by Malcolm Butler
Making history.
That’s what the Ruston Dixie Angels (10u) softball team did Tuesday when Madalyn Kelpe struck out the final batter of the game to preserve a 6-4 win over Team North Carolina in the Dixie World Series (Angels Division) title game.
The win avenged an earlier 13-6 loss on Saturday against Team North Carolina and gave a Ruston team its first ever world series title according to local officials.
“It was really cool, and not expected,” said Coach Bradley Walker. “But we pulled it out. We hit the ball all weekend.
“We lost to (Team North Carolina) earlier in the tournament. We didn’t really play bad in the game, but we had one inning where we just kind of threw it around. But yeah, lost to them Saturday which put us in the losers bracket, but then we won five in a row.”
After falling into the losers bracket following Saturday’s opening game, the Ruston Angels came back to defeat Team Louisiana (Oakdale, La.) 12-8 and Grant (La.) 15-4 on Sunday. The Angels then continued their scoring onslaught by defeating Team Alabama 25-3 and Team Florida 17-6 on Monday to advance to Tuesday’s title game.
The championship clash saw the Ruston Angels take an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Destin Bell, scoring Collins Garriga.
After setting Team North Carolina down without a run in the bottom of the first and second innings, the Ruston Angels erupted for five runs in the top of the third inning. Collins Garriga drew a bases loaded walk to make it 2-0 followed by a two-run single to right field by Sophia Lopez to double the lead.
A fielding error by Team North Carolina allowed Collins Garriga to score and then Lopez crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Bell.
“We got up 6-0 and then they started to come back in the third and fourth (innings),” said Walker. “It was nice to get those runs to start off. They didn’t start their stud pitcher, but we scored one off their other pitcher. They then brought in their best pitcher and that’s who we scored the five runs against. We really did a good job all (tournament) of hitting the ball and scoring runs.”
Team North Carolina didn’t go down quietly, answering with three runs in the bottom of the third and one more in the bottom of the fourth to close the deficit to 6-4.
However, Kelpe retired Team North Carolina in order in the fifth, including her eighth and ninth strikeouts of the game, to seal the win.
“(Kelpe) has been our strongest pitcher all summer,” said Walker. “She had five innings left to pitch. She got into a few jams but left her out there and she kept battling. She got out of them each and every time. Then we put her back out their in the fifth with a 2-run lead and she went three up, three down.”
Walker said winning the title took an entire team effort over the course of the four days.
“It wasn’t like it was just one person or even a couple,” said Walker. “Collins Garriga pitched the best she has ever pitched. She was awesome all weekend. Madalyn Kelpe pitched great today. (Vivian Walker) got us three strong innings so we didn’t have to use anyone else (Monday morning against Team Alabama).
“And we hit from top to bottom. We scored a lot of runs because we were really hitting the ball all week. It was a fun weekend for sure.”
Walker said it was an experience the Ruston players will never forget in large part to the people who put on the tournament.
“The Dixie board and the city did an unbelievable job,” said Walker. “And all of the volunteers that worked were just unbelievable. Every visiting team just kept raving about how nice the entire event was from the facilities to the hospitality. That’s what makes Ruston special.”
The Ruston Angels roster included:
Coaches: Bradley Walker, Chris Garriga, Chris Doolittle
Players: Destin Bell, Paige Denny, Allie Doolittle, Charley Garriga, Collins Garriga, Madalyn Kelpe, Payton Lancaster, Sophia Lopez, Jacyi Ovitt, Emma Grace Shaw, Evie Smith, Vivian Walker
