West Plains team rallies after opening game loss to collect Bronze Bracket championship
Contributed photo by Byron Pavao The Hot August Nights Bronze Bracket winning West Plains Bandits (Back row L to R): Laurie Jones, Bailey Cavanagh, Leslie Jones, Glori Cheevers, Sarah Mayer, Taylor Pavao and Lexi Jo Johnson. (Front row L to R): Lexi Gonzalez, Claire Dormaier and Macey Finch.
The West Plains Bandits 16U fastpitch softball team had one more tournament in them this summer - last weekend's Hot August Nights played Aug. 14 – 16 at Selah's Carlon Park sports complex. The unique aspect of the competition for the 19 teams from Washington, Oregon and Idaho is that all games began in the evening under the lights and wrapped up in the early morning hours.
With some new players on the squad the Bandits did well, losing their first game Friday night but proceeding to win the next four to capture first place in the Bronze Bracket.
The Bandits dropped their opener 6-1 to Washington Force 2000 from the Tri-Cities. West Plains' only run came in the bottom of the fifth when Laurie Jones singled with two outs and eventually came around to score on Leslie Jones' single to left.
In game two, underway at 12:40 a.m. Saturday morning, the Bandits opened up a 6-3 lead and held on for a 6-5 win over the Centralia Flash. Leslie Jones was 2 for 3 - including a solo home run in the third - with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Bandits offensively. Laurie Jones pitched four innings to get the win, with Macey Finch coming on in the fifth and going three innings for the save.
West Plains had little difficulty with Dayton in game three Saturday evening, using six hits, four walks and one Dayton error in an eight-run second to pound the Misfits 12-0 in three innings. Finch got the win on the mound, giving up just one hit - a double in the second - while striking out three and walking none.
The Bandits punched their ticket to the Bronze title game with an 8-0, early morning win over the WA Rage from Moses Lake. Leslie Jones gave West Plains all it would need when she broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run to left in the fourth, while the Bandits gave Finch, who got the win, some insurance with three runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth, with Lexi Gonzalez smacking her first ever home run, a solo shot in the fifth.
Finch scattered four hits while striking out three and walking none. She also led the Bandits at the plate, going 3 for 3 with three RBIs and one run scored.
In the title game, which began at 2:20 a.m. Sunday, the Bandits scored 11 runs in the third and outlasted the Hells Canyon Rangers from Moscow, Idaho to win the Bronze Bracket in an offensive showdown, 15-8. The two teams combined for 27 hits, 15 by West Plains, with Bailey Cavanagh going 3 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Finch got the win in relief of Laurie Jones, going two and two-thirds innings.
"We had a really great time and the girls played well," West Plains head coach Byron Pavao said in an email. "Biggest challenge was getting the girls back awake between games."
Offensively, Lexi Jo Johnson led the Bandits with a .636 average for the tournament, going 7 for 11, with Leslie Jones second at .615 (8 for 13) and Cavanagh third at .571 (8 for 14). Cavanagh, Finch and Gonzalez were the RBI leaders with six each, with Glori Cheevers and Leslie Jones each knocking in five runs.
Finch was 4-0 on the mound, posting a 1.68 earned run average over 16 and two-thirds innings of work. Defensively the Bandits posted a .921 fielding percentage, nine errors, with Cavanagh making 32 of the team's 67 total putouts from her third base position.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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