Emporia U-18 Energy places 2nd at Wellington
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Emporia U-18 Energy took second place in the Wellington tournament, posting a 3-3 record over the weekend.
Emporia opened its tournament with a 4-1 loss to the Wellington Twisters. The Energy scored one in the first but couldn’t muster any offense after that.
Elyse Hecht scored the only run after reaching on an error, and Brendy Muninger, Chelsea Goins, Lenae Wells and Hecht had the Emporia hits.
The Energy responded with a 4-1 victory over the Augusta Mavericks. Amy McAfee took the win, allowing only one run on three hits.
Emporia came through with three runs in the second, as Hannah Lynch singled, Javyn Carl reached on an error, Wells contributed an RBI single and Goins also reached first on an error.
Wells led the offense with two hits.
Emporia fell in its final game in pool play, losing 6-1 to the Wichita Slice on Sunday morning.
The game was tied at 0 going into the bottom of the third when the Slice exploded for five runs with the help of four consecutive hits.
A double by Hecht and single by Carl were the Energy’s only hits.
Emporia opened single-elimination play with a 4-0 victory over the El Dorado Rage. McAfee led the Energy, as she pitched a four-hit shutout.
Hecht started the scoring in the fourth, as her bases-loaded walk make it 1-0.
Emporia posted three more in the fifth, as Muninger singled, McAfee doubled, Melissa Crawford doubled and Wells singled.
The Energy picked up some revenge in the next game, taking down the Wichita Slice, 6-5.
McAfee once again picked up the win, improving her record to 3-0 in the tournament.
Emporia scored two in the first and four in the third before Wichita responded with four of its own in the fourth.
The Slice threatened to score more, but Muninger and McKenzie Cinelli ended the rally by throwing out a runner trying to steal second.
Wichita had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, but consecutive groundballs to McAfee at third ended the threat.
The Slice put runners on first and second with none out in the final inning as well, but Goins threw out a runner at home from left field, and Muninger alertly threw to second base to catch another runner off the bag for a double play.
The next Slice batter walked, but she was called out because she rounded first when the ball was in the pitcher’s circle and failed to go one way or the other. That ended the game.
Hecht and McAfee led the offense with two hits.
Emporia fell in the championship game, 8-0, to Wellington. This was the Energy’s third straight game without a break.
Muninger contributed two doubles, and Goins added two singles.
Emporia played without one of its best starting pitchers, as Amber Jones was unavailable for the weekend.
The U-18 Energy (18-10) will play a tournament next weekend in Augusta.