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The Columbus Junior All-Star softball team safely made it to Kirkland, WA and played their first game of the Little League World Series on Sunday, July 27.
In game one they matched up with a team from a completely different continent as this team was from the Philippines.
Columbus played them like any other team and like they have done so far this season they picked up a hug win. The final score was 8-3 and saw Columbus jump out to an early 5-0 lead by the end of the second inning.
Columbus came out swinging and had three players record two or more hits during game one. The three players were Taitlyn Mican, Chloe Grahmann and Kaylea Mc-Carthy.
Mican hit the only double in the game and McCarthy put her name on the map by hitting the game’s only home run. McCarthy’s homer came in the top of the seventh inning and helped extend Columbus’ lead late in the game.
Offensively as a team Columbus hit seven RBIs and Andie Melnar and Paelyn Etzler led the way with two RBIs each. They also had a collective batting average of .355 after recording a hit on 11 of 31 at bats.
Defensively Etzler was in the circle for Columbus, and she obviously wanted to have a good first game to get her confidence up and play a little bit looser. To say Etzler had a good game would be an understatement as she finished the game with double digit strikeouts.
Etzler pitched all seven innings for Columbus giving up three runs on six hits but only one was an earned run. She also walked three batters while striking out 10 of them to help lift Columbus to a 1-0 record in pool play.
The Columbus Junior All-Star softball team will continue to play through pool play and hopefully play well enough to enter bracket play for a chance to play for the Little League World Series Championship.
