Photo credit to Minersville Little League on Facebook
UNION CITY (Pa.) – For the seventh time in the history of Minersville Little League, the 11 and 12 year old softball all-star team has made the regional tournament, the last time being in 2008. They defeated Bullskinn 5-3 in the if needed state championship game on Tuesday evening.
Road to Bristol
Their journey this summer started with an automatic District 24 title due to being the only softball program in the district’s boundaries. In the Section 6 playoffs (hosted by Minersville), they defeated Carbon in two games with scores of 11-0 and 9-1 on June 30th and July 1st.
One week later, they took the four and a half hour ride to the Erie area to play in states. From July 8th-10th, they defeated Selinsgrove (12-1), St. Mary’s (9-5), and Bullskin (2-1).
The Miners got the weekend off and had a rematch with Bullskin in the state title game and fell 9-1 on Monday. In the if needed game on Tuesday, they got revenge on Bullskin, clinching the trip to Bristol by a score of 5-3.
Heading into the sixth inning, the Miners were down 3-2, but an error and hit by pitch gave Minersville base runners on first and second with no outs. Grey Hopkins hit a double to make it a 4-3 Minersville lead, which was extended by Aly Hefferon, who followed up with a single to right field to make it a 5-3 lead. What followed was a sacrifice bunt and two groundouts. In the bottom half of the inning, Bullskin started with a single, but a groundout, pop out, and another groundout secured the title for Minersville.
What’s next?
The team will come home from Union City for a parade Wednesday at 7:00pm and a sendoff to Connecticut will follow.
On Saturday at 1:00pm, they will play the second game of the Mid-Atlantic tournament against New York on ESPN+.
