All-Star Softball Games

Upper Valley's third baseman gets the tag on a CV North runner, while umpire Mark White is ready to make the call. Ed Merrill, who took this photograph, recorded the entire tourney in photographs and has posted it on his website, cvsportsinfo.com. Photos are offered for free downloads.

The Little League All-Star State Tourney was held in Randolph this year beginning Thursday, July 21. There are four Districts in the state tourney, Upper Valley, the local team, is District II, District I is Champlain Valley, District III is Northwest and District IV is Connecticut Valley North.

District I vs. III

Northwest and Champlain Valley faced off Thursday with Northwest winning, in four innings, 14-0. Northwest has two pitchers that are very good windmill pitchers, Solange Bryce and Kali Lapan. Kali pitched the final three innings of the game with eight K’s. Solange pitched the first inning with three strike outs. The two girls pitched a no-hitter.

Northwest hitters were Amber Domina and Stephanie Sylvesterr who had two singles each, Kali Lapan hit two doubles and Solange Bryce had a double and a single.

Upper Valley / C.V. North

Upper Valley played Connecticut Valley North Friday briefly before a severe thunderstorm postponed the game until Saturday morning.

Upper Valley’s defense shut down C.V. North in the first and then scored two runs for the lead with Bennett McPhetres hitting a double. C.V. North poured it on in the second scoring six runs. Tori Brill had the only hit in the inning. Upper Valley tied the game in the second, scoring four runs. Samantha Messier, Amanda Bowen, Siobhan Chase and Emma Jozefiak all scored. Emma hit a double and Amanda Bowen and Lark Delaney both had singles. Both teams added four runs in the third inning. Upper Valley’s Emma Jozefiak hit another double, C.V. North’s Tori Brill hit a single.

Upper Valley reclaimed the lead in the fourth with two runs, 12-10. Bennett McPhetres hit a single. Connecticut Valley added one run in the fifth to close the gap to one. C.V. North went back ahead in the sixth with two runs, 13-12. Katie Davis and Alex Graham both scored. Upper Valley retied the game 13-13 to send the game into extra innings. Emma Jozefiak singled and advanced on Bennett McPhetres’ hit and relied on fast base running to score.

Connecticut Valley North came out ready in the seventh inning and scored six runs. Morgan Maerder hit a double and Alex Graham hit a single. The rest of the runs were scored on walks. Unfortunately Upper Valley was shut out in the bottom of the seventh and lost the game, 19-13.

C.V. North / Northwest

Connecticut Valley North had to turn around and play Northwest Saturday after the first game because of the rain out on Friday. Northwest won the game, 11-2.

Solange Bryce was the winning pitcher with five strike outs. C.V. North’s pitcher Tori Brill had four K’s. Solange helped her team with her bat as well with two doubles. Amber Domina hit four-for-four, McKenna Stone, Sam Bessette, Stephanie Sylvester and Brianna St. Amour all hit singles.

C.V. North’s Tori Brill went two-for-three, Rachel Kidder hit a single as did Taylor Morris and Katie Davis.

U.V. vs Champlain Valley

Upper Valley and Champlain Valley played Sunday with Upper Valley exploding in the fourth to win 19-9 in just four innings. The teams were tied 3-3 after the first inning. Upper Valley got a double from Emma Jozefiak and singles from Molly Poirier and Logan Webster.

Upper Valley added nine runs in the second off five singles and four walks. Hits were from Emma, Logan, Megan Sheridan and Emily Nonamacher who had two singles. Champlain Valley scored three runs in the second with Jordyn Smith hitting a single. Upper Valley led 12-6 after two innings.

Champlain Valley added one run in the third when Corrin Laraway scored. Champlain Valley added another two runs in the fourth with Mattea Bagley and Theresa Hustis both singling and going on to score.

Upper Valley started the bottom of the fourth ahead 12-9 and had eight hits for a 10 run edge, 19-9 and the win. Siobhan Chase, Megan Sheridan, Samantha Messier, Emma Jozefiak, Molly Poirier and Ashley LaFreniere all hit singles while Amanda Bowen and Bennett McPhetres each had a double. Upper Valley’s win put Champlain Valley out of the tournament.

Upper Valley’s pitchers were Emma Jozefiak, Bennett McPhetres and Ashley LaFreniere. Ashley had no walks.

C.V. North / Upper Valley

Connecticut Valley North defeated Upper Valley 10-0 on Monday, eliminating the home team from the tourney. Molly Poirier, Bennett McPhetres and Logan Webster got the only hits in the game off Connecticut Valley North’s pitcher Rachel Kidder.

C.V. North started the game off with a bang, scoring nine runs in the first inning with a combination of eight walks, a hit batter and singles from Rachel Kidder and Tori Brill. Bennett McPhetres came in to pitch in the second inning and held C.V. North to just one more run. Connecticut Valley North added a run in the third when Kayla Fay scored. Bennett struck out the side in the second inning.

Upper Valley’s Logan Webster hit a double in the fourth and Molly Poirier walked and ended up on second but the ducks got left on and the game ended early due to the 10-run rule. Molly Poirier did an excellent job catching every game for Upper Valley.

The players on the Upper Valley team are; Amanda Bowen, Logan Webster, Emma Jozefiak, Meagan Sheridan, Molly Poirier and Bennett McPhetres. Also on the team are; Ashley LaFreniere, Samantha Messier, Emily Nonamacher, Lark Delaney and Siobhan Chase. The coaches for the team are Grayling Webster, Amy Poirier and Kathie LaFreniere.

Northwest / C.V. North

Connecticut Valley North came out of the loser’s bracket to force Northwest into an extra game by winning Tuesday night, 9-8.

Northwest opened the game with four runs, getting hits from Solange Bryce, Stephanie Sylvester, Kali Lapan and Chelsea Day. C.V. North answered with four runs of their own. Hanna White and Ashley Gadapee both hit singles, four girls were walked.

The second and third innings were scoreless as the players settled down. Northwest broke the tie in the fourth with Abbey Button scoring off a fielder’s choice, a steal and an error. Northwest added two more runs in the fifth inning bringing their lead to, 7-4, with time running out. Kali Lapan hit a double and scored and Chelsea Day scored also. Northwest’s final run came in the top of the sixth. Solange Bryce singled and came around on steals and a fielder’s choice.

Down by four in the bottom of the sixth, Connecticut Valley North had their work cut out for them. They answered with lead off batter Emily Darling getting a single followed by a double by Morgan Maerder. Three walks and a hit batsman left C.V. North with five runs and the 9-8 victory. It was a great game by both teams.

C.V. North’s pitcher was Tori Brill, the catcher was Alex Graham. Northwest’s pitcher was Kali Lapan and the catcher was Amber Domina. Kali had 12 strike-outs.

C.V. North and Northwest faced off in the Championship game Wednesday. The winner will play in the Regionals, held this year in Albany, N.Y. That tournament begins July 29th.

By Jill D. Montgomery