McLean Falls in Battle With Midway

Midway Little League was billed as a juggernaut entering the Little League Softball World Series, having won 10 of the last 12 titles, and they weren’t about to let the McLean All-Star team stand in their way of making it 11 of 13.

The team from Waco, Texas capitalized on nine errors to score 18 runs against a McLean team that had allowed just an average of three runs to that point in its World Series run, ending what had been a magical run in the championship game held in Portland, Ore. Thursday, Aug. 19.

While the game ended with a lopsided margin, McLean did its best to stay with their first-class opponent in the game’s early going. After Midway scored two runs in the top of the first on a bases-loaded two-out single, McLean wasted little time in answering, notching two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning when a Lauren Sanata double scored Michelle Tillson. Sanata scored on an error to knot the score at two runs apiece heading into the top of the second.

But in that frame, Midway unleashed a torrent of five runs, keyed by four McLean errors, to pull away from the Virginia team. A sixth unanswered run in the top of the third made the score 8-2. Midway would never relinquish its lead.

McLean mounted a rally in the bottom of the fourth. Rachel Ing led off with a double and eventually scored on a single by Tillson. Sarah Eidt, who reached on and error scored on a sacrifice by Megan Sullivan, while Tillson scampered home courtesy of another Midway error to make the score 8-5, but McLean would get no closer.

Midway answered with three runs in the top of the fifth and then tacked on seven more in the top of the sixth to post an insurmountable margin and claim their third straight World Series title.