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The Columbus Major Girls Little League team is heading to Waco, to represent Texas East in the Southwest Regional Tournament.
This comes after the Major team won the District, Sectional and then finally the State Tournaments to earn their spot in the tournament in Waco.
In the Texas East State Tournament Columbus had to go toe-to-toe with some quality ball clubs and had to go through a little bit of adversity to get to the top of the mountain. They started the tournament beating East End 16-1.
It was the perfect way to start a tournament when the State Championship is on the line. Columbus sent a message with this win and that message was that they were not here to make friends and strictly handle their business.
Unfortunately, they met their match in game two and it was a familiar foe that brought them back down to earth. Hallettsville and Columbus have this sort of friendly rivalry that stretches from Little League all the way to the varsity level.
The rivalry shows a good back-andforth display of talent with the teams splitting their matchups. In game two of the State Tournament, Columbus and Hallettsville met again on the softball diamond.
Hallettsville won the battle by a score of 7-3 and put Columbus on the brink of elimination. If Columbus dropped one more game their hopes of being State Champions would disappear.
Game three was a big one for Columbus because they needed to bounce back from the tough loss to Hallettsville if they wanted to keep their season alive. They took on Silsbee in game three and the fireworks show began.
The game was saw crazy momentum swings and lead changes, but Columbus never gave up. They were down 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Columbus dug deep and did what champions do, and that is find a way to win.
In the bottom of the sixth Columbus’ offense recorded two singles from Camdin Barten and Lili Berger which resulted in RBIs. The two scores allowed Columbus to walk off the game and set themselves up for a rematch with Hallettsville.
Columbus evened things up with Hallettsville by winning their second matchup 5-4 and set up a win or go home game for the Texas East State Championship. The game started with Hallettsville opening the scoring in the first inning.
Columbus held them to only one run in the first, but the game stood still with the score stuck at 1-0 until the fourth inning. Columbus finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning where they scored three runs.
Mostly when lead changes and momentum swings like this happen in a game it is typically a multi-base hit that does it. But Columbus is different, they are calculated and methodical when they run the bases.
They captured the lead for the first time in the game but Hallettsville was ready to respond. They tied the game up late in the top of the sixth scoring two runs to tie the game at 3-3.
This game did not lack any drama as the State Champion was decided by a walk-off error in the bottom of the eighth inning. Myra Santillano hit a ground ball that led to an error at second base for Hallettsville.
This opened the door for Berkley Anderson to make her way to home plate and win the game for Columbus 4-3. Columbus was crowned the Texas East Champ and now will go toe-to-toe with some of the best in the Southwest region.
