Perryville fought off a feisty North East squad 7-6 in seven innings to capture the Little League Maryland District 5 Major Division softball tournament Thursday night at Trego Field. North East, who needed to beat Perryville twice to claim the crown, trailed 5-1 before rallying for four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Perryville responded with two in the top of the seventh before hanging on to claim the district banner. Sarah Pender started the seventh inning with an opposite field single to left and promptly stole second. Krystyn Gardner followed with a little popup between the plate and the circle that went for an infield hit. Mara Little then roped the first pitch to left for an RBI single. After the runners moved up on a passed ball, Payton Jourdan plated a run with a fielder's choice grounder to first as Gardner was ruled to have slid under the tag at the plate. After Arianna Varela was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Morgan Sargent came on to pitch and recorded three strikeouts to keep it a two-run game.
Sargent was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh, stole second and third, and scored on a wild pitch. The Perryville pitcher Little got the next two hitters on groundballs before Hannah Gordon reached on an error. Gordon stole second but Little fanned the next batter to secure the victory. Perryville advances to the state tournament, which begins July at South Caroline Little League in Preston. "I'm so proud of the team and all the hard work they've done," Perryville manager Bob James said. "They have come a long way." Perryville had two-a-days leading up the the tournament, focusing on fielding and fundamentals in the morning and hitting at night. They've earned a mini-vacation. "We'll have a pool party at my house Friday and then watch the other Perryville teams play on Saturday," James said. "Maybe Sunday we'll have a loose practice." For the first five innings, it did not appear as though Perryville would require any late-game heroics. The tournament hosts produced clutch hitting to go along with what James called their best defensive game of districts. Perryville took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Varela lined a single to right. After an out, Jordan Morris clubbed an RBI double to right-center. She advanced to third on a passed ball and scored when Cadence Adams reached on a third-strike passed ball. North East cut the deficit in half in the third. Katie Crouch walked, stole second, and scored when Elaina Owens lined a triple past the glove of the second baseman and into the right-center field gap. Little struck out the next two batters and caught a popup to retain the lead. Perryville made it 3-1 in the fourth. Jourdan smacked a single and moved up when Varela was safe on a fielder's choice. Both runners advanced on Abbie James' groundout and Justine Bowman hit an RBI single to left. Perryville tacked on two more in the fifth. Pender got it started with a single, stole second, and went to third on a Gardner bunt. Little delivered an RBI double to left-center. Jourdan walked and Varela lined an RBI single to up the lead to 5-1. It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth. Aubrey Runyons ignited the uprising with an infield hit and, after an out on a fielder's choice, Gordon also reached on an infield hit. After one run scored on an error, Maranda Barben lined an RBI single up the middle. Maddie Ewing, representing the tying run, was hit by a pitch. With two outs and runners on second and third, Owens produced an RBI single up the middle to trim the margin to 5-4. Ewing scored on a wild pitch to cap the dramatic comeback before Little fanned the next batter. "North East was ready to go," said Bob James. "They battled and came back. It's a credit to all of the managers and coaches because every team came to compete and had a chance to win." Extra innings posed a strategy dilemma for the Perryville manager. Major Division softball rules require a pitcher who works into the seventh inning to have at least one day of rest before returning to the circle. A North East extra-inning victory would've meant Perryville's ace, Little, would not have been available to pitch in the decisive game Friday. Following the game, James said he based his decision on what happened in the top of the seventh. If Perryville had failed to score in the top of the seventh he would have brought a new pitcher into the game. With Perryville holding a two-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh, James elected to go for the knockout and keep Little in the circle. "It was a roll of the dice," he said. Comments are closed.
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