Lunenburg Ponytails reach district final

Published 11:43 am Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Lunenburg Ponytails All-Star team went 2-1 through Monday in the Dixie Youth District 1 Tournament, advancing to Tuesday night’s championship against the Prince Edward-Farmville Youth Association (PEFYA) All-Stars in Kenbridge.

Lunenburg needed to win twice against PEFYA to claim the title.

Bobby Marshall, coach of Lunenburg, was impressed with his team’s play three games into the tourney.

“I’ve been very pleased with how they’ve performance and stepped up and just digging deep and pulling from behind to win ballgames,” he said. “So they’ve had some timely hitting and smart base-running to help us score the runs. Our defense has played above average the whole tournament.”

In the team’s first game of the tourney, it defeated the South Hill All-Stars 11-1 in four innings on Saturday, with the game being cut short due to the mercy rule. “My pitcher Chelsey Williams, she pitched a no-hitter in the first game,” Marshall said.

On Sunday, Lunenburg faced PEFYA for the first time and fell 12-0 in four innings.

“At these ages levels, when momentum gets to going one way, it just tends to keep going that way,” Marshall said. “When you start getting up to the higher age levels, then the momentum goes back and forth, but at the lower age levels, it seems like when girls get down, they have a hard time coming back.”

Lunenburg bounced back in a big way on Monday with a 21-7 victory over the Dinwiddie County All-Stars.

“We scored 15 runs in the top of the fourth inning,” Marshall said. “We were losing 7-6 going into the fourth inning. … I think everybody hit and everybody scored at least once in that last inning.”

Among the offensive standouts for Lunenburg was Jashanti Webb, who went 3-for-3. Bailey Marshall was in the circle and threw nine strikeouts in four innings.

The winner of the District 1 tourney will advance to the Dixie Youth Ponytails State Tournament in Goochland.