Mclean Softball In Little League World Series

While the tale runs deeper than sheer statistics, the only thing fans really need to know about the McLean Little League All-Star Softball team’s warpath to the Little League Softball World Series is this: 101-7.

That figure represents the runs scored to runs allowed ratio for the first 11 games the McLean All-Stars have played since entering the Virginia State Tournament as the District IV representative.

The McLean team has played nearly perfectly, and in their State Tournament game against Big Stone Gap, pitcher Brooke Brown was. Brown hurled a perfect game en route to an 11-0 victory, following up a first-round 11-0 victory by Shannon Engel over Richmond County. Michelle Tilson contributed with some timely hitting in the win over Big Stone Gap.

McLean’s pitching dominance continued with a two-hit shutout by Lauren Sanata over Bridgewater. Tilson led the offense in the 9-0 win with three hits, while Lauren McColgan and Megan Sullivan contributed key hits. Marching through the Winner’s Bracket final with an 8-0 trouncing over Glade behind Engel’s complete game two-hitter and Rachel Ing’s four RBI, McLean matched up with Bridgewater in the State Finals. Needing two wins to unseat the dominant McLean squad, Bridgewater took the first step, beating McLean 2-0.

Now facing elimination with a second loss, McLean showed why it was far and away the best team in the tournament, handing out a 17-0 thrashing to clinch the State Championship. Brown picked up the win on the mound while Adrianne Engel and Ing led the offense with two hits apiece.

The win advanced McLean to the South Regional Tournament comprised of teams from Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Florida and held on their home field in McLean, Va. McLean rolled through the first two games in the pool play portion of the tournament, posting wins of 11-0, 12-1 over West Virginia and South Carolina respectively.

The North Carolinian team provided a tougher challenge however. Trailing 1-0 in the top of the sixth-inning, Kukana Ho’opi’i drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the score. Jamie Bell followed with a two RBI single up the middle to push the margin to 3-1 and another RBI single by Ing broke the game open for McLean. Pitchers Sanata and Madeleine Giaquinto combined for the victory.

Going 3-0 in pool play, McLean earned the top seed in the semi-finals and squared off against Georgia. Hits by Ing, Adrianne and Shannon Engel and a key sacrifice bunt by Bell in the fourth inning broke up a pitchers duel between Sanata and Georgia’s Myia Ashmore, giving McLean a 3-0 lead. Georgia struck in the bottom of the inning, but could only muster one run in the loss. Sanata struck out 10 batters in the win.

Fresh off its upset victory over Florida in the other semifinal, West Virginia advanced to face McLean in the championship. The outcome was never in doubt however, as McLean exploded for eight runs in the top of the first inning to crush their opponent 13-1 behind the solid pitching of Brown. Lauren Sutherland and Brittany McCray provided the offensive sparks with key hits.

Now McLean flies out to Portland, Ore. to compete in the Little League Softball World Series to compete against nine other teams from around the world. Representing the South, McLean will first face the representative from the West today and then plays Saturday against the Central Champions, Sunday against the European Champions and Monday against the Asia-Pacific Champions. If McLean finishes as one of the top two teams in its pool, the team advances to play Tuesday, August 17 in the semi-finals at either 7 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. EST. Those games will be televised on ESPN2. The Championship will be played on Thursday, August 19 at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.