The Gorham U14 softball team finished fourth at the Babe Ruth National Invitational Tournament last week in Varina, Va.
“It was a great experience for our girls,” said manager Dennis Crowe. “They played well and had a good time. Any of the top six teams could have won the tournament.”
Gorham proved they were among the country’s elite.
“The team that won whole thing was from Concord (N.H.),” coach Scott Burnheimer said. “We played them at regionals and beat them twice – once in the early rounds and once in the finals. The second-place team was from North Carolina and we beat them (at nationals, 6-0).”
Gorham finished pool play with a 3-1 record, advancing to the double-elimination championship round as the No. 3 seed.
There, Gorham was sent to the loser’s bracket with an opening-round, 3-0 loss to Newtown, Conn., but stayed alive in the tournament by defeating Southern Plains, Colo., 2-0, later the same day.
Against Southern Plains, Annie Mitchell drove in Cindy Reynolds to break a scoreless tie in the final inning. Mia McGill then walked to force in Chelsea Clark with an insurance run.
Kelsey Crowe pitched a complete game, striking out nine while allowing only two hits.
Crowe was struck by a line drive in Gorham’s first game of pool play, leaving the contest after pitching three innings. She returned to pitch in Gorham’s second game that day and threw exceptionally well the remainder of the tournament.
During Friday’s semifinal game, Gorham had the opportunity to avenge its loss the day before, facing the team from Newtown yet again.
Gorham started fast with Mitchell opening the game with a double. After moving to third on a sacrifice by McGill and scored on a bunt by Rachel Fogarty when Newtown’s pitcher overthrew first base.
Unfortunately for Gorham, defensive miscues allowed Newtown to score two unanswered runs, one in the first and one in the seventh, eliminating them from the tournament by a score of 2-1.
“In softball you can’t give runs away,” Burnheimer said. “You can’t give teams extra outs. You need to make every opportunity as far as fielding the ball. We did field well, but the few runs we gave up were tough plays and we may not have executed the plays that we needed.”
Gorham hit the ball well, but couldn’t get the clutch hit to break games open.
“We didn’t group our hits together to get any rallies,” said Burnheimer. “It was a question of putting the hits together at the right time.”
Gorham befriended the team from Louisiana while at the tournament, even exchanging e-mail addresses to stay in touch.
“They were playing Newtown, who wasn’t the nicest team, and we started routing for Louisiana,” Burnheimer said. “Their fans started talking to us and we learned the names of the girls on the team. They lost, but they were grateful for us (cheering for them). They stayed after their game to watch us play Colorado.”
The teams were united by their fascination with each other’s accent.
“Half the time we couldn’t understand what they were saying,” Burnheimer said “My Dad had to try and translate some for me, and we had to explain our terms because they didn’t understand what we were saying.”
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