Delta County Junior Girls Get First Regional Victory

SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill.---The Delta County Junior Little League All-Stars (age 13-14) bounced back from Saturday's loss to beat South Bend, Ind., 9-0, Monday at the Central Regional Tournament in the Chicago suburb of South Holland.

The Escanaba/Gladstone combined team lost to Elyria, Ohio, 4-0, in the regional opener on Saturday, putting them in a "must win" mode for the rest of the week.

They started that journey on Monday by scoring five runs in the first inning and then adding four more in the fifth inning. But the girls had to but the brakes on scoring so that they didn't mercy the South Bend team in five or six innings.

Why? Tiebreakers.

With Kentucky's win over Ohio, and Delta County's win on Monday, Kentucky moved to 2-0 and Ohio finished pool play at 2-1.

If Delta County beats Kentucky on Tuesday, all three teams would be 2-1, and only two can advance to the regional semifinals.

The tiebreaker in that situation is runs allowed per inning, so Delta County needed a shutout, and they needed it in seven innings, not five. They got it, and now, all they need on Tuesday to advance to the Final Four is a victory over Clay County, Kentucky.

"We spent the majority of the morning going through the numbers," Escanaba Coach Tim Lehto said. "We put the spreadsheets together to figure out where we needed to be. First and foremost, we wanted to make sure we didn't give up any runs. We can control our own destiny now, because if we win tomorrow (Tuesday), we're in."

Delta County's five runs in the first inning were helped along by two South Bend errors.

Jenna Tardiff had a double to start the game, Sydney Herioux added a single, Gabi Salo drove in a run with a ground out, and Chloe Caswell doubled home a run.

In the fifth inning, Delta County scored four more, as Andi Balenger had an RBI single, with a second run scoring on an error.

Tardiff drove in a run with a single to make it 9-0, then the coaches told her to leave the base early for an out to avoid scoring the tenth run.

It got dicey in the seventh inning, though, when South Bend loaded the bases against Salo, who had thrown a one-hitter over the first six innings. The outcome of the game wasn't in doubt, but any runs scored by South Bend would have hurt Delta County.

With two out, Delaney Shields ripped one to right field that Maddy Griffin hauled in.

"Our outfield played outstanding today," Lehto said. "They caught everything that went out there. They got a lot of work today, and it's great to get them those opportunities."

There were three girls on the South Bend team who are younger sisters to the girls on the Indiana District Eleven Senior League team that was upset by Escanaba in the regionals on Sunday: Shields, Sydnee Meredith, and Cassie Swartz.

Meredith took the loss on the mound while Salo struck out seven to earn the win.

The Delta County game against Clay County, Kentucky, starts at noon on Tuesday. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com, with the pre-game show starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by the Balengers, as listen to radio interviews.