A History of the Hurricanes

In 1994 Vallejo PAL Girls softball had three all-star teams. The teams traveled during the summer months to play fastpitch softball in Cloverdale, Sacramento, Modesto, Burlingame and Reno just to mention a few locations. The 18-U and 12-U teams were called the "Vallejo Diamond Queens" while the 16-U was called "Vallejo Oddessy ". All three teams played at the Class B level and drew players from the PAL Recreation League. It was that year that the Vallejo PAL Competition Softball League was formed.

On the board that first year was Chris Bakke, Mary Richardson, Chuck Gover, Tommy Pangelinan, Becky Bakke, Brian Thompson and Ron Richardson. Although the issue of team name was of concern to the board, the real issue for the League was that they were losing some of their best talent to other programs like the Tornadoes in Fairfield and Shockers in Concord. The next year the League continued to see players leaving for out of town teams while keeping the same number of teams. Additionally another team called "Vallejo Thunder" was taking players from the League.

In early 1996 Ron Richardson, coach of the 14-U Diamond Queens, called a meeting of the team coaches and managers including Vallejo Thunder to discuss developing a coalition league with the same name and goals. At the conclusion of the meeting it was agreed that for at least the 1996 season the teams would be called the "Vallejo Thunder". For the 1996 summer season Vallejo saw 14-U, 16-U and 18-U Vallejo Thunder teams.

At the end of 1996 the competition board began to lose momentum, the 18-U team splintered away from the group and the 16-U team disbanded. However, at the same time Nick Solovieff notified the PAL Recreation League Board that he would be forming a 14-U all-star team for the 1997 season. Mike Natov also indicated he would form a 12-U team. Ron Richardson’s team would move up to the 16-U level. It was then that the Hurricanes name was born. Having a dream of a cohesive program, Ron Richardson met informally with Nick Solovieff and Mike Natov to discuss the notion of having a new name for the league. It was agreed that for 1997 Ron’s team would be the Hurricanes and that after that year the group would resurrect the competition board and discuss a "unified program". Thus in 1997 the first Hurricane team played under the Teal and Black Banner!

In late 1997, after several meetings, an election of officers was held which selected Nick Solovieff as their President. Additionally the 12-U team (Coach Mike Natov), the 14-U team (Coach Nick Solovieff) and the 16-U team (Coach Ron Richardson) agreed to move forward with the "Hurricane" name for the 1998 season. It was then that the "Hurricanes Fastpitch Softball Program" was officially started.

In 1999, the Program was beginning to gain momentum and name recognition. A tournament was planned for early June as the first major program fundraiser and to help advertise the Hurricanes name. Having only 6 teams agree to attend the tournament, a 12-U team and 14-U team were formed to compete. Both teams played valiantly, with the 14-U team taking second.

In 2000, Danny Reid was accepted to coach a new 18-U team and Rich Wilson was accepted to coach a 10-U team bringing the total number of teams to 5. Mike, Nick and Ron continued to coach the 12, 14, & 16-U teams, which filled out the full age range for the program. It was in 2000 that the Hurricanes held their first annual Crabfeed. The program board of directors recognized that teams needed to raise funds to compete in tournaments outside the local area and to progress to the national level. Additional fundraisers were organized including the "dough-to-go" fundraiser.

Again a tournament was planned, this time for June 23-25, 2000. This tournament was the first to be recognized as the "Joshua Leslie Richardson Memorial Tournament" in memory of a young man that had been a key part of the PAL-Gal Softball and Hurricanes program along side his dad. Thirty-six teams attended with the Hurricanes’ 16’s taking first and the 14’s taking second. This was a very successful tournament and really gave a large boost to the "Hurricanes" name recognition.

2000 also saw the first Hurricanes team, 16-U, qualify to compete in the Regional Finals for District 14, held in Reno. That team took second and earned a berth in the National B finals in Seattle Washington. Out of 49 teams that attended, the Hurricanes 16-U team placed 11^th. Quite impressive for a program that was only in its third year.

In 2001, the program continued to grow with more parent and player involvement and significant successes at the "Joshua Leslie Richardson Memorial Tournament" and a new "Summers End Tournament". That year we saw our 10-U team compete and do very well, taking first in several tournaments. Our other teams also had great successes. Ron Richardson’s 18-U "A" qualified to attend the national finals, Gabby Ramirez’s 16-U qualified and attended the national finals and others teams placed well.

The 2002 season saw some really great achievements. The program now had 9 teams and saw the 12-U Teal team take second place in the 12-U NSA Western World Series in Las Vegas, and then take second at the Super World Series in Illinois.

All in all this was a great year for all the teams. The 18-U Teal took first in the Hurricanes JLR Memorial and Fall Classic tournaments as well as playing at the Nationals for NSA and ASA. The 16-U took second in the JLR and Summers End while taking first in the Fall Classic. Our 10-U Black team played at the Regional level for NSA in Las Vegas. We look forward to continued growth and success in our program.

written by Ron Richardson