On Saturday at Alpenrose Stadium in Portland, Windermere Softball played their first game in league history against a team from outside the US and came up short losing 7-5.
Windermere led after the first three innings. Lauren Mathis increased her string of scoreless Series innings to 4, giving up only one hit and striking out three in the first two innings. Just like he did in game one, the manager removed Mathis after the first two innings to keep her eligible to pitch tomorrow’s game. Mexicali starter Rosa Mendoza also held Windermere scoreless in their first two innings. Maria Pagane singled and made it to third base in the top of the second but that’s where she stayed.
In the top of the third Mendoza, a righty, induced Amanda Fleming to pop up to second base to start the inning. Number nine batter Hannah Cain singled, and after another out, moved to second when the Mexicali second baseman fumbled Lauren Mathis’ grounder. That brought cleanup hitter Maggie Wheless to the plate with two on and two out. Wheless fouled off two pitches, and then made first and second on a catcher’s error. Cain scored, Mathis took third, and Windermere had the game’s first lead, 1-0. Pagane flew out to center to end the inning.
Amanda Fleming took the mound in the bottom of the third, struck out two Mexicali batters and retired the third on a comebacker that she threw to first. Mendoza, still pitching for Mexicali, set down Windermere in order in the top of the fourth. Mexicali took advantage of Windermere errors in the bottom of the fourth.
Substitute second baseman Nicole Moran led off with a single. Another single by Lizbeth Talavera and an error by Mathis on a bouncer from Lindsey Roldan loaded the bases with no one out. Fleming took a deep breath and got the next batter, Itzy Casillas, to pop out to second. One out. Then an error by pitcher Fleming allowed three runs to score, with a fourth run coming in on a sacrifice fly off the bat of sub outfielder Alexa Bustamente. Windermere was behind 4-1, the first time they trailed in the World Series. Little League games end after six innings, so Windermere had only six outs left.
The girls from Central Florida fought back. Amanda Fleming led off the top of the fifth with a single, and scored on Amanda Plasencia’s double. Lauren Mathis singled, sending Plasencia to third, where she scored on Mathis’ steal of second. Then cleanup hitter Wheless and shortstop Pagane were retired, leaving Windermere behind 4-3.
Mexicali added three runs in their half of the fifth on a walk, two singles, and another Windermere error. Winderemere put two on the board in the top of the sixth on a double by Lexie Blair and singles by Sidwell and Guldin to cut the lead to two runs. That’s where it stayed after Guldin was thrown out stealing and Mendoza got the last two Windermere batters on a pop up and strikeout to end the game.
The loss dropped Windermere’s record to 1-1 in Pool A, one game behind Latin America (Mexicali) and Central (Riverfield Little League from Anderson, Indiana), who are tied with 2-0 records. All teams in Pool A have two games left to play. The two top teams advance to the semifinals on Tuesday, which pit the top team from Pool A against the second place from Pool B, and the top team from B against the runner-up from A. The two semi-final winners play for the World Series Championship on Wednesday, August 15.
That makes Windermere’s game tomorrow against Riverfield a must-win if Windermere is to have a chance to advance. If Windermere wins both teams will have identical 2-1 records heading into the last day of pool play. If Windermere loses they’ll be 1-2, and the best they could achieve is a final record of 2-2. That will not be enough wins to make it to the semi-finals.
Manager Mathis will have both Lauren Mathis and Lexie Blair ready to pitch tomorrow. Since their last game will be against an EMEA team that has yet to win a game, it’s possible that Manager Mathis will let his daughter pitch at least four tomorrow in this must-win game.
