NH Lightning History
In 2004, the families of Opie Pratt and Brett Houston were sitting around the Houston's back yard fireplace one summer evening and the idea of putting together an ASA team sparked to life.
That evening many laughs were had and several names for the program were thrown around from the NH Granite, to the Lilacs, Butterflies, Fireflies, Black Flies, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, and just about every other animal or windstorm possible. Finally, someone (there is still great controversy over who said it first) blurted out the NH LIGHTNING name and it sounded real good and it stuck.
Dan Pratt (Opie's son) drew up the design of the first NH LIGHTNING logo and it looked great and appears on most NH Lightning hats, visors and uniforms to this day. A Board was formed, officials elected, and in the end; the program came to life with one U16 team.
The first team was comprised of girls from around the greater Concord area and included:
Jennifer Allen, Jess Bombaci, Bryana Bradley, Heather Farley, Jess Farley, Nicole Gladieux, Hilary Kane, Courtney Heath, Brittany Houston, Rachel Landry, Ally Pratt, Katie Moffet, Britney Pelkey, Jill Schaffer, Stacy Seidner, Kristina Rieger, and Sid Rice.
The original coaches were Opie Pratt, Brett Houston, Sarah Bombaci and Caroline Farley (official scorekeeper). This team traveled around NH, New England and Montreal, Canada. The girls played great ball for never having played together before and won their share of games. Then summer turned to fall, and that was not enough, soccer season or not, they wanted to play softball and in the fall of 2004 rostered a "Fall Ball" team playing well into October. Great fun was had by all - in fact it was such a success that plans were set to grow the program in the following year.
2005
This Crazed Group recruited even more players, and played the 2005 season with not just a U-16 team but a U12, a U14, a U16 and a U18 team. Again they played into October with "Fall Ball," In November, after a few weeks of down time (or was it days), they formed a winter group that worked out 3-4 times a week and also competed in a Christmas Tournament in Portland, ME and a Winter Blast Tournament in Montreal, Canada.
2006
In 2006, NH Lightning added two more teams to their ever growing list, supporting a U12, a U14, a U16, a U16 selects (for players wanting to tryout and compete in college showcase tournaments), and two U-18 teams. NH Lightning not only registers as an ASA team, but has added NSA and Pony to its schedule, allowing our teams to travel all over NE and possibly further. In, 2006, the U14 team won a state championship and went on to sweep the Regionals in Maine and represented the Lightning at the ASA Nationals in Virginia!
2007
In 2007, a U10 division has been added to the NH Lightning and is filled with promising young players who represent the future for the program. The program has grown from 16 players a few years ago to an organization that now has 5 teams and 60 outstanding softball players. And . . . the plans remain for further growth in the years to come.
2008
2008 will bring the addition of a U14 team to the mix. After several tournament championships in '07 and a U10 regional Invitation, the NH Lightning U14 Blue Team finished as the Runner Up team at the Lowell, MA ASA National Qualifier the weekend of June 6th and the U16 team claimed the Rochester Slammers Championship over the June 13th weekend!! The remainder of the 2008 season proves to be a very exciting year. 6 Teams and close to 75 NH Lightning players will be competing across New England, NY, Virginia and Pennsylvania!
