The South Whidbey Little League Fastpitch All-Stars almost made it to the big show last week, missing out by just a single run in the final game of the District 11 tournament. The girls lost the championship to Burlington by a score of 13-12. The tournament was held from June 30 to July 8 in Burlington.
“I have never had a prouder day as a coach in all my life as I did during that last game,” said manager Henry Pope. “The girls played great and almost defeated a team that creamed them earlier in the tournament.”
He said the team played a strong game throughout the tourney.
*They defeated Anacortes 12-7.
“We had a strong pitching performance from Samantha Pope and key hits from Lindsey Newman, Natasha Roberts and Amanda Spalding which allowed South Whidbey to win,” Pope said.
*The team took Game 2 against South Skagit American 6-3, with a strong pitching performance from Lindsey Newman and timely hitting by Mary Brown, Mariah Thomas and Brittany Edwards.
*Game 3 was tough against Burlington. Despite a great pitching performance from Mary Brown, Pope said, some errors and a good job of hitting by Burlington buried South Whidbey18-8.
*Game 4 against Sedro Woolley was an easy 4-0 win. Lindsey Newman pitched the shutout and hits came from Samantha Pope, Lauren Stelling, Anna Carty and Lindsey Newman. A spectacular catch in the outfield by Cassie Bosman late in the game helped South Whidbey advance to the championship game against Burlington.
It was here that Burlington and South Whidbey dueled to the last inning. Samantha Pope pitched for South Whidbey, which jumped off at the gate to take a 1-0 lead. Burlington answered to move ahead 4 to 1, but in the second inning, South Whidbey scored seven runs to take an 8-4 lead.
Burlington tied the game up at 8-8, then went ahead 10-8. South Whidbey came back to tie, but Burlington again went ahead 12 to 10.
A bases-loaded single by Mary Brown tied the game at 12-12 going into the bottom of the 6th inning.
In the bottom of the 6th, Burlington had the bases loaded and two outs, and on a close play at home, the Burlington runner was called safe, and Burlington won the championship 13 to 12.
