The last day of the ENC Babe Ruth state tournament proved to be the toughest for the Washington 12U All-Stars as they started off with a 6-3 loss to rival Pitt County before falling to a strong Laurinburg team 1-0 in a nine-inning thriller to finish in third place.
“When you get to this level there’s only three teams left in the state and you know that you’re going to run into some buzz-saws,” Washington coach Dallis Tucker said. “This morning we were able to put some runs on the board (against Pitt County), but they did too. Pitt County has a heck-of-a program, they won the World Series last year in 12U. Laurinburg has a strong team and strong program and they have a history of winning. It’s a hard bracket.”
The loss to Laurinburg handed Washington the bronze but it also garnered the team a ticket to the Babe Ruth regional tournament in Virginia. Tucker said the team was contemplating the invite and that the All-Stars experience at the state tournament would serve as a teaching tool going forward.
“I’m real proud of them,” Tucker said. “I just wish I could have done more with them.”
Against Laurinburg, both teams began the contest with their tourney lives on the line and played like it as they matched zeros for eight innings until Laurinburg finally broke the stalemate with a run in the top of the ninth.
Washington nearly equaled that effort in the home half of the inning and got a runner to third base with two outs but that runner would not get any closer.
Washington got tremendous pitching efforts from Rebekah Williams, who pitched seven scoreless innings, and Abbigail Tucker, who threw the final two, but Laurinburg’s arms were up for the challenge. Katie Lighthall pitched six innings of shutout ball, while Sarah McCall hurled the final three to get the win.
Mary Baylor Dixon went 2-3 for Washington, while Devin Bunch and Kaitlyn Spain each had a hit in the loss.
Tucker said overall it’s been a great summer and his team has improved a lot.
“This team has been tenacious,” Tucker said. “When we first started we were a little ragged and when we played down at district we got away with some stuff. But they were really clean this tournament and have been really strong with their fundamentals.”

Laurinburg    000    000    001    —    1
Washington    000    000    000    —    0
WP: Sarah McCall; LP: Abbigail Tucker
Hitting: L — Macie Gibson 1-4, Katie Lighthall 1-4, Morgan Hatchell 1-4 (RBI); W — Mary Baylor Dixon 2-3, Devin Bunch 1-3, Kaitlyn Spain 1-3.