SEATTLE
On to state.
The Richmond Little League 11- and-12-year-old softball all-stars won the District 8 championship over Magnolia July 7.
Richmond, 21-2-1 on the season, concluded its sweep through the district playoffs with a 9-4 trouncing of Magnolia to earn a berth in the state tournament July 14-15 in Vancouver.
Richmond built a 9-1 lead until Magnolia rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The game ended on a double-play that started on a comebacker to pitcher Stephanie Host. Host threw out Nancy MacGeorge at first and first baseman Cassie McKinley gunned down Emma Whitaker at the plate.
“They started coming back but we still kept playing our hardest,” McKinley said.
Host scattered eight hits and gave up two earned runs in six innings of work, walking one and striking out one.
Richmond trailed briefly after giving up a run in the bottom of the first. Magnolia’s Lissa Stermeister led off with an infield single and stole second. She moved to third on a grounder and scored on Nina Leff’s grounder to second.
But Richmond took the lead for good in the second inning 2-1, capitalizing on four walks and an error.
“We’ve been coming back from behind the whole tournament,” Richmond manager Ital Carosiello said. “We hit the ball real well. Stephanie pitched real well for us.”
Richmond broke the game open in the top of the third, scoring four runs on four hits. Celine Ulrich belted a one-out two-run double to left field and Katie Holloway added a two-out, two-run single to center.
In the fourth, Richmond tacked on two more runs on a single by Courtney Carosiello that scored Cassie McKinley and Dani Norsby.
Richmond added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Norsby that scored McKinley.
Norsby scored three runs to lead Richmond. McKinley and Carosiello added two apiece.
Nora Buker took the loss for Magnolia giving up five runs, four earned on two hits in four innings while walking seven and striking out five. Richmond had its biggest inning off Lissa Stermeister who gave up four hits and four earned runs in the third.
Richmond shortstop Shannon Schacle, who is making her fourth straight appearance on the Richmond All-Star team, made three assists on grounders and caught two pop-ups to lead the defense.
McKinley and first baseman/outfielder Kyla Riley also are four-time all-stars. Holloway is a three-time all-star, while Norsby, Ulrich and Host are two-time all-stars.
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