently, made terrific defensive plays and the pitching/catching was impressive. This was the team’s 4th tournament win of the 2008 Spring/Summer season.

Shooting Stars 12U
With a game schedule severely modified by the weather, the Shooting Stars showed their physical and mental strength bringing home the Runner-Up trophy for the State Championship. The weekend started off slowly with one game not played due to an opponent forfeit and a lackluster performance in the first played game. Mother Nature sent a message by suspending play for the day due to lightning and heavy rain. As a result, the double elimination bracket was played in its entirety on Sunday. The Shooting Stars had a tough loss early to move into the loser's bracket. With "win or go home" hanging over their head for the remainder of the day, the Shooting Stars played inspired softball through the afternoon and evening. In winning the loser's bracket, they had five  consecutive wins, including two ITB wins and two hard-fought wins against teams moving late into the loser's bracket. The championship game was well-played, but playing in their 8th game of the day caught up to them. Congratulations on a strong 2nd place finish after 12 hours of softball!!!

USSSA 2008 2nd sm
USSSA 2008 VA State Champions sm

Shooting Stars 14U Black
The 14U Ashburn Shooting Stars Black won the VA USSSA State Tournament June 14 - 15, held at the Potomack Lakes Sports Complex in Sterling, VA.  The Shooting Stars outscored their opponents 39 to 2.  They won 6 out of 7 games, including 4 consecutive shut outs.  After placing 1st in their pool, they entered double elimination and defeated the Vienna Storm 8 to 0, won an exciting ITB nail biter against the Xplosion 1 to 0 and beat the Shamrocks 7 to 1.   The next game proved to be another defensive brawl with the Xplosion coming out on top 1 to 0.  After a brief break, the Shooting Stars Black regrouped and took the field intent on claiming the State title and winning the Championship Game.  An all around team effort featuring stellar hitting, pitching/catching and defensive plays, contributed to their 8 to 0 victory over the Xplosion to win the tournament.

Shooting Stars 14U White
The Ashburn Shooting Stars White 14U won the USSSA Rock-n-Rumble 16U tournament in Columbia, MD on May 31-June 1 in only their second full tournament of the season.  Rain on Saturday postponed pool play to Sunday where only the top four teams would advance to the elimination round.  After going 2-1 in pool play and earning the 3rd seed, the team knocked off the number one and number two seeds to win the championship.  The Stars went 4-1 on the day and outscored their opponents 23-3.  A week earlier the Shooting Stars earned the number one seed out of 26 16U teams by going 6-0 in pool play in the PONY PA Memorial Day Madness in Harrisburg, PA.  They finished fifth.

Rock  n Rumble Champs 350
ACC Champions

Shooting Stars 14U Black
The 14U Ashburn Shooting Stars Black defeated 6 teams in the NSA Atlantic Coast Challenge to win the tournament title at Wakefield Park in Fairfax, VA. It was a terrific weekend marked by strong defensive plays, aggressive batting and base running, and powerful pitching/catching.  The team returns to tournament play May 16th at the BRYC Classic in Fairfax, VA.

Shooting Stars 14U Black
The Ashburn Shooting Stars 14U Black took 1st place at the USSSA Early Bird Qualifier at Fairland Regional Park in Laurel, MD. The team went 6 and 0 over the weekend outscoring their opponents 36 to 3.  It was a tremendous team effort with solid defense, consistent hitting, and strong pitching/catching.  The 14U Black play this weekend at the Cherry Blossom Classic in Vienna, VA

earlybird2
Rising Stars Winter 08-1

Shooting Stars 18U Gold
The Stars 16U Gold girls fastpitch tournament team won the Prince William Fall Challenge on October 14th in Bristow, Virginia.  The team went 4-0-1 during the weekend.  Pictured in the front row is Anna Blessing and Cassie Phillips.  Middle row: Erin Ertel, Brittany Clendenny, Michelle Tilson, Kate Fowler, and Khristin Kyllo. In the back row: Coach Tom Kyllo, Stephanie Buchko, Coach Don Turner, Lindsey Packard, Megan Sullivan, Jenn Soroka, Carly Schmidt, Coaches Joe Buchko, and Rich Blessing.  Missing: Laura Wolff.

Shooting Stars 16U Gold win Prince William Fall Challenge
The Stars 16U Gold girls fastpitch tournament team won the Prince William Fall Challenge on October 14th in Bristow, Virginia.  The team went 4-0-1 during the weekend.  Pictured in the front row is Anna Blessing and Cassie Phillips.  Middle row: Erin Ertel, Brittany Clendenny, Michelle Tilson, Kate Fowler, and Khristin Kyllo. In the back row: Coach Tom Kyllo, Stephanie Buchko, Coach Don Turner, Lindsey Packard, Megan Sullivan, Jenn Soroka, Carly Schmidt, Coaches Joe Buchko, and Rich Blessing.  Missing: Laura Wolff.

PW Fl Chall Shooting Stars