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Comeback Falls Short For Sr. Girls In South Bend
 SOUTH BEND, Ind.---The Delta County Senior Girls (age 15-16) got off to a rough start in their Central Regional Tournament opener on Friday in South Bend, Ind. The girls fell behind 9-1 and lost to Neosho (Mo.), 11-7, as their late comeback fell short. "We came out a little slow, a little sluggish, with a lot of nerves," Delta County Manager Duane Hardwick said. "The field conditions weren't the best this morning, so we struggled through that. We started waking up, but unfortunately, it was a little too late."  Maddy Griffin came in to pitch for Delta County, and she held the Missouri State Champions at bay until they scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Emily Mojica ripped a two-run double as part of that inning, and she smacked a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Delta County got back in the game in the fifth inning when the Missouri girls made three errors (they had eight errors in total). Kaitlyn Hardwick smoked an RBI double, then Richelle Vandeville ripped a two-run homer over the right-center field fence to make it a 9-5 game. After Mojica smacked her sixth inning home run, Delta County continued to battle in the final inning, scoring runs on a couple of errors and an RBI double by Griffin.But the DC girls ran out of outs, and fell to 0-1 in the tournament with two games scheduled on Saturday.  "Being our first game, I think we just had to get the jitters out at first," said outfielder Rylee Kuehl. "Then we came back and rallied." "I love how we're all coming together as a team, from Escanaba, Gladstone, and Rapid River," Kaitlyn Hardwick said. "Just playing. Having fun. I think we can come back and have some fun tomorrow and maybe we can pull it off." The Delta County girls face the hosts from Indiana District Eleven at noon, and will take on the Illinois State Champions at 4:00. Both games will be broadcast live on WUPF-FM (107.3) and on-line at rdo.to/wupf. Coverage starts at 11:30 a.m. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from Friday's game, and for interviews with Vance Hiney, Serina Sinnaeve, and Heather Bergstrom.  |
