The Windermere Girls softball team did what they had to do in today’s game against an overmatched Netherlands team. By winning 12-0 and ending the game after four innings due to Little League’s ten run rule, they gave themselves their best chance to advance to tomorrow’s semi-final game with all of their best pitchers available.
The Netherlands team, representing Europe and the Middle East, was 1-2 in pool play coming into the game. The Netherlands batted first against Lexie Blair, starting for Windermere today. Lauren Mathis was ineligible because she pitched six innings yesterday. Sharon Schaap, their first batter, singled and made it to third before Blair steadied, getting one batter on a comebacker and then striking out the next two to end the inning without allowing a run.
Celeste Kool, who had the Netherland’s only win, got Amanda Plasencia, the first Windermere batter, out on a grounder. Then she walked Lauren Mathis and Maggie Wheless to put runners on first and second. They moved to second and third on a passed ball. When Maria Pagane, the next batter, struck out swinging, it looked like Celeste may have “Kooled” off the Windermere rally. However, as they’ve done throughout the series, Windermere staged a clutch two out rally.
Kool walked Lexie Blair to load the bases. That brought Maria Sidwell to the plate, who leads the team in batting average for the series. Sidwell singled, driving in Mathis. Wheless and Blair also scored on subsequent errors in the field, giving Windermere had a 3 run lead with Sidwell on second. Brianne Gulden walked. Both Sidwell and Gulden came around to score on wild pitches and passed balls to the next two batters. Windermere batted through the order by the time the inning ended, and held a commanding 5-0 lead.
After Blair set down the Netherlands in order in the top of the second, Windermere scored three more, again with two out, all on walks, errors, and passed balls. Amanda Fleming replaced Blair as pitcher in the top of the third and just like Blair got the Netherlands out in order. Windermere scored 4 runs in the bottom of the third to stretch their lead to 12-0.
After Fleming popped out to third, Kool hit Sara Steinman with a pitch to start the rally. Amanda Plasencia singled, and both runners moved up on stolen bases. Mulder came in to pitch, walked Mathis to load the bases and Wheless to drive in one run. Plasencia scored on a wild pitch, the other runners moving up. After Maria Pagane grounded out to second for the second out, Lexie Blair hit one that the second baseman booted, allowing the last two Windermere runners to score.
In Little League, the game ends after the fourth inning if one team is ahead by ten runs or more. With Windermere batting last, the Netherlands had to score three runs in the top of the fourth to keep the game going. Fleming did give up a single to first baseman Rose Mwaro, but got the outs she needed, ending the game on a strikeout.
This win improves Windermere’s record to 3-1 for pool play, and puts them in a favorable position to advance to tomorrow’s semi-final game. It all depends upon tonight’s game between Mexicali and Anderson, Indiana. If Mexicali wins, they win the pool with a 4-0 record, and play the second team from Pool B. Windermere finishes a clear second with a 3-1 record and will play the Pool B winner.
If Anderson wins, three teams will be tied with identical 3-1 records. The tie breaker is runs allowed ratio, which Little League calculates by taking the total number of runs a team allows during the tournament, divided by the number of defensive innings played. The team with the lowest runs allowed ratio claims the number one spot, and the two remaining teams are decided by results of their head to head competition. Windermere has allowed 9 runs over 21 innings, for a ratio of .428. Central has already allowed 10 runs in the tournament. That means even if they win tonight’s game by shutout in the regulation six innings, Windermere advances.
