Little League Softball World Series Day Five Recap
On Thursday, the Mid-Atlantic region continued its dominance and remained undefeated in the tournament as it defeated the Southwest Region, 1-0.
The hometown North Carolina team also hung on to win against Asia-Pacific, 3-2.
Mid-Atlantic and North Carolina are the only remaining teams with a perfect 3-0 slate and advance to the championship games on their respective sides of the bracket.
Game 15: Mid-Atlantic Region, 1; Southwest, 0
In the first game on Thursday, the Mid-Atlantic Region team, fueled by the pitching performance of Reagan Bills, squeaked by the Southwest Region team, 1-0.
The game was tied until the fifth inning when a costly error by the Southwest allowed the single run of the game for Mid-Atlantic.
Again, the storyline of Bills cannot be understated. The young pitcher did not allow a run in Thursday's performance and only conceded three hits in the contest with nine strikeouts. Bills now has 34 strikeouts over the entire tournament thus far and has yet to give up an earned run.
Additionally, no other pitcher has stepped in the circle for the Mid-Atlantic team, the game plan is to ride the wave of Bills.
For the Southwest Region team in the loss, Harmoneigh White gave up a single hit, no earned runs, and struck out nine batters as well.
Game 16: North Carolina, 3; Asia-Pacific, 2
Similar to the game earlier in the day on Thursday, an error was the costly mistake that allowed North Carolina to inch above Asia-Pacific, 3-2.
The game started with runs early as the Asia-Pacific team scored two runs in the opening inning on an error. North Carolina answered and tied the game in the bottom of the first thanks to a groundout by Emily Mills.
North Carolina struck again in the third inning on an error that ultimately gave the team the win. In the circle for the Tarheel state, Makayla Montgomery recorded 18 outs, and gave up two hits, two runs (unearned), two walks, and four strikeouts.
Next Games in the Schedule
Since the Southwest Region and Asia-Pacific both lost on Thursday night, they have to immediately turn around and play on Friday to remain alive in the tournament.
The Southwest Region team plays the Southeast Region at 4 p.m. EST, and Asia-Pacific plays the Central Region at 7 p.m. EST. Both games are on ESPN2.
For the winners, the North Carolina Region has the day off and plays in the championship game for the orange side of the bracket Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN.
The Mid-Atlantic Region plays for the championship on the purple side of the bracket Saturday, at 5 p.m. EST on ESPN.
Allison Smith is an expert in leadership and organizational behavior in collegiate and professional women’s sports. Smith is a professor (Georgia State University), researcher, and writer. Smith holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Kinesiology and Sport Studies. Smith’s research centers on combatting the underrepresentation of women leaders in sport, lack of organizational structure for work life integration for sport employees, and lack of programming and oversight for preparing athletes to transition to life after sport. Since graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism in 2011, Smith has sought opportunities to write about sports as a contributing writer focused on the growth of women’s collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports in this new age and movement for multiple outlets including Athletic Director U, and now Forbes.com. As a former Division I and II pitcher and Division III pitching coach Smith will bring unique insight and expertise to Softball on SI.
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