JUNIOR ALL-STARS ARE WORLD CHAMPS

COLUMBUS SOFTBALL TEAM

Crank up the Queen, because the Columbus Junior All-Star softball team are the champions of the world.

The Columbus Junior All-Stars took on the likes of Italy, Indiana and Illinois in bracket play at the Little League World Series ending in a championship victory.

@ Europe-Africa-Italy, W, 16-2 Their first game against bracket play saw Columbus do what they do best and that is to come out swinging. They coupled that with very effective base running which led to them having a 4-0 lead by the end of the first inning.

They scored two more runs in the second inning, four runs in the third, four runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth. Columbus defensively also had a shutout going until the bottom of the fifth inning where they gave up two runs to Italy.

Paelyn Etzler and Trinity Hopkins both hit doubles in game one of bracket play while Lucy Schobel hit a triple.

Etzler shared responsibilities in the circle with Berkley Anderson and they combined to pitch all five innings for Columbus. They gave up two runs on six hits while walking only one batter and striking out seven.

Vs. East- Indiana, W, 6-3 Game two was a much closer contest as the first inning ended with a score of 3-2 in favor of Columbus.

Columbus extended their lead in the bottom of the third where they scored two more runs. Indiana answered back with a run in the top of the fourth to cut the score down to 5-3.

Trailing by two runs, Indiana tried everything to tie the game up, but the Columbus defense was far too strong and kept them at bay. Columbus then scored once more in the bottom of the fifth to punch their ticket to the championship game.

Andie Melnar hit the only homerun in the game, and it was a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth.

Defensively Etzler was back in the circle, and she pitched all seven innings giving up three runs on five hits while striking out eight batters.

So now Columbus found themselves back in the championship game and this tie they were looking to finish the story.

Vs. Central- Illinois, W, 2- 0 In the championship game Columbus scored all of their runs in the first inning after back-toback singles from Etzler and Hopkins drove in two runs. After that explosion of offense in the first the game shifted to a defensive heavy game.

Both teams locked down the field giving up very little if anything, thankfully for Columbus though, they had Etzler back in the circle to help close this game out.

Etzler was a major featured player throughout the Little league World Series not just for Columbus but for ESPN as well. She was talked about a ton during the coverage of the Little League World Series and in the Championship game she showed why.

She pitched the entire game for Columbus again and threw a total of 98 pitches, 61 of which were called strikes. That’s a 62% strike percentage and during the seven innings that she was in the circle she gave up only two hits.

On top of that she walked only one batter and that walk came in the sixth inning, but she struck out 11 batters when the pressure was on.

She stayed calm, cool and collected the entire game only showing emotion when the umpire called strike three for the final out of the game.

Columbus finished their season with a 16-1 record and putting their name on the map as they are now World Champions.