SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The Boulder-Arrowhead Big Sky all-stars saw their run toward the Little League Softball World Series come to an end Friday with an 8-4 loss to the Bend North all-stars from Oregon in the Northwest regional championship game.
With the victory, Oregon, which rallied for a 7-6 victory over Washington in a loser-out game Thursday to stay alive in the tournament, advanced to the LLWS beginning Aug. 6 in Greenville, North Carolina. Boulder-Arrowhead/Big Sky was trying to become the first Montana team to advance to the 11/12 softball world series.
BABS started fast, taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Hadley Moore reached on an error, which scored Emma Hernandez and Asa Edwards. Moore then stole both second and third and later crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Oregon answered quickly with three runs of its own in the top of the second, as Lily Christensen hit a three-run, inside-the-park homer to tie it. Oregon broke the game open in the fourth with five runs, highlighted by a three-run triple to the right-center field gap by Jessie Berry.
BABS pitcher Fia Switzer worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth to prevent a larger deficit, but the Montana team could only muster one more run against Oregon pitcher Janelle Guiney — a solo inside-the-park homer by Edwards in the top of the sixth.
Guiney induced a grounder for the final putout in the sixth to end the game and send Bend North to the Little League Softball World Series in its first season of 11/12 majors softball.
The game was a rematch of a semifinal contest from Wednesday, which Boulder-Arrowhead/Big Sky won 7-2.
