The 8-10 Girls Little League State Softball Tournament opens

Submitted Photo Throwing out the first pitch to start the 2019 8-10 Girls Softball Tournament was Aldyn Carlson. Aldyn, pictured at right, was a stand out softball pitcher starting in Dunkirk Little League she then went on to be a great athlete at Dunkirk High where she was an outstanding pitcher for the girls softball team. After graduation she went on to pitch at Monroe college and Fredonia State University where she also excelled as a great softball pitcher.

Game 1

Maine-Endwell opened the first game with a 6-5 win over Merrick-Bellmore.

Maine-Endwell scored four runs in the first and two in the second, then hung on as Isabel Hunter scattered four hits and struck out seven. She out-dueled Maine-Bellmore’s Kayla Indich, who retired the last 10 batters she faced.

Maddie Kaczynski had two hits and scored two runs, Hunter had a single and scored twice, and Kaylee Hurba had an RBI triple. For Merrick-Bellmore, Ruth Small had two singles, walked once, and scored twice. Third baseman Alexis Schiff was the defensive standout with two band-handed stops. First baseman Cecelia Toto recorded 10 putouts.

Game 2

In the second game, Penfield walked-off against Ozone Howard, 7-6.

A walk-off RBI single by Amelia Michael capped Penfield’s three-run sixth inning for the comeback win. Haileigh Burgen and winning pitcher Cadence Brecker had singles and pinch-hitter Stella Richard an RBI as part of the winning rally which began with a lead-off walak to Zoe Vanderlinn.

Brecker pitched a six-hitter with 11 strikeouts. Allison Gardner tripled, singled, scored twice and had an RBI and Lexi Cimino had an RBI triple for the winners. For Ozone Howard, Zara Noto had two singles, two stolen bases, and one RBI. The losing pitcher was Rosalie DeStefano in relief. She contributed offensively with two RBI.

The tournament resumes with two more games today at Wright Park in Dunkirk. The first game is at 11 a.m. and the second game is at 2 p.m.

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