1. Softball: Bend North Little League wins a thriller over Washington to advance to regional final

Dominic Gatto, the president of Bend North Little League Softball, gave Kevin Guiney a look like he was off his rocker way back in March when Guiney made the claim that he believed his softball team could make a run to the Little League World Series.

Nearly five months later, the Bend North Little League softball team emerged victorious from the Northwest Regional following an 8-4 win over Boulder Arrowhead Little League of Billings, Montana, Friday

evening in San Bernardino,

California.

And now, Bend North is one of eight teams from the United States and four international teams headed to the Little League World Series in Greensboro N.C. starting on Aug. 6.

“It is euphoric,” said Guiney. “But we honestly believed that we could go down and win. After the game, it was magical. A once-in-a-lifetime feeling that you will probably never have again. Doesn’t get much bigger than that.”

This year’s team is the first softball team from Bend to advance to the Little League World Series, they join the Bend North baseball team who advanced all the way to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the baseball Little League World Series in 2016.

“It feels really good,” said catcher Jessie Berry. “I feel like we have accomplished a lot the past three weeks.”

But to secure its spot in the World Series, Bend would have to take down the only team that had beaten them in the tournament.

In the first meeting, Montana scored seven unanswered runs to win 7-2 on Wednesday to send Bend to the consolation bracket.

Montana was first to strike in their second matchup Friday, scoring three runs in the opening frame. After putting runners on second and third with no outs, Bend North pitcher Janelle Guiney nearly worked out of the jam, but a fielding error on the would-be third out brought home two runs. A passed ball brought home the third run.

But a three-run deficit after the first inning did not seem as daunting a task after Bend rallied from three runs down in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Washington in a wild game Thursday.

“There were some nerves, we started with a couple of errors in the first inning,” Guiney said. “I reminded them of last night when we came back from three down in one inning.”

Bend immediately responded with three runs its next time at bat. Madeline Switzer and Sylvie Seaton each reached base on a walk, then Lily Christensen hit an inside-the-park home run to even the score.

But the score would not remain tied for long. Montana saw the wrong hitter with the bases loaded. Berry, who tied the game in the sixth inning in Bend’s 7-6 win over Washington the night before, cleared the bases with a laser into the right-center gap to clear the bases with a triple.

“I was really happy in that moment,” Berry said. “I felt really confident, I felt like it was time for me to hit. I was happy for my teammates, it really shifted momentum and we all felt really good afterwards.”

An error and sacrifice by Kennedy Huff gave Bend an 8-3 lead in the fourth inning.

From there on, Bend was doing all it could to not look too far ahead as the number of outs needed for victory began to shrink, especially against a great-hitting Montana team who earlier in the tournament erased a 10-run deficit to win 15-10 against Washington.

“That Montana team can hit, they were the best hitting team we faced during this run,” Guiney said. “This team doesn’t quit, we got to keep the gas pedal on. But you could tell they were flustered after that five-run inning.”

Nine outs dwindled down to six, then three, then two, then one, before the final out — a bang-bang play at first that was reviewed — was made.

“When we got that final out at first, I was really shocked, I was speechless, couldn’t say anything,” Berry said. “I was really excited in that moment and shocked.”

Now it is a quick turnaround for Bend to make the trip to North Carolina with the 11 other regional champions.

Joining Bend North is Austintown Little League (Austintown, Ohio), Massapequa International Little League (Massapequa Park, New York), Milford Little League (Milford, Connecticut), Rowan Little League (Salisbury, North Carolina), Pitt County Girls Softball Little League (Winterville, North Carolina), Midway Little League (Hewitt, Texas) and Almaden Little League (San Jose, California).

The International teams heading to North Carolina include Negros Occidental Little League (Bacolod City, Philippines), Lombardia Little League (Milano, Italy) and Guayama Softball Little League (Guayama, Puerto Rico). The representatives from the Canada Region is still being determined.

The teams will be staying in the dorms at East Carolina University, get all new uniforms and equipment and have their games broadcast on ESPN.

“I’m excited to meet new people,” Berry said. “Get new gear, new catcher’s equipment, and make more friends and play good games.