LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Langley's varsity women's softball team, the Shooters, took the gold by capturing the Hampton Parks and Recreation League's fall tournament championship with a record of 9-4 for the season and 2-0 in tournament play at Briarfield Park Nov. 1.
With the top four teams advancing to the tournament, the Shooters, with only nine players, four of them hurt from previous injuries, faced the fourth place team, Las Chicas Loca.
The game was close until the fourth inning when Audra Taylor started off with a single and the next five batters consecutively continued to get hits giving the Shooters an 11-3 lead. After the fifth inning, Las Chicas Loca didn't score any runs resulting in the Shooters victory, 11-3.
The Shooters then waited for the winner of the second and third place teams, Three Bowls of Color and TSR respectively, to play in the championship game. The opponent turned out to be Three Bowls of Color.
The championship game proved to be the toughest challenge for the Shooters, yet one of their greatest efforts, displaying a lot of heart and determination.
The Shooters got off to a slow start and found themselves in a slump, down 8-0, in the first three innings. Refusing to give up, the Shooters once again took ownership of the fourth inning. Peggy Senecal led off with a single, and the Shooters put together a string of hits by Audra Taylor, Tonya Howard, Belinda Jones, Kativa Perkins, Marie Bullock, Kim McCallep, Shawn Eggleston and China Cruz-Elmore and scored nine runs.
During the next two innings, Three Bowls of Color scored seven more runs while the Shooters scored two. At the beginning of the seventh inning, the Shooters were down, 11-15. They found themselves facing a four-point deficit after two outs. Lead off batter Peggy Senecal again got things heated with a single, and the next five batters came through with crucial hits to take the lead by one run. Bowls of Color had a chance at last bat to score, but with the Shooters' pitching and solid defense they were shut down one, two and three.
The Langley Shooters took the championship crown with a 16-15 victory.