Patience in the box leads Coeburn all-stars to victory in final game

COEBURN — District 13 was chosen to host the junior and senior softball tournaments this year and the Coeburn junior softball all-stars are the only local team in the games being held on their home field. After two hard fought losses to District 15’s Lancaster County (12-8) on Friday and District 1’s Marion (8-4) on Saturday, the Coeburn team picked up a victory over District 6’s Western Branch in a three-hour slugfest.

The Coeburn girls entered into the bottom of the seventh inning down 18-16 as the rain began pelting the players on the field. Addy Brooks was HBP and then able to steal second and third on wild pitches. Hayley Osborne made it on base due to an error and Brooks scored. Kylee Hall walks. Rylee Parton walks bases loaded for Braeley McCoy with one out. McCoy walks and score is tied. Bri Stallard HBP to walk the winning run home 19-18, picking up the victory without a single hit in the final inning.

“I told them to be patient and get a pitch they wanted,” the all-stars’ coach Carrie Boyd said. “’Any way on’ is my motto and they followed that in the last inning. Being patient can pay off as it did for us in that last inning.”

The Coeburn team’s 1-2 record was good enough for the coaching staff as not having any competition in their age division, they had not been able to play a single game this season.

“I’m really proud of this team. We stepped on the field for the first time together and I thought the girls did well. Going 1-2 is honestly impressive for girls who have never played together who are playing against the best competition in the State. I feel the girls learned a lot overall.”

In additional little league action this past weekend, the Coeburn major softball all-stars made a splash in Culpepper, Va., winning all three of their games to advance out of pool play as the top seed in their division. They defeated D1 Saltville 5-1 on Friday, D16 Greater Faquier 14-1 on Saturday and the host team D14 Louisa 12-2 in five innings on Friday. The Coeburn crew then took down D15 Richmond County 4-3 to move to the final four. On Monday, they would fall to eventual champion, D4 McLean by an 8-0 margin, in the single-elimination bracket.

In 8-9-10 softball, the team from Union won their first game against D8 Virginia Beach on Saturday, 9-4. However, they would fall to D14 Culpepper 6-1 on Sunday and D5 Atlee 18-3 on Monday to finish up their season.

D13 8-9-10 baseball representative Ridgeview played their three games in the state tournament, losing to D15 Spotsylvania 22-1, D4 Vienna American 21-0 and D3 Front Royal 15-0 to end their season.

Union senior baseball also went 0-3 in their tournament this weekend, losing to D16 Lower Loudon 7-4, D8 Fleet Park 18-6 and D3 Stanley 11-7.

*****Story features updated information from games played after time of printing.