Pennsville LL drops final game in the Senior Softball World Series, 9-0 to The Philippines; reserves start, everybody plays
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
ROXANA, Del. – With all the pressure to win the championship off, Pennsville Little League’s final game in the Senior Softball World Series was all about having one final fun game together, play a little loose and give everyone a piece of the action.
Manager Chris Watson promised the reserves would see time in Saturday’s consolation game and he started most of them.
Everyone got to play, hit and field. Some played multiple positions, some even played unusual positions. And if the way they cut up with the other team after the game was any indication they all seemed to have fun despite a 9-0 loss to The Philippines that sent the Eagles home tied for seventh in the 10-team field.
“The reserves work just as hard as the starters and they don’t get the same playing time throughout the tournament because we’re usually jammed up in tight games; we’re trying to win every night,” Watson said. “They put all that work in, so today was like a nice reward for them to get out there and show how close they are to the starters when it comes to the talent and ability. It was great to showcase that.”
Five of the six reserves who played support roles in Pennsville’s historic 15-4 run through the entire tournament started the game: The entire outfield (Gina Shinn, Gracie Mease and Audrey Claybourn), catcher Lilly Birney and third baseman Sawyer Simmons. Gabby Farino was inserted in the third inning and played third base and right field.
“I thought maybe I’ll get one or two innings and they’ll put the rest of the team in so we can finish up the game and have one final win before we go home,” said Forino, an incoming sophomore at Pennsville High School. “But when he put reserve players in at the start I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to be a big chance for me to figure out where I belong (position wise).
“Being on such a good team like this, you don’t get as many opportunities if you’re not one of the best and having a game like this really gave me an opportunity to find where I fit in and feel where I’m confident against such good competition.”
Forino saw a lot of action at both her positions, but was most comfortable in right field. Shinn caught a fly ball in left field for the last out of the second inning. Mease and Claybourn caught balls in the outfield. Simmons made a play at third and Birney played the whole game behind the plate and got one of Pennsville’s five hits.
Overall, Watson thought the backups “did well” in their new-found, albeit brief, roles.
Watson sent a text to the entire team the night before reminding them the reserves were going to play. Shinn, who has been used as a regular pinch-runner throughout the tournament, didn’t see the text but knew of the plan and it made “the smile on my face was as bright as day.”
“It was really important for me as a player to get out there and show what I can do because I strongly believe I can do it,” Shinn said. “To know that Chris trusts me enough to put me in the game to help him out means a lot to me. I love running, but outfield is my home.”
Claybourn learned she was in the starting lineup about five minutes before the team took the field, but she had a similar reaction as the others.
“I thought it was pretty cool,” she said. “They said the subs are playing today and I was like, ‘oh, cool, I get to play.’”
Pennsville beat The Philippines in pool play, but the Asia-Pacific champions took control of this one with three runs before Pennsville ever came to bat. They extended the lead to 7-0 in the fourth and capped it with a pair of runs in the seventh.
There was a scary moment in the first inning. Pennsville pitcher Savannah Palverento, making just her second appearance and first start of the tournament season, had a comebacker glance off her glove and catch her on the left cheekbone. She came out of the game and Kloi Tighe pitched the rest of the way.
Pennsville had only two runners in scoring position in the game. They had only Lily Edwards’ bunt single until Birney’s single in the fourth. Avery Watson had a two-out single in the fifth. Bella Rappa, in her final Little League at-bat, and Tighe had back-to-back two-out singles in the seventh.
Pennsville went 2-4 in the World Series. They split their four pool games and beat The Philippines in the game that went into Wednesday morning to win the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed in their pool. But they only scored one run outside the pool and hadn’t scored since pushing across a run in the first inning of their quarterfinals loss to Hawaii.
“We ran out of gas; frankly, we ran out of energy,” Watson said. “It was exhilarating going all the way through district, sectionals, states, regionals, but it was exhausting, too. … I had a ton of girls not home for extended periods of times. A big portion of my team and a big portion of my starters haven’t been home for maybe a day in the last month.
“Out of the five meaningful games we played, we only played three of them the way we play. We lost one and won two. Those other two games wasn’t us. That was the road wearing on us. The Texas game and Honolulu game, that was a lot of fatigue contributing to that and it’s unfortunate that that’s what brought us down. But it was a fun run, a lot of fun.”
The entire experience was rewarding, a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most of the players, but getting to play in the final game made it even more.
“I thought it was pretty nice I actually got a spot on the field and I got to play my old position – and I actually got a ball hit to me,” Mease said. “I was pretty happy I got playing time, I had like one last chance to be on the field and do what I’ve got to do.”
Philippines 9, Pennsville 0
Philippines 300 400 2 — 9 9 0
Pennsville 000 000 0 — 0 5 6
WP: Jeryll Duller. LP: Savannah Palverento. 2B: Jeanne Ubay 2 (Ph).
SENIOR SOFTBALL LL WORLD SERIES
Saturday’s games
Quarterfinal: Central (Illinois) 16, Latin America (Puerto Rico) 0
Quarterfinal: Southwest (Texas) 15, Southeast (Georgia) 1
Delaware 19, Czech Republic 8
Consolation: Asia-Pacific (The Philippines) 9, Pennsville LL 0
Semifinal: Central (Illinois) 9, West (Hawaii) 0
Semifinal: Southwest (Texas) 2, Canada (Alberta) 1
Consolation: Southeast (Georgia) 7, Latin America (Puerto Rico) 5
Sunday’s games
Third-place game: Canada (Alberta) vs. West (Hawaii), 11 a.m.
Championship game: Southwest (Texas) vs. Central (Illinois), 7 p.m.
Top photo: The players from Pennsville and The Philippines get together for one last hurrah before heading home from the Senior Softball Little League World Series.
Riverview Sports News 