South Portland American 9/10 softball All-Stars finish second in amazing/controversial state tournament run.

The SPALL 9/10 softball team accepted the runner up medals at the 9/10 state softball tournament in Waldoboro on Thursday evening, albeit begrudgingly.  The American girls finished with three victories and two defeats.  
        American started off by bettering Auburn Suburban in four innings, 11 to 1. This invoked the mercy rule. Pounding out seven hits and collecting 12 walks along with ace Taylor Whaley striking out 11 Auburn hitters and allowing no hits and very few base runners American cruised to victory.  Lexie Gervais, Emily Savage, Paige"Corn Dog"Carter, Kiley Kennedy, Whaley, and Miranda Duffy led the offensive hitting explosion with a variety of single and extra base rips.

        American ran into a very tough pitcher in Olivia Smith from Calais in the second game and wound up on the short end of an 6 to 2 contest.  American actually out hit Calais 6 to 5, but only two players(Whaley and Emily Savage) collected the hits(a triple, double and four singles) and base runners were scarce.  Lauren Despins pitched terrific for American, but it was a tall order indeed on this night ,as Olivia Smith struck out 14 and neither hit nor walked any SPALL batters.  American did make some nifty catches in the game as Miranda Duffy and Paige Carter both speared fly balls in the outfield.

        Game three, or the loser's bracket final had Whaley up again and this time Saco was the victim of her flame throwing.  The American ace rung up 17 strikeouts and allowed only two walks and a flare to right for a hit on the way to a 6 to 1 victory.  Abby Young provided all the offense American would need with two hits and crossing the plate three times.  Key hits by Michelle Moreau, Whaley, and Miranda Gleason dealt the knock out punch.
        The events then turned ugly.  In 9/10 Little League, by rule double headers are not allowed to be scheduled by tournament personnel.  Pitchers also , cannot pitch on consecutive days or in consecutive games.  The victory over Saco was on Wednesday and the double header against Calais(if needed) was scheduled Thursday.  American inquired about the rule and at first the powers that be, stepped in and moved the second game to Friday.  However, at the last second before the 3:00 game, the decision was reversed and the double header mandated to take place on Thursday.  Unfortunately for American ,this simply meant that their top pitcher was not available for either game due to the aforementioned rule.
        In the first game SPALL took out their frustration on the Calais number two pitcher and lit up Foster field with eight hits while collecting several walks.  When the dust settled, the SPALL girls had rocked the undefeated Calais bunch in four innings 14 to 3.  Kennedy, Whaley, Moreau and Young provided much of the fire power, forcing the merry go round in motion.  The American fielding was stellar as well in the victory.  Michelle Moreau and Lauren Despins combined pitching duties for the victory.
        Game two found Smith up in the rotation again for Calais.  American showing the character that got them the District 6 title and deep into the State tournament, jumped on her. After  the laser lashing lefty, Lydia Henderson drew a walk along with catcher Kiley Kennedy, Taylor Whaley stepped to the plate and drilled the 1-0 offering form Smith deep into the right center field gap scoring both Henderson and Kennedy before rambling into third with a stand up triple.  The American girls continued to make contact and play with heart.  They scored three times as many runs this time(six), and made great contact.  Miranda Duffy, Miranda Gleason, Paige Carter, Michelle Moreau, Abby Young all collected hits or made the necessary contact to drive in some runs. Lexie Gervais showed guts while taking a hard grounder in the shin, but still managed to throw the Calais runner out. She then got plunked in very same leg by the hard throwing Smith in the next inning. Unfortunately, Lexie had to vacate the game due to a deep bone bruise. Lauren Despins who had only pitched one inning in the previous game, was permitted by rule(due to only one inning pitched) to toss in the next game.  She delivered a gutsy performance, but some fielding miscues, walks, and timely Calais hits(Mostly by star catcher Madison Mcvicar) doomed American. Miranda Gleason made some defensive gems in the game at third, gunning out several Calais runners from the hot corner. However, Calais claimed the title with a 12 to 6 victory.  It was a wonderful run for the 9/10 SPALL  Softball All-Stars that started back on June 16th. They sure were a fun bunch to watch!