The Washington 14U All-Stars red-hot summer continued as pitchers Hailey Harris and Rachel Lang combined to shut out Pamlico 4-0 in the Babe Ruth Southeast Regional semifinal game on Saturday in Glen Allen, Va.
The win propelled the All-Stars into today’s regional championship game against Mt. Dora (Florida) at 11 a.m.
“The girls were jumping up and down after this last game. They’re as excited as they can be,” Washington Girls Fastpitch Softball League president Greg Dority said. “They worked many years to reach this point. Coach (Brad) Horton has kept the group together and the parents together. Everybody up here has worked together. The excitement level is running very high.”
On Saturday the duo of Harris and Lang continued to dominate as Harris struck out five in five innings of work while giving up only two hits to get the win and Lang threw two innings of hitless ball to close it out and clinch a tourney title appearance.
“We have revisited the classic Washington fire and ice combination,” Dority said. “Hailey Harris has a fastball that has been virtually unhittable and Lang has worked three different pitches everywhere in the zone with pinpoint control. The teams that we have seen have been greatly challenged by this combo.”
The All-Stars have won games in all kinds of ways during this summer but on Saturday they took the slow and steady approach as they scored one run in the first four innings.
In the first, Jordan Pierce reached base via walk and was pinch-run for by Sydney Keech, who crossed home on a Meghan Horton RBI.
In the second, Haley Witham drew a walk and scored when Pamlico could not handle a Harris hit.
Peirce got things going in the third as drew a walk and would eventually come home on a Witham RBI single.
In the fourth, Harris blasted a triple to kick things off and scored on a Meghan Moore base hit.
“Coach Horton loves to play small ball and he was able to grind out a run an inning in the first four innings,” Dority said. “There was a lot of small ball and a lot of fake base running and timely hitting came through for them. We’re getting hitting from everywhere in the lineup and it’s putting pressure on the other teams.”
Lang produced two hits on Saturday for the All-Stars, while Moore and Harris went 1-4 with an RBI, Witham went 1-2 with an RBI and Sarah Lynch and Pierce each had one hit.