Hosts swing for fences to drop East in World Series opener

The path to the Senior League Softball World Series is often a long and trying one for the teams that must win their regions outright in order to reach the series. For that reason, the District III host team – Laurel, this year – which receives its slot in the series solely by winning the district championship, is not always met with the same respect that goes to those who hoe the longer road. But they proved themselves on Sunday, when they took down the USA East team from Haverstraw, N.Y., 2-1 in the first game of the series.

Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
Kelsey Oliphant at bat against the East team.

It was a pitchers’ battle for the first three innings of the game, as Krystn Benson for the East and Laurel’s Stephanie Wheatley kept a steady pace from the mound. Then, the East came alive in the top of the fourth, as clean-up batter Destiny Jones sent a shot to the outfield to get on base. Benson followed up at the plate with a hit that bounced off the centerfield fence and back into play – good enough for a triple and the first run of the game.

Benson kept control through the next two innings, but by the bottom of the sixth, District III was ready to answer back. Leadoff batter Kelsey Oliphant drove a solo homerun over the fence to tie up the game, and the momentum shifted in their favor. Brooke Evans followed up with a slap hit to get her on first and advanced to second on a sacrifice hit from Jenna Cahall. Evans moved to third and came into home plate on a pitch that got away, earning the winning run for the host team.

Winning pitcher Wheatley finished the evening with eight strikeouts and one walk. Benson had seven strikeouts from the mound and three walks.

“We were down for a little bit,” said District III manager Jeff Evans. “We’ve got some young players who were just getting their first taste of World Series pressure.” His team returned for the third consecutive year as the district champions to host the series.
Kelsey Oliphant’s homerun, although welcomed, was not a shock to the manager.

“It really doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “This girl has been doing this all week in practice, and if anybody was going to tie the game on a homerun it was going to be [Kelsey].”

“It showed us that we could actually hit,” said Kelsey Oliphant. “The homerun really got our confidence up, and it let everybody know that we’re not just a host team. We actually know how to play.”

In the past few years, Laurel has faced strong competition throughout the series but they had not been confronted with this caliber of play in an opening game.

“This was the toughest first game we have had,” Evans said, “and, hopefully, it’s our toughest game the whole time. Our girls just need to work on the fundamentals and hitting.”
Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
East team player, Taylor Corretjer, catches a pop fly.
Winning the opening game was crucial, said Wheatley.

“It lets everyone see how good we are,” she said. “We know we want to keep playing our hardest. We have a lot of chemistry on the team, and there’s no drama.”

In addition to fielding plenty of hits at the mound, she invests her trust with the rest of her team, no matter their experience. “When the ball is hit,” she said, “I know someone is back there to get it. Our new players play up to how we play, and that helps us.”

For Joe Corretjet, manager of USA East, the first game of the series was a learning tool.

“The key in a tournament like this is to play the way that you always play,” he said. “You need to play your style, no matter who you face. We tell our girls we want them to be the strongest link when it’s their opportunity. When you’re at bat, that’s your opportunity to make a contribution. Unfortunately, today, we didn’t do it at bat.”

Their next game would come on Tuesday, under the lights, against Southwest, who knocked off a strong Asia-Pacific team on Day 1.
“We were able to keep it to a one-run game,” said Corretjer. “The only thing we can do at this point is win our next game. We can’t afford to lose another. We have to approach it like a must-win.”

Evans took nothing away from the work of his first-round opponents.

“They are a good team,” he said. “They have a really good pitcher. I’m just glad that one’s over with. Our girls hadn’t faced live pitching since three weeks ago with the district. We need to cover a lot of things. Tonight, we needed a long ball, and we got it. Hats off to Stephanie [Wheatley]. She did her job out there. I was really happy to see Brooke get out there on a slap hit. The momentum turned around, and we stemmed it all together.”

District III had the next few days of the series off, preparing to face Southwest on Wednesday, Aug. 12, under the lights.