After having spent nearly a day-and-a-half away from the diamond the Washington 10U All-Stars returned to the Susiegray McConnell Complex on Saturday and were met with a stiff challenge as they fell to Wayne County 7-2 in their first game of bracket play.
Armed with a powerful fastball, Wayne County pitcher Alissa Price was stellar on Saturday as she limited Washington to two hits in six innings of work.
“It was a great effort by our girls,” Washington coach Joey Winstead said. “We played some great defense. Our girls were very tough out there on the field but we just couldn’t get our bats going. They had a tough pitcher, but I thought we might have lost some momentum due to the rain.”
Wayne County got their bats going in the first as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then was held scoreless for the next three innings.
After struggling to catch up with Price for three innings, Washington broke the ice in the fourth as Grace Bumpass reached base on a two-out slap single and would cross home when Kaylee Elks blasted a two-run round tripper to right field to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“Kaylee’s got a strong bat,” Winstead said. “She’s got a lot of confidence in the batter’s box and she came out and drove the ball. That got us back into the game and gave us a shot to win it.”
Washington also got a strong effort from Mary Emma Holscher, who mixed speeds well in the loss.
“Overall, Mary did really good at pitching,” Winstead said. “She threw five strong innings and threw the ball really good today.”
With Washington within striking distance, Wayne County quickly sped away as a two-out bases loaded walk put it up 5-2 before Price and Macy Motes hit back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead to 7-2.
The loss was Washington’s first of the double-elimination tournament. The All-Stars played again Saturday night in a game that ended past deadline.

Washington    000    200    —    2
Wayne County    300    04X    —    7
WP: Alissa Price; LP: Mary Emma Holscher
Hitting: W — Grace Bumpass 1-3 (1R), Kaylee Elks 1-2 (HR, 2 RBI); WC — Arial Pearce 1-3, Lys Smothers 1-2, Mer Wooten 2-3, Mack Amadeo 2-2, Alissa Price 1-2, Macy Motes 1-2.