The final score might look like it was an easy win for Indiana in the final game of pool play at the Junior League Softball World Series, but it was anything but easy. Indiana broke through with twelve runs in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and down the Philippines, 16-4.
Sophia Boyer cranked two long home runs and Leah Nelson blasted a three-run homer in the big eighth inning.
The Philippines unleashed a bunt attack on Indiana, factoring in on all four of their runs, as they erased a three-run deficit and tied the game in the sixth. Some brilliant fielding by Indiana cut short the small-ball onslaught, and they were also helped by a batter’s interference call that negated a stolen base in the first inning.
Down 1-0 in the second, Indiana scored three runs on Boyer’s first home run, an RBI single by Sophia Thomas, and an error. Boyer’s second home run in the fourth inning made it 4-1.
In the decisive eighth, Indiana loaded the bases and Tenly Anderson shot a single into right to drive in the go-ahead run, then Thomas singled in another. Reese Mahaffey, Paisley Wolf, and Claire Brewer all walked to bring in three more runs, then Evie Grantz hit a two-run single and Nelson launched her three-run homer. That brought up Anderson, who drove in two more runs with a base hit.
Coach Jenny Brewer says the big inning set up perfectly for them.
Brewer says Boyer’s big bat and the overall offensive pressure from the whole team made Indiana too tough for the Asian Pacific entry.
Boyer, Anderson, and Thomas all had two hits for Indiana, which finished third in Pool B based on tiebreakers and will play at 3:30 this afternoon against South Carolina, the Southeast champ, in the elimination round.
Brewer would like the team to get off to a faster start than they have been in their other games.
The other quarterfinals feature Texas against Italy, Illinois against the Philippines, and Canada taking on Puerto Rico.
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