Little League Softball World Series Day Three Recap
Day Three of the Little League Softball World Series was dominated by offense as the West, Europe-Africa, Canadian, and New England Regions were eliminated from the tournament on Tuesday.
The winning teams outproduced the losing teams by 32 runs.
In addition to watching the girls compete, Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) players were in attendance to cheer and support the teams ahead of their games at the World Series on Wednesday.
Game 9: Northwest Region 10; West 0
The Northwest Region avenged their opening loss and tallied ten runs in their second game on 10 hits while they accumulated nine RBIs to advance to the next round.
Unfortunately for the West Region, it was a tough day at the plate as the team only managed one hit in the contest.
Northwest's pitching staff of Penelope Gahan and Camryn Brown combined for the one-hit shutout and heavily relied on their defense to make plays, as the duo only conceded one walk and tallied three strikeouts.
It was Brown's bat that made the loudest noise as she singled in the first and third and drove in six total runs. Brown was 2-for-3 in the game with four RBIs to lead the Northwest Region (Mill Creek LL).
Game 10: Latin America Region 10; Canada 1
Now 1-1 in the tournament, the Latin American Region team defeated Team Canada 10-1 and eliminated them from the competition as they compiled eight hits and seven RBIs in the win.
Latin America got out to an early lead thanks to two errors from Team Canada and scored a tone-setting first run. The fifth inning served as the offensive surge that Latin America needed as they scored five runs on five hits from the bat of Dani Fugisaki, who tripled, Livia Miyasato, who doubled, and Camila Golim, who singled.
For Canada, pitching inconsistency was problematic as their duo of Arielle Prescott and Estelle Dionne gave up seven costly walks. Latin America's combined pitching performance from Fugisaki and Olivia Gimenez gave up two hits, one run (unearned), one walk, and six strikeouts.
Game 11: Central Region 4; Europe-Africa 0
In the third game on Tuesday, the Central Region team depended on its pitching strength to advance to the next round as Grace Fiore and Briley Mercer combined for a 4-0 shutout.
Mercer started the game for the Central Region and gave up just two hits over her three innings of work while she struck out six Europe-African batters. In relief, Fiore conceded a single hit, walked one batter, and struck out two in her three innings of relief.
As a team, the Central Region tallied 11 hits on the game while Fiore, Aubrey Whittemore, and Dru Drummond drove in one run a piece.
Game 12: Southeast 9; New England 0
In the final game, the Southeast Region handed New England the final blow that removed them from tournament play, 9-0.
For the Southeast Region, the combined pitching effort of Sam Bradley and Cayden Hugh and discipline at the plate paid off. Bradley surrendered a single hit and struck out four in the first three innings. Hugh's in relief allowed one hit, one walk, but struck out an impressive eight batters.
The Southeast Region team scored three runs in the third inning, one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and sixth. They amassed eight total hits in the contest and were led by Layla Holton and Rachel Lester, who collected two hits apiece.
Athletes Unlimited Softball Scheduled to Play in Front of Little League Stars
On Wednesday, the Central Region and Latin American Region teams will start the day in their game at 10 a.m. EST.
Then the Northwest and Southeast Region teams will play against one another at 1 p.m. EST before the premiere of the two Athletes Unlimited Softball matchups between Team Corrick and Team Ocasio at 4 p.m. EST and Team Kilfoyl and Team Lorenz at 7 p.m. EST.
All four games on Wednesday will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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.
Follow allisonbsmith15