Clarksville, TN – A dropped fly ball in extra innings allowed West Virginia to score what turned out to the game-winning run, July 27th on Morgan Field at Merricourt Park, to help them reach the championship game of the 9-10-year old Little League softball Tournament of State Champions.
Tied 4-4, with two outs in the top of the seventh inning Jillian Holly was able to come around and score from second base when a fly ball to medium left-center field was dropped by the North Carolina center fielder.
North Carolina would get a runner as far as second base — with one out — in the bottom of the inning, but Tayven Stephenson finished the complete-game victory by getting a groundout and a strikeout to seal away the victory.
North Carolina had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the sixth inning with Caylie Keller reaching on a one-out single and move into scoring position at second base on a passed ball.
An out later, Emily Cipolla singled through the left-side of the West Virginia infield, but Keller was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Jayden Doub to force extra innings.
West Virginia had opened the game by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, aided by two North Carolina errors, with Taylor Glancy picking up and RBI on a single.
North Carolina would answer back by scoring all of its run in the contest in the bottom of the inning, to go up 4-2.
Allison Ennis drew a walk to open the inning and two outs later moved around to third base on back-to-back walks to Ellen Yang and Elli Wilhelm.
Keller would drive in two runs to tie the game 2-2, with Wilhelm scoring the go-ahead run on a West Virginia Error.
North Carolina’s final run, scored by Keller, came in off of a wild pitch.
West Virginia tied the game with two runs in the top of the third inning, with Bailey Gilbert picking up an RBI in driving in the first run of the inning, with Kendall Stoffel coming in to score on an attempted double steal attempt – crossing the plate with the tying run before North Carolina tagged out Glancy with the final out of the inning.
North Carolina drops into the loser’s bracket and will face Georgia at 6:00pm on July 28th, with the winner having to play West Virginia at 8:00pm in the tournament’s championship game.
In other games on July 27th in the Tournament of State Champions:
Georgia 11, Florida 0
Georgia reached the finals of the loser’s bracket of the Tournament of State Champions by scoring 11 runs, while getting a one-hit shutout from Chloe Souders, as they defeated Florida, 11-0.
Souders had two RBIs in the win, while Anna Kate McElhaney, Brooke Evans, Morgan Cooper, Sadye Johnson and Tori O’Neal all collecting one RBI each in the victory.
Florida’s lone hit, a single by Robyn Herron, come in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Florida 9, Virginia 4
Florida scored nine unanswered runs, after falling behind early 2-0, to eliminate Virginia 9-4 in the Little League Tournament of Champions.
Trailing 2-0 after one inning of play, Florida scored four runs on seven hits in the top of the second inning – with Ashley Mantei driving in two runs, while Belle Sardja and Herron picked up one RBI each.
Ava Durham had a RBI in the third inning for Florida, with Herron and Gabi Torres recording RBIs in the sixth inning.
Makenzie Cyzick, Paige Eavers and Sydney Lyons had RBIs for Virginia.
