By Thomas Grant Jr.
It was three years ago when Irmo Little League finished runner-up at the Junior League Softball World Series in Kirkland, Wash.
As of Wednesday, the Southeast Region representative looked to secure a place in bracket play out of Pool A. It had a 2-1 record entering the final pool matchup against host team Washington D9 (Kirkland American).
The lone loss came Monday in a 16-2 rout at the hands of undefeated Central (Evergreen Park, Ill.). This was in between shutout victories over Latin America Region (Maunabo, Puerto Rico) and Europe-Asia Region (Lombardia, Italy).
Pitcher Ainsley Minchew led the way in both wins. In the 1-0 victory against Latin America Region, she struck out eight of the first nine batters faced in three innings.
Minchew finished with 13 strikeouts as an RBI double by Addy Broughton in the first inning accounted for the game’s lone score.
Southeast Region bounced back with an 11-0 win in six innings over Europe-Asia. The game was scoreless through three innings before Southeast Region capitalized off one of six Europe-Asia errors in taking a 2-0 lead.
A misplayed groundball by Broughton brought in three runs in the fifth inning. Southeast Region erupted for six runs in the sixth inning, and Minchew finished her one-hitter with a 10th strikeout.
In two games, the Gilbert native has struck out 23 batters, allowed just three hits and walked eight batters.
Feature photo from Irmo Little League
