Region 6 successfully defends softball title at Powerade State Games
The luck of the draw got the Region 1 softball team into the Powerade State Games’ gold medal game, but its good fortune did not continue Wednesday night as Region 6 rolled to a 6-1 victory in the title game at N.C. State’s Dail Stadium.
Chloe Hamilton, a rising senior at North Gaston, tossed four shutout innings and Weslyn Almond, a rising senior at North Stanly, had an RBI single in the third inning to break a scoreless tie and put Region 6 ahead to stay.
Region 6 won the gold medal for the second straight year and went 4-0 over the two-day tournament, giving up just three runs in four games.
“The pitching was definitely the key,” Region 6 coach Ray Martinez said. “Going back to back, it’s great for these girls. Coming from different high schools in our area, they came together. You couldn’t ask for a better group of girls.”
Region 1 (Northeast) had finished in a three-way tie with Region 3 (Triangle) and Region 4 (Fayetteville) during pool play, all three teams finishing with 2-1 records in the four-team East group.
After the first tie-breaker, run differential, failed to break the tie, the coaches for each of the teams drew straws out of a cup to determine which team of the three would play for the gold medal and which would play for the bronze.
Region 1 drew the lucky straw. Region 4 drew its way into the bronze medal game while Region 3 was relegated to a cross-over seventh-place game.
“Hey, we got lucky, but it was great for us because I don’t think Region 1 has ever been in a medal game,” Region 1 coach Brady Quinn said. “We just ran into a great team. They were well-coached, with a lot of good players.”
Region 6 struck for two runs in the third inning, with Almond’s hit producing a 1-0 lead, and added four more in the fourth, with RBI singles by Addie May (West Lincoln) and Allison Atwood (Mt. Pleasant) highlighting the frame.
Region 1 had its chances, especially in the fourth inning when it loaded the bases with none out against Hamilton. However, the North Gaston standout induced a pair of flyouts before getting Bear Grass rising sophomore Morgan Lee to hit into a fielder’s choice.
“This was so much fun,” Hamilton said. “This same group won this last year, we just really bond well together.”
In the bronze medal game, Region 5 (Triad) defeated Region 4, 5-3. Northwood rising senior Carson Shiner went 2-for-3 and hit a two-run homer in Region 5’s three-run fifth inning. Page’s Kamryn Graves added a solo homer for Region 5.
Region 3 finished 3-1, defeating Region 8 in the seventh-place game, 7-2.
This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Region 6 successfully defends softball title at Powerade State Games."