Playing against the defending state champs, the Washington 14U All-Stars knew they would have to play a near flawless game to get the win and that’s exactly what they did on Wednesday as they edged past Down East 1-0 on the second day of pool play in the ENC Babe Ruth state tournament to improve to 2-0.
“It was just a great battle,” Washington coach Brad Horton said. “We knew Down East was going to be a tough team, they won the state title last year.”
Locked in a scoreless tie in the bottom fifth inning with two outs, Washington’s Haley Witham roped a triple to right field to set the stage for Sarah Lynch to single home the game-winning run.
“Haley is a player that’s really been working hard on her hitting …  She came up and stayed relaxed and hit the ball to right field and was able to get to third,” Horton said. “Sarah Lynch came up right behind her and she had two strikes on her at the time and we just told her to keep her hands back and relax and that’s what she did and she was able to drive the ball up the middle.”
That sequence proved to be the difference in what was a tremendous pitchers’ duel between Washington’s Rachel Lang and Down East’s Susanne Taylor.
Lang was nearly unhittable on Wednesday as she worked her way out of some jams and allowed two hits in seven innings to get the win.
“Rachel Lang did a great job finishing the game,” Horton said. “We talk to them about finishing the game. If these pitchers want to pitch seven innings they have to dig deep at the end and she did that.”
Lang was greatly aided by a superb team defensive effort. Second baseman Meghan Horton made some key catchers early in the game and set the tone for a Washington defense that always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
“Meghan Horton played second and she probably had four or five key catches,” Horton said. “Jordan Pierce had a great catch at first base in the first inning that probably prevented a double and Chaleigh Baynor and Sarah Lynch both made great catches in the outfield with runners on base that killed an inning.”

Down East    000    000    0    —    0
Washington    000    100    X    —    1
WP: Rachel Lang; LP: Susanne Taylor
Hitting: D — Alyssa Garner 1-2, Taylor Brown 1-3; W — Hailey Harris 1-3, Meghan Moore 1-3, Chaleigh Baynor 1-2, Haley Witham 1-3 (3B, R), Sarah Lynch 1-2 (RBI), Briley Waters 1-2.