Southeast bats light up EMEA in Game 3
Opening day continued with a powerful debut from the Southeast team out of Damascus, Va., which dished up a 17-5 win over Pool B rivals from Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC) in Ramstein, Germany.
Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
An EMEA batter takes a big cut at a pitch in World Series action in Roxana earlier this week.
Southeast came out strong, tallying three runs in the opening inning thanks to Brianna Thomas’ rocket to the fence that brought in Megan Honaker. Thomas and Brittany Boyd circled the bases via some wild pitches and an error. EMEA responded on the offense, though, snagging a run in the first, thanks to Bianca Lopez’s double to centerfield. They took the lead in the second when a well-placed hit from Lindsay Jones and unfortunate fielding by the Southeast brought three more runs in.
From there, though, the Southeast’s bats came to life, as they jumped ahead with eight more runs in the fourth inning behind consistent hitting. Morrison drove in herself and two others with a homerun over the left-field fence. Honaker added two more RBI’s that inning, too.
They continued in the fifth, as pitcher Morgan Lowe and first-baseman Taylor Doss picked up two RBIs apiece, contributing to six additional runs. EMEA committed a total of six errors, upon which the Southeast was quick to capitalize. Lowe kept the threat down from the mound, retiring nine of 12 batters in the last three innings. She finished with eight strikeouts and the win, as the mercy rule called the game halfway through the fifth inning.
Coach Joe Richardson said he was pleased to walk away with an early win in the tournament.
“There’s no quit in these girls,” he said. “We got behind and battled back. Our girls just don’t stop.”
The commanding score could ultimately factor in later in the tournament, as the Southeast padded their “runs for” column, but the road wasn’t necessarily going to be an easy one, with teams like USA West and Central to follow.
