Southeast outlasts Canada in thriller

In one of the more exciting contests since Roxana began hosting the Senior League Softball World Series, the Southeast team (Portsmouth, Va.) was able to hold off a scrappy effort by the Canadian team (Windsor, Ontario) in a tight 6-5 game on Tuesday, Aug. 10.

In keeping with what was a recurring theme for the night, the Southeast team built a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first, only to see the Canadians battle back to pick up a run in their half of the inning. Following a scoreless second inning, things definitely picked up in the third.

The first two Southeast batters grounded out to short, and it looked as if Canadian pitcher Kinsey Close was going to make sure of the Virginia squad. Then Tiffany Manning lined a single to left, Laura Boothe walked and Jasmine Copland singled to load the bases. Kiersten Siaca hit a double to knock in two runs, and an error on the next at bat drove in two more, pushing the Southeast lead to 6-1.

Canada managed to battle back again in the bottom of the third.

Amanda Simke stroked a single to left-center and moved around to third following a passed ball and a groundout. She scored on a wild pitch, and Victoria Brunet hit a double. Joya Germanese followed with a single, and Jillian McFadden drove in Brunet with a single of her own. Germanese was able to score on a throwing error on the play, tightening the game to 6-4.

Both teams went scoreless from that point on until the bottom of the seventh.

Germanese got a single to score Justine Cunningham to narrow the score to 6-5, and with two runners on and two outs, McFadden smoked a line drive that was caught to end the game.