District III finishes second-best to Southwest
In the last six years, the District III host team in the Senior League Softball World Series has been represented by Laurel, and, this year, in their third consecutive trip, they came the closest they ever have to nabbing the international championship. But it was the USA Southwest team, West Ouachita Little League of Calhoun, La., that came through with the 3-2 nail-biter to secure the title.
Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
Southwest smiles from victory after defeating District III to win the World Series.
Despite committing five errors, timely hitting, clutch base-running and accomplishing pitching fell into place for the Southwest as they defeated District III on Saturday, Aug. 15. District III came out ahead of Southwest in their pool game earlier in the week but couldn’t manage to hold on the second time around.
Grace Thaxton took to the mound for Southwest and allowed no runs on two hits through the first four innings. Offensively, Southwest spoke first, with a single from Katie Killian that brought around special pinch runner Kari Payton in the second inning.
District III pulled ahead with the lead, 2-1, in the bottom of the fifth against relief pitcher Kara Anderson, as Christyanna Davis and Alexis Oliphant rounded the bases and scored off of Brook Evans’ single to third.
Southwest responded the very next inning, with a tying solo homerun from Caitlin Herbert and a drastic momentum shift. The next three batters loaded the bases before Amelia Montgomery stepped up to the plate for Southwest. A pop-up to shortstop, ruled an infield fly, was dropped, and amid the confusion, Thaxton ran home for the winning run. She took the mound in the bottom of the seventh, and the Southwest infield made short work of the District III batters, closing out the game.
Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
District III’s Cassidy Taylor throws a pitch into homeplate.
“Our girls have nothing to be ashamed of,” said District III manager Jeff Evans. “I’m proud of each and every one of them. We showed that we’re not just a host team in this tournament. The final game could have gone either way. We beat them once, and they happened to beat us once, but they beat us in the last game.”
Laurel pitcher Cassidy Taylor worked from the rubber in the final game, as Stephanie Wheatley had played in the previous night’s semifinal game against Latin America and exhausted her eligible innings.
“Cassidy pitched great for us [in the final game],” said Evans. “I have no regrets about pitching Steph [the night before]. We had to win that game. It just didn’t work out for us this time. We weren’t hitting as well as we had, and they had a good pitching staff.”
This was Evans’ third consecutive trip to the World Series, more than any other team at the Senior League World Series in recent years.
“I can’t say enough about these girls,” he said. “They’re an amazing team.”
Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
Southwest’s Grace Thaxton pitches during the last game of the Senior League World Series.
Herbert said she was relieved her team came out with the win and recognized the role her homerun played in the team’s victory.
“I thought [District III] was going to steal the homerun,” she said. “At the plate, I knew I wanted it, so I went for it. I knew the momentum was going our way right after that. Winning the World Series means everything. We showed up, represented Louisiana, the Southwest, and our region.”
“It’s really exiting to take the title,” added Thaxton. “We saw Delaware already, and it all came together after hit [from Caitlin].”
As for her teamwork with Anderson on the mound, “We work really well together,” Thaxton added. “She had their number all game, and we compliment each other out there.”
Last year, the West Ouachita Little League team finished third in the Junior League World Series.
Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
District III’s Brooke Evans swings at a ball during the final game of the 2009 Senior League Softball World Series.
“We were a young team moving up,” said manager Steve Privitor. “Our girls had the experience a little bit, but there’s great competition here. We knew it would be tough and, fortunately, we peaked at the right time and had things go our way.
“We felt like [District III] would be the team to beat in the finals. We concentrated on batters, and saw what they did against other teams,” he said. “I just told our girls to keep their heads up and go out there and play our game. We had an awesome combo on the mound, and that worked well for us.”
