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Coles takes out Gainesville softball All-Stars
Every year, Little League softball all-stars from the 9-and-10-year-old divisions of Gainesville District and Coles face off in a best-of-three tournament.The teams fight for the right to represent Prince William County and District 10 as a whole at the state tournament.
Coles walked away with its second straight berth to states on Monday. Their two-game sweep concluded with a 19-3 victory in the second game.
As loud as the red team's bats were, their pitching resounded even louder. Coles gave up no earned runs in two games, winning Sunday 5-1 and taking care of business Monday evening with monster rallies in the fourth and fifth innings.
The GDLL squad relied heavily on the arm of starting pitcher Erica Garrigan, who took the team into the fifth inning before reliever Gillian Dressel came in from third base to close out the top half of the fifth and final inning.
Coles starter McKenzie Morrison consistently threw strikes, allowing her defense to play an active role throughout her complete-game performance.
"She's not easy to hit off of," said Garrigan.
"She sometimes threw strikes but [you] still had to get up there and keep your eye on the ball," added infielder Marley McLaughlin.
Coles base runners took aggressive stances on the base paths while staying patient at the plate, waiting for the right pitches to hit while scoring a majority of their runs by stealing home on passed balls.
Garrigan meanwhile, worked hard enough that one of the infield umpires had to pause the game just to convince her to take a drink in the dugout. She faced 12 batters in the top of the fifth inning before Dressel's appearance and kept Gainesville competitive through three innings as Coles led 3-1.
When she was on, Garrigan picked up strikeouts with overpowering fastballs.
Coles ultimately forced Garrigan to work deep into the count over and over in the latter innings.
Morrison responded by keeping her pitch totals down in the lower half of the innings, striking out two batters after a walk and a fielder's choice ground out handled by the first baseman Quinn in the fourth inning.
In the fifth, Gainesville finally got its first multi-run rally of the tournament when, trailing 19-1, Allie Perkins earned a lead-off walk and made it to second on an infield single by Marley McLaughlin. Taylor Fisher's fielder's choice grounder to Morrison moved the runners into scoring position and Erica Blaine brought Perkins home on a ground out to short.
Garrigan then knocked in McLaughlin on a dribber to third base for what would be the game's final RBI.
"In GDLL, if you do your best, then people will look up to you. And my dad always told me, 'try and reach your goals of being the best or something and people will look up to you," said McLaughlin.
Even with a loss, Gainesville parents could at least count on their kids being united.
“It's great to be in it because you know that you deserve it and, that you, like, you've gotten here, to this goal," said Dressel.
She later added, "We really tried to work together and we did."
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