WILMINGTON — If you like offense, then Saturday afternoon’s contest between the West Chatham 10U All-Stars and Topsail in the 2019 North Carolina Dixie Youth League State Softball Angels Traditional Tournament in Wilmington was for you.
West Chatham won the contest 33-9, but it didn’t look so clean early on. The eventual winners fell behind 8-0 after one half inning before storming back. The locals plated 11 runs in the bottom half of the first inning behind two walks to Jenna Lambert and Madalyn Holton, walks to Hannah Headen, Natalie Garner, Alyssa Harris, Kileigh Martin, Morgan Peele, Alyssa Ryan, a double from Lyla Nelson, and base hits from Emma Hill and Jasmine Soto.
Topsail managed just one run in the top of the second which closed the deficit to 11-9.
Then the proverbial dam broke loose for the visitors as West Chatham came back in and erupted offensively like a molten hot volcano. West Chatham plated 22 runs in the home half of the second as Nelson, Arayan Teague, and Harris walked to open the stanza, Martin belted a base hit, Peele and Ryan walked, Soto, Headen, Lambert, Holton and Garner ripped consecutive singles.
The uprising continued one out later when Nelson, Teague, Martin, Peele, Ryan, Soto, Headen, Lambert, Holton, Garner and Hill collected base hits.
Nelson and Teague would reach for the third time safely in the innings moments later to drive in the final two runs to give West Chatham a commanding 33-9 cushion.
With the game completely out of reach, Topsail would load the bases in the third only to see Garner end the game on a strike-out to get the win on the mound.