Softball Team Captures ICC Title
Shares Crown With Everett After Rain Suspends Game
The Lady Blue Devil softball team shared ICC title honors with Everett. Shown here are (front row, l to r) Jaqueline Finn, Kelcie Dennis, Talor Shildt, Anna Wolfe and Emily Nagle; back row (l to r): Saige McElwain, Caroline Showalter, Laycee Clark, Edyn Convery, Maddie Miller and Natalie
The Bellwood-Antis girls’ softball team won the ICC championship yesterday.
But here is the catch: They shared the ICC title with their opposition … what happened is odd and incredibly sportsmanlike.
In the seventh inning of the championship game against Everett, it was a 1-1 tie when the rains poured down and the field became unplayable, so both coaches decided that both teams deserved to be champions, and now the Lady Blue Devils are the co-champions with Everett.
It is Bellwood’s second straight ICC title.
“With the playoff looming, we decided that a game about bragging rights was not worth the safety of the players! Both teams were equally worthy of the title and it made sense!” said B-A Coach Jim Payne
Early in the game Everett jumped out to a 1-0 lead until Caroline Showalter pulled in an RBI to bring in the tying run in the 6th inning.
So with the score tied and the rain coming down, an excellent display of sportsmanship was shown by both teams, agreeing to tie and share the title.
“As bad as it was raining, the umpires and the coaches decided it wasn’t safe to keep playing,” said Showalter. “It was exciting to get the game-tying RBI. I was just hoping they would throw for me at first and not throw home on the play.”
“I feel like we had momentum on our side and if it would have gone another inning we could have won, but it’s nice that we could share it and no one had to lose,” said senior Emily Nagle.
“Now we can focus on the district playoffs,” said Showalter. “I think we can win it, but it’s going to be tough to get by Ligonier Valley in the first round (Thursday at 4 p.m. at Bellwood-Antis).
