Bridge City girls headed to the L.L. World Series!

The Bridge City Little League Jr. All-Star softball team is headed to the World Series. Tuesday they became the Regional Champs earning them a berth in the World Series tournament.

“We’re undefeated in regional play,” said team manager Julie Kahla in a phone interview Tuesday with The Record. “We played the championship today and it went into 10 innings. We scored in the bottom of the 10th,” she said.

Kellyn Cormier pitched all 10 innings in a shut-out with a final score of 1-0.

Kaleigh Carter hit in the winning run made by Hannah Faulk.

“We leave for Washington Saturday and we’ll be there for a week.” said Kahla. We’ll be playing teams from Africa, China, Canada, Philippines and there is going to be another U.S. team there. We’re guaranteed four games and then we’ll go into a double elimination bracket. We’ll probably be there the entire week.”

She said this is the first time for a local team to go to the World Series. “I don’t ever remember a girl’s team going to Regionals, much less the World Series. It’s a dream come true for these kids.”

Kahla said they kept the girls focused this week in Midland and took them bowling Monday to get their minds off of the tournament. She said they had a good two hour practice after that.

“They wanted it,” said Kahla. “They know this is their last year to ever do it–and we’re doing it.”

Flying to Kirkland, Washington Saturday, the girls will have their first game Sunday.

The girls will be in pool B. Their first game is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. PDT, Field B. The other three guaranteed games are scheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. PDT, Field A; Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. PDT, Field B; and Thursday at 1:45 p.m. PDT, Field B. Outcomes of those games will determine their places for the semifinal round if they advance.

The other team from the United States representing the Southeast is Palma Ceia from Tampa, Fla. They will play in pool A. This means the two U.S. teams will not face each other until possibly the semifinal round later in the week.

Only the championship game will be televised on ESPN Saturday, August 20. Preliminary games have a link to a live scoreboard. Check out the tournament brackets for more details.

Members of the All-Star team are Hannah Faulk, Kellyn Cormier, Brooke Derouen, Bailee Bacon, Faith Kaufman, Sabryn Crain, Kaleigh Carter, Skylar Kahla, Katelyn Dickerson, Kasey Frederick, Haley Mills, Harleigh Myers and Ashlyn Mitchell.

Coaches for the team are Hilton Bacon and Justin Frederic.