Pennsville Senior Softball team honored with a parade down Broadway after World Series trip, take the plunge at the end of the ride

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – It doesn’t get any better to welcome home a local hero than a ticker-tape parade down Broadway, right. Well, there might not have been any ticker tape Monday, but there was a parade.

The players on the Pennsville Little League Senior Softball team received one final tribute for making the Little League World Series when they paraded through the center of town against a backdrop of sirens, lights, honking horns and appreciative fans.

The players climbed aboard a Pennsville fire truck with a big “Eagles Softball” banner draped across the side in the parking lot of the Little League complex and set off on the four-mile trip to their manager’s house. The parade was led by a Pennsville PD cruiser, two fire trucks, manager Chris Watson’s truck and a train of 16 other cars.

“That was incredible,” Watson said. “I didn’t think they would be allowed to ride up on top, so to be able to do that, that was another once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity for them. They’re going to remember riding through their hometown on top of the fire truck forever. “

Catcher Kylie Harris called the experience “awesome.”

The parade was put together somewhat hastily since the team wrapped up their week-long World Series experience late Saturday night. Still, there were friends, family and supporters at several spots along the parade route. Even the people in the cars coming the other way honked horns and waved when the parade went by.

There was a large group on both sides of the road at the Acme light waving and taking picture. A white-bearded man standing in front of the package goods store waved enthusiastically. A bike rider on West Pittsfield tipped his hat.

“I felt like a little princess on top of a firetruck having all eyes on me,” outfielder Savannah Palverento said. “It was not a very convenient time, but there were still people out to support us. I thought that was really nice.”

When the parade turned onto Fort Mott Road, neighbors were out on their lawns applauding and taking pictures. Perhaps the neatest part of the trip was when the caravan passed a large Atlantic City Electric crew working on the lines and the guys way up in the buckets waved down to the players.

“I wouldn’t want to go out any other way,” said third baseman Bella Farina, the oldest Little League player in the program and one of two players on the team aging out of the system. “It was a really good way to go out. Losing (in Saturday’s consolation game) was a heartbreak, but we still made it far.”

The Eagles swept through district, sectional, state and regional play to reach the World Series in Roxana, Del. They went 2-4 in the Series, beating teams from Puerto Rico and The Philippines in pool play. 

The celebration didn’t end when the parade stopped. The players reconvened at Watson’s house for their annual season-end dip in the manager’s pool. They lined up at the edge of the deep end wearing their East jerseys from the Series and jumped in for a collective cannonball.

“It felt good today; everything felt good,” Watson said. “It was a relief, I guess, to jump in the pool with them one last time.”

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.

Dreary day all the way around ends Pennsville’s hopes at Senior Softball World Series; consolation game set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

ROXANA, Del. — A dreary day ended in a dreary way for the Pennsville Senior Softball All-Stars.

In their flattest, most disinterested outing of the entire tournament, the Eagles were eliminated from contention in the Senior Softball Little League World Series by a 15-1 loss to Honolulu LL in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Their run-rule loss to Texas Thursday night was bad in many ways, but this one was much worse.

They had six hits, 11 errors (although the official stats list only seven) and a general sense of malaise. 

“It wasn’t us,” Pennsville manager Chris Watson said. “We weren’t on the field today. It wasn’t Pennsville. That was something else that was carryover from a lot of other personal issues. We just never got past them to be able to play our game and it showed on the field.”

An issue at the team hotel a few hours earlier led to Watson benching two of his best players and battery mates Jess Bretz and Kylie Harris. The action forced a major upheaval in what had been a steady lineup throughout the tournament.

Both players entered the game to hit in the second inning and play the field in the third, but by then the emotional toll had taken hold. The benching potentially could have been longer, but Watson said the players exhibited enough contrition in the dugout in the first inning to show him they had come to terms with the conflict.

Pennsville did answer the run Hawaii scored in the top of the first inning with its makeshift lineup in the bottom half when Savannah Palverento scored from third when second baseman Mya Kishida dropped the ball on Bella Rappa’s stolen base, but it fell behind again in the second and the West champions steadily pulled away.

Pennsville had even more wind taken away in the second. Bretz hit a ball to deep center that centerfield Nikki Chong caught but dislodged as she doubled over the fence. The ball came back into the field of play live, but lead runner Kloi Tighe was in no-man’s land as a runner and was forced at second.

Later in the inning, Lily Edwards beat out an infield single, but Bretz got too far around second, got caught in a rundown and was tagged out on the base paths to end the inning.

The Eagles were punchless at the plate after that. They had only two hits and two runners in scoring position over the final five innings. 

“This morning there was a lot of drama that happened and there was no reason for it, considering how it all started to what it turned into,” starting pitcher Tighe said. “We were a family coming into this and we’re not leaving as one, I don’t think.

“We didn’t play like a family because of what happened this morning and I think it’s childish, but we weren’t able to move past it. It never got better. The heads drooped down. Everyone was at each other’s throat,. It didn’t seem like anyone wanted to be there. And it’s a shame.”

The Eagles have a chance for some redemption in a consolation game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against The Philippines. Pennsville beat the Asia-Pacific champs 7-6 in the game that spilled over into Wednesday morning.

“Hopefully, we’re able to play one more time as a team,” Tighe said. “Tomorrow we owe it to the coaches because they’ve been with us. They didn’t deserve that today.”

Senior Softball LL World Series
Quarterfinals
West 15, East 1
Honolulu LL 112 303 5 – 15 13 1
Pennsville LL 100 000 0 – 1 6 7
WP: Baguio. LP: Tighe. HR: Baguio (H).

Friday’s quarterfinals
West (Hawaii) 15, Pennsville 1
Canada (Alberta) 8, Asia-Pacific (The Philippines) 7
Saturday’s games
Quarterfinal: Central (Illinois) 16, Latin America (Puerto Rico) 0
Quarterfinal: Southwest (Texas) 15, Southeast (Georgia) 1
Delaware vs. Czech Republic, 3 p.m.
Pennsville vs. Asia-Pacific (The Philippines), 5:30 p.m.
Semifinal: West (Honolulu) vs. Central (Illinois), 5:30 p.m.
Semifinal: Canada (Alberta) vs. Southwest (Texas), 8 p.m.
Latin America (Puerto Rico) vs. Southeast (Georgia), 8 p.m.
Sunday’s games
Third-place game, 11 a.m.
Championship game, 7 p.m.

Photo: The Pennsville softball team huddles in the outfield to clear some air after its 15-1 World Series loss to Honolulu.

Pennsville All-Stars stare down relegation, score four in ninth to beat Latin America to secure No. 2 seed in their pool

SENIOR SOFTBALL LL WORLD SERIES
Thursday’s scores
West 8, Southeast 7
Asia-Pacific 8, Delaware 0
Southwest 15, Pennsville 5
Central 16, Europe-Africa 1
Pennsville 6, Latin America 3
Canada 11, Europe-Africa 7

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

ROXANA, Del. — The Pennsville All-Stars don’t believe in doing things easy.

The Eagles put themselves in a must-win situation to make the tournament rounds of the Senior Softball Little League World Series, then stared down relegation several times late in that game before rallying in a bizarre ninth inning to beat Latin America champion Puerto Rico 6-3 and secure the No. 2 seed from Pool A.

They scored four runs in the top of the ninth after catcher Kylie Harris tied the game 2-2 with a leadoff homer in the sixth.

It was another late night for the Eagles, as the Thursday game ended 10 minutes before midnight. Not quite as late as the other night when they beat The Philippines to gain the tiebreaker that got them the 2 seed, but it put them in a quick turnaround nonetheless. They play the No. 3 seed from Pool B, West champion Honolulu LL, in the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

The Eagles came into the day with a chance to win their pool, but after laying a 15-5 egg against two-time reigning World Series champion Texas District 9 that took away any chance of that, they were playing Puerto Rico to either finish second, make the playoffs and play through the weekend or fifth and be relegated to a one-game consolation game.

“We don’t do anything easy here,” Pennsville manager Chris Watson said. “This team doesn’t do anything easy. They don’t get an easy road, really, and they don’t take the easy road when it’s put in front of them. That’s what they did tonight. They did it the hard way.

“My wife hates it. I’m sure she’s at home watching the screen and pulling her hair out. I get a lot of that kind of feedback from parents. They’re always remarking how exciting the games always end up being. They don’t understand how I stay so calm throughout it. I’ve kind of become accustomed to it.”

Things did look dark for Pennsville. The teams were locked in a tight battle and the air kind of went out of the Eagles when they fell behind 2-1 after five innings. But Harris restarted their energy when she led off the sixth with a home run to tie it.

Suddenly, there was excitement from the Pennsville dugout and their side of the stands.

“I don’t even have words to describe that feeling,” Harris said. “It makes this sport the sport. That was one of those you’ll never forget things.”

The teams went to extra innings tied 2-2. The Eagles ran themselves out of a potential run in the eighth when Harris got caught in a rundown trying to tag on Jess Bretz’ long fly to center and it almost cost them. Puerto Rico threatened to win it in the bottom of the inning, putting the potential winning run at third with two outs and dangerous leadoff hitter Jelaidy Rosario at the plate.

Rosario had reached base four straight times in the game, but Kloi Tighe induced her into a grounder to third to end the inning.

Pennsville broke it open in the ninth after loading the bases with no outs. With Gina Shinn on second as international tiebreaker ghost runner, Savannah Palverento hit a ball off the pitcher’s glove and beat the shortstop’s throw to first. Shinn kept moving and was safe at third while Palverento pulled into second. Graillyn Weber then bunted for a single to load the bases.

Avery Watson followed with a looping liner about head high behind second base that was high enough to be an infield fly rule out and fell in between the shortstop, second baseman and charging centerfielder for a single. The infield fly rule wasn’t called because the umpires deemed it would have taken something beyond a reasonable effort by the infielders to make the play.

The infield fly rule is a runners advance at their own risk kind of thing anyway and whether they called it or not Shinn raced home with the go-ahead run. Before the inning was over, Kloi Tighe delivered a sacrifice fly, Lily Edwards squeezed a run home and Harris delivered her fourth straight hit to plate another run.

“I was just thinking don’t call infield fly, please don’t call infield fly,” Avery said. “They didn’t, so everything worked out. My main worry was they were going to call infield fly, not even that they were going to catch it.”

Tighe pitched a complete game for Pennsville in the circle, throwing 121 pitches. The ghost runner scored on her in the ninth, but closed out the game with a couple grounders. She gave up nine hits and struck out six.

“We had Jess ready to go and even warmed her up for extra innings, but Kloi’s a warrior, she wasn’t giving the ball up,” Watson said. “She wasn’t giving up much hard contact at all.”

Harris said nailing down the 2-seed “puts us in a good spot.” If they win Friday, they’ll face either Pool B winner Central (Illinois) or Puerto Rico again in Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. semfinals.

“One was ideal for us,” Harris said, “but 2 we’ll take it any day over going home.”

Pennsville 6, Latin America 3
Pennsville 001 001 004 – 6 8 3
Latin America 001 010 001 – 3 9 1
WP: Kloi Tighe. LP: Reisha Batista. 2B: Ylime Torres (LA), Jelaidy Rosario (LA). HR: Kylie Harris (P).

Southwest 15, Pennsville 5
Southwest 145 203 – 15 14 0
Pennsville 040 100 – 5 8 4
WP:Christi McGuire. LP: Jess Bretz. 2B: Bella Rappa (P), Lindsay Talafuse 2 (SW), Christi McGuire (SW), Jayden Sadler (SW), Miah Corona (SW). HR: Yasmine Traore (SW).

SENIOR SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES
Friday’s quarterfinals
A-2 Pennsville vs. B-3 West (Hawaii), 12:30 p.m.
B-2 Canada (Alberta) vs. A-3 Asia-Pacific (The Philippines), 3 p.m.
B-1 Central (Illinois) vs. A-4 Latin America (Puerto Rico), 5:30 p.m.
A-1 Southwest (Texas) vs. B-4 Southeast (Georgia), 8 p.m.

Cover photo: Pennsville catcher Kylie Harris flies into the plate and her awaiting teammates after hitting the game-tying home run against Latin America Thursday night.

Texas, Illinois only undefeated teams left in pool play (3-0), Pennsville back at it with DH Thursday and a chance to win its pool

SENIOR SOFTBALL LL WORLD SERIES
Wednesday’s scores
West 15, Europe-Africa 1
Central 3, Canada 2
Latin America 6, Delaware 5
Southwest 18, Asia-Pacific 2

By Riverview Sports News

ROXANA, Del. – The Southwest and Central U.S. champions are the only undefeated teams remaining in pool play in the Senior Softball Little League World Series, but after the events of Wednesday night, the Pennsville Eagles have a chance to swoop in and steal the top seed in their pool.

The Eagles had the night off, a welcome respite after playing past midnight the day before. They play their final two pool games Thursday and after Latin America held off Delaware Wednesday night they have a chance to win the No. 1 seed with a sweep of Team Southwest and Latin America.

Here are the recaps of Wednesday night’s games:

POOL A
SOUTHWEST 18, ASIA-PACIFIC 2: Catcher Jayden Sadler hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Journee White and Miah Corona had three hits apiece and pitcher Allyson Schauer came within one out of a four-inning no-hitter as the Southwest champions from Texas moved closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the pool.

The two-time defending champions from the Waco area can clinch the top seed with a victory over Pennsville in Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. game. The Texans, who’ve outscored their opponents in this year’s tournament 33-4, won it in 2019 and 2022. There were no tournaments in 2020 and 2021. 

LATIN AMERICA 6, DELAWARE 5: The champions from Puerto Rico opened a 6-0 lead through four innings, then held off a furious comeback from last year’s runner-up and host team over the last three innings.

Delaware cut the margin to 6-4 in the fifth on Ashlyn Ullman’s three-run homer and made it 6-5 in the sixth after loading the bases. The Tribe had the tying and go-ahead runners on base with one out in the seventh, but the game ended on a ground ball double play. 

POOL B
CENTRAL 3, CANADA 2: Cora Ellison hit a one-out solo homer in the eighth inning to snap a 2-2 tie and reliever Mia Volpert retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning to preserve the victory that clinched the No. 1 seed in the pool. The Canadians tied the game with a pair of unearned runs in the sixth.

Even if the champions from Illinois lose their final pool game Thursday and finish tied with Canada in the standings, they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

WEST 15, EUROPE-AFRICA 1: Shelby Baguio drove in five runs with three hits, including a homer, and spun a complete-game three-hitter in the circle to lift the West champions from Honolulu to their first win of the tournament. Baguio had an RBI single in the third inning, a two-run homer in the fourth and a two-run single in the fifth. Tasiana Taufahema had two hits and four RBIs.

SENIOR SOFTBALL LL WORLD SERIES
Thursday’s games
West vs. Southeast
Asia-Pacific vs. Delaware
Southwest vs. Pennsville, 5:30 p.m.
Central vs. Europe-Africa
Pennsville vs. Latin America, 8 p.m.
Europe-Africa vs. Canada
Friday’s games
Game 21: A-2 vs. B-3, 12:30 p.m.
Game 22: Canada (B-2) vs. A-3, 3 p.m.
Game 23: Central (B-1) vs. A-4, 5:30 p.m.
Game 24: Pennsville or Southwest (A-1) vs. B-4, 8 p.m.
Saturday’s game
A-5 vs. B-5, 3 p.m.
Losers of Games 21-22, 3 p.m.
21 vs. 23, 5:30 p.m.
22 vs. 24, 8 p.m.
Losers of Games 23-24, 8 p.m.
Sunday’s game
Third-place game, 11 a.m.
Championship game, 7 p.m.