District III blanks Canada, 10-0
By John Denny
Staff Reporter

Above, District III's Megan Torbert beats a throw into second base against Canada. Below, Samantha Newton sends a pitch home for Canada. Photos by RUSLANA LAMBERT

Canada’s erratic pitching meant there would be very little to hit. With just six District III hits, remaining pitches resulted in walks and moved runners into scoring position in a 10-0 District III win over six innings.

Canada’s starting pitcher, Sabrina Phillips, tossed nine wild pitches and allowed five of her team’s nine issued walks. That came after she struck out the last two batters of the first inning in her first appearance of the Senior League Softball World Series. She would eventually make way for Samantha Newton.

Newton didn’t fare any better and shortstop/relief pitcher Kelsey Riggleman was able to score one of her game-high three runs to start a four-run rally in the third inning and extend District III’s lead to 5-0.

Riggleman had two singles, stole two bases and in two innings advanced to second and third base twice on her own merit.

“Our bats weren’t really helping us out, so we had to steal and bunt our way home. And later on we got some hits,” District III manager Mike Riggleman said.

District III scored two runs on passed pitches, two on wild pitches and two more on errors and then manufactured the rest.

Infielders Jenna Adkins and Julia Carr had RBI fielder’s-choice at-bats. Centerfielder Kari Bergh and second baseman Megan Torbert added a RBI sacrifice fly apiece.

Canada had one less hit than District III, with five, but squandered a one-out, bases-loaded situation by striking out and grounding out to pitcher Heather Draper (1-1) to end the second inning. Bergh squelched a tag-up attempt by completing a 7-5 double play to negate two consecutive singles in the third inning, by Alex Passa and Phillips.

“We didn’t play as badly as the score indicated,” Canada’s manager, Kevin Carr, said. “But we couldn’t get a key hit when we needed it.”

“If we could’ve scored — and I know my girls — it would’ve got their adrenaline going. But their centerfielder made a nice play to kill our rally,” Carr said.

Passa got the signal from her third-base coach in the bottom of the third to tag up from second base on a Jessica Kipping fly ball to shallow centerfield. And Bergh nailed her by about three or four strides.

“We played a little aggressive there and tried to make something happen,” Carr said. “Sometimes it works, but she [Bergh] made a nice throw and the third baseman made a great scoop.”

Riggleman replaced Draper after four innings. From there she used her rise ball and superior velocity to work six consecutive outs — two by strikeout and the last three ended on four pitches.

“The one thing about changing the pitcher is that it gives them another look,” coach Mike Riggleman said. “They were getting some hits off of Heather (Draper) but Kelsey was able to give them a little more speed and jammed them up.”

By replacing Draper with Kelsey Riggleman after four innings, the team made sure Draper is eligible to pitch the semi-final game today against the first-place team in Pool B. USA Central, USA Southwest and Latin America were in a three-way quagmire for that position.