By Thomas Grant Jr.
Irmo Little League is headed back to the Senior League Softball World Series.
On Monday, it capped an undefeated four days in Clarksville, Tenn. with a 1-0 win over Georgia to win the Southeast Regional.
The game was scoreless in the Bottom 6th when Rilynn Earle hit a leadoff single. With two outs, Savanna Padgett’s popout was misplayed by Georgia and allowed Earle to score.
Pitcher Ainsley Minchew of Batesburg-Leesville retired the final three batters to close out the victory. She won three of the four games for Irmo Little League and finished with 25 strikeouts.
Padgett opened the tournament in dramatic fashion last Friday in extra innings against Tennessee. Down 7-4 with two outs, Irmo Little League got back-to-back singles by Melinda Veler and Kate Shealy of Batesburg-Leesville.
Up next came Padgett who cleared the bases by lining a 3-run homer over the left field fence to tie the game.
Minchew relieved Shealy, who struck out seven in seven innings, and pitched a scoreless Top 8th. Irmo Little League started the bottom half of the inning with Breanna Boyle on second base.
A sacrifice bunt by Adelynn Broughton moved Boyle to third base where she scored on a walk off 2-run home run by Laney Stephens.
Veler went 3-3 with an RBI and Shealy was 2-4 with an RBI for Irmo Little League.
The next day saw Irmo Little League open with a 7-0 lead over West Virginia Logan All-Stars through three innings.
It was more than enough for Minchew, who struck out 12 batters in 5 2/3 innings in the 11-4 victory. Minchew, Stephens and Broughton all drove in two runs and Shealy went 3-5.
Irmo Little League then finished the tournament with back-to-back victories over Georgia. It won Game One 11-2 and it opened another lead of 8-0 through four innings.
Both Malia Lewis and Padget homered and Broughton and Minchew each drove in three runs. On the mound, Minchew had seven strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings and Shealy fanned four in 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
The win advanced Irmo Little League to Monday’s final where it defeated Georgia again by a closer margin.
Irmo Little League now heads to Sussex, Del. for the World Series starting Sunday. It opens against Canada at 6 p.m. and the game can be streamed on the ESPN App.
BASEBALL
The Irmo Little League Juniors team stayed alive at Friarsgate Park on Tuesday.
It edged Virginia 6-5 to set up a Wednesday matchup with Florida. The Juniors opened the tournament with a 10-0 win over West Virginia, followed by 3-2 loss to North Carolina.
The 2026 season ended over the weekend in Clarksville, Tenn. for the Intermediate Team. It opened the Southeast Regional with a 7-5 victory over Tennessee.
After losing 5-2 to Tennessee to fall into the loser’s bracket, Irmo Little League bounced back the same day with a 4-1 win over Georgia-Peachtree City. Foster Pizzi had a 2-run homer and Brayden Gerald struck out 11 batters in five innings.
Jacob Morin and Kolton Cannon each struck out a batter in pitching an inning of scoreless relief.
Irmo Little League’s tournament run in Intermediate ended with an 8-0 loss to Bayshore All-Stars.
On Monday, the Seniors team fell 4-3 by Vine Ingle in the Southeast Regional final in Largo, Fla. It needed just five innings to defeat both West Pasco 13-3 in the regional opener and Boca Raton 14-2 the next day.
