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Haley Ward (standing, 4th from right) and Heather Dunning (middle row, 2nd player from left)

Softball Mike Bello, Asst. SID

Ward, Dunning Lead VA Legends to USSSA Title

Haley Ward (standing, 4th from right) and Heather Dunning (middle row, 2nd player from left) helped VA Legends capture the USSSA World Series title

NORFOLK, Va. – Rising sophomore Haley Ward and incoming freshman Heather Dunning of the Norfolk State softball team recently led their VA Legends team to the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) Over 18 Fastpitch World Series title.

VA Legends went 7-1 over the two-day tournament July 27 and 28 at the Botetourt Sports Complex in Troutville, Va., north of Roanoke. The squad beat out 11 other teams that hail from South Carolina to Maryland for the title. No other team finished better than 5-2 in the tournament.

The Legends team included current or former players from schools such as UCF, Florida State, Michigan, Florida, Virginia Tech, LSU and Maryland, including Hampton University head softball coach Trena Peel.

In pool play, the Legends defeated the Stafford Storm, 8-0, and then the Virginia Rowdies Elite by that same 8-0 margin. In bracket play, the Legends shut out Wagner's Elite 23U, 9-0, as well as Richmond Ruckus 23U, 8-0. Virginia Pride handed the Legends its only loss, 2-1, in a late Saturday afternoon game to drop the team into the loser's bracket.

The Legends squad took care of business on that Sunday, however, defeating the Hornets and Virginia Pride by identical 6-0 scores. Because of the double elimination format, the Legends had to play Virginia Pride again, and once again they handled the Pride with ease in a 9-1 victory to cap the tournament.

Ward, a graduate of Cox High School in Virginia Beach, Va., was a first-team All-MEAC performer in 2012 during her rookie campaign at NSU as well as a first-team All-State player as named by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID). She hit better than .400 on the season, the first NSU player to do so in 14 years, and led the team in runs, hits, doubles, slugging and on-base percentage.

Dunning, out of Bayside HS in Virginia Beach, was part of head coach Heidi Cavallo's five-player recruiting class for 2012 after earning second-team All-Region and second-team All-Tidewater honors this year.

Ward, Dunning and the rest of their teammates will return to the field in late September for the first of several exhibition doubleheaders as part of the fall schedule before the start of the 2013 season in late February.

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