PORTLAND, Ore. — The South Snohomish Little League team was bound to have a close game.
After back-to-back wins by 10 runs or more at the Little League Softball World Series, the West squad’s third game went down to the wire. Kiley Hubby went 2-for-3 and scored the game-winning run on a single by Pheobe Schultz in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead South Snohomish to a 4-3 win over the Central team Sunday night at Alpenrose Stadium.
“It was a wild, wild win. Just crazy,” said South Snohomish head coach Fred Miller. “It was definitely strange for our kids because they haven’t had a lot of those games, but they have had close games before. We knew what to do. It was the craziest atmosphere I’ve ever been involved with. There were 200 to 300 fans just going crazy.”
South Snohomish (3-0) is now the only remaining undefeated team at the Little League Softball World Series. However, the West team is far from guaranteed a berth in Tuesday’s semifinals.
If Central (2-1) defeats Canada on Monday and Southeast (2-1) wins against West (South Snohomish), the three teams will be tied at 3-1. The tiebreaker is average runs allowed per inning. South Snohomish has only allowed three runs in the tournament but, since two of their games were called early because of 10-run leads, it has played less innings — meaning a loss could end the West team’s World Series run.
“(Monday’s) a must-win,” Miller said. “It’s come down to it. The head-to-head goes away because we’ve all beaten each other. (Monday) means everything to get to the semis. This is our first must-win of the tournament.”
The West team built a 3-0 lead in the first three innings thanks to RBI singles by Hubby and Brooke Jordan. Jordan also batted 2-for-3 for South Snohomish.
But the Central Iowa Little League from Slater, Iowa, scored one run in each of the final three innings to tie South Snohomish going into the bottom of the sixth.
“This team’s not scared of anything,” Miller said. “A 3-0 lead diminishes and the kids just relaxed. They could have blown apart. I’ve got to hand it to them. They’re a tough team.”
The West squad had been held scoreless in an inning just once in its first two games of the Little League Softball World Series, where it beat its previous two opponents by a combined score of 21-0. The Central team kept South Snohomish off the scoreboard in three innings but couldn’t replicate the feat in the final inning.
Hubby led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and, a couple batters later, Schultz drove her in with a walk-off RBI single.
“Kiley was a monster,” Miller said. “That hit she had to lead off that last inning was huge. When she hit it we thought it might be out of the park. It landed about five feet short of the fence. Then Pheobe stepped up with a clutch hit.”
Makayla Miller earned her third win of the tournament, pitching a complete game and striking out 10.
“Makayla was just her tough self that she normally is,” Fred Miller said. “She’s just determined. Some of those hitters she was facing that last inning were hungry. They were swinging the bat really well and she was just in the zone.”
South Snohomish finishes up its Pool B games with a game against Southeast (Rowan Little League from Salisbury, North Carolina) at 4 p.m. Monday. The top two teams from Pools A and B advance to Tuesday’s semifinals which will be broadcast live on ESPN 2.
The Southeast team is coming off a 12-0 victory over Asia-Pacific on Sunday. South Snohomish defeated the team from Makati City, Philippines, 11-0 in its opening game at the Little League Softball World Series.
Miller would prefer a larger victory to one of a slimmer margin. However, the South Snohomish coach said he will take a win of any kind.
“(Monday is) the biggest game ever,” Miller said. “We did a great job but we need one more win.
“And I wouldn’t mind a 10-0 win.”
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