I am happy to report the girls from Team Explosion of the La Mirada Girls Softball Association ended the regular season in first place and earned a bye in the Division Tournament.
Their final record for the regular season was 9 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. Included in that record were three shutouts and five come from behind wins in their last at-bat. The girls, Haily Williamson, the youngest, Jazmine Hernandez, Hekela Peoples, Samantha Largent, Dezteni Barraza, Marissa Nedrow, Emily Lopez, Hannah Stines, Emily Williamson, Kara Sands, Lindsay Udell and Abbie Landrum, seemed to get better with every game. The team ended the season with a four-game winning streak and with a strong sense of confidence going into the playoffs. Because of rain delays earlier in the season, the team had to wait a week to play their first playoff game, however it did not deter them from winning it with another
shutout win over Team Lil Rage, 2-0 in the semi-final round earning the team a spot in the championship game.
The championship game was a duel between two of the best pitchers in the 8U Division this season, Abbie Landrum of Team Explosion, and Jaelyn Pantages of Team Venom, and it did not disappoint. Venom scored two runs in the first inning but did not score anymore. Explosion scored in the second inning with an RBI single by Marissa Nedrow to cut Venom’s lead in half. In their last at-bat, Explosion loaded the bases with none out. Explosion had defeated Venom in their last at-bats in the two regular season meetings, 2-1 and 3-2 respectively. So it looked like Explosion was about to repeat what had become their model for winning, the last-at-bat. Venom made a pitching change and brought Jaeyln back in to get the final three outs. She did not fail and struck out three batters to preserve the win and take the crown for the 8U Division, final 2-1.
What Venom did not know is that Team Explosion had already won. As reported here two weeks ago, the girls were not expected to win as many games as they did, or even take the division title. They went further than that, they played in the championship game and took it to the last out before Venom could proclaim victory. This season was the victory, the girls enjoyed themselves, played with a lot of heart