BELHAVEN — This week’s ENC District 6 softball tournament served primer for the upcoming state tournament and the Washington 14U All-Stars team looked well prepared as it won both its matches in the bracket and clinched the District 6 title with an 11-1 victory on Thursday over the East Beaufort All-Stars.
Rachel Lang was named the tournament MVP as she clubbed two home runs in two games and struck out 11 during Washington’s tourney-opening 14-1 victory.
On Thursday, Washington racked up 11 runs, while pitcher Haley Harris worked her way out of some jams and threw all five innings to get the win.
“They’re excited, but they’re focused though,” Washington coach Brad Horton said. “They’re glad to win the district but they understand that state is where we really want to play our best ball.”
The bracket featured only those two teams, which promised that both Washington and East Beaufort would advance to the state tourney before the district tournament even began because the top-two teams in each age bracket are guaranteed to move on.
With that in mind, both Washington and East Beaufort used the District 6 tourney to help prepare for the state tourney.
East Beaufort threatened throughout the game and had bases loaded in the fourth with no outs but could not make the most of its opportunities, which is something that coach Pooh Woolard is hoping change come state.
“It was kind of the same thing in both games,” Woolard said. “We had bases loaded three times and only got one run out of it, but this is a young team.
“… But we had fun. Even when things went sour for them they kept their heads up and kept playing hard and didn’t give up. If we just could have gotten a hit here or there when we had the opportunities we could have been ok.”
Emori Smith and Tiffany Oliver pitched three innings each for East Beaufort on a rainy Thursday night. Smith and Oliver, along with Washington’s Harris, each struggled with having to pitch with a slick ball but all three did their best to battle the conditions.
Washington took a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Lang smacked a two-run double to score Meghan Moore and Jordan Peirce, before Meghan Horton’s RBI single plated Lang.
Washington broke the game open in the third with a seven-run rally that was highlighted by a Lang bomb that cleared the 205-foot fence in left field.
With the lead in hand, Harris kept East Beaufort at bay thanks to some strong pitching and a quality team defensive effort in muddy conditions led by third baseman Kaitlin Ivey.
“Haley Harris did well and got us out of a bases loaded jam and Kaitlyn Ivey helped her out of an inning with a great play at third when she caught a line drive and doubled up a runner at first,” Horton said.

Washington    307    10    —    11    6
East Beaufort    000    10    —    1    1
WP: Haley Harris; LP: Emori Smith
Hitting: W — Meghan Moore 1-3 (1R), Marlee Masten 1-2 (1R), Rachel Lang 2-2 (HR, 2 RBI), Meghan Horton (2 RBI), Charleigh Baynor 1-2 (RBI); EB — Tiffany Oliver 1-2 (2B).