Golden Eagle 18-U wrap up softball season at state in Lex

It was a season in which rainouts and injuries played a huge role in the Golden Eagles inability to establish consistency and continuity.
Team members missing for part of the year, injuries and several rainouts never allowed the York State Bank Golden Eagles 18-U softball team to get where it needed to be at this part of the year.
Over the weekend, the team was hoping that last weekend’s strong showing at the SLS League Tournament in Fairbury, and their double header split with the Fairbury Extreme this past week, was a sign they were finally starting to find their niche.
On Friday the team took a 1-0 lead on the Lakeview Blue Lightning, but after Lakeview’s three-run fourth the York girls would never lead again in the tournament.
They dropped their opener 6-2, then in an attempt to battle back through the losers bracket, the Golden Eagles missed a few good chances to put runs on the board in their battle with the Gothenburg Belles and that eventually led to a 3-0 loss that ended the season.
“We didn’t play bad defense in the tournament this weekend, but the bats just didn’t come around when we had chances to score,” commented York head coach Laureen Powell. “We just didn’t execute offensively well at all this weekend. When we took that 1-0 lead in the first game on Friday I thought maybe we were going to be OK offensively, but we just never seem to get it together.”
Defensively the Golden Eagles played well enough to win, as they committed only two errors, one in each game.
On Saturday, the Belles took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when a two-run single with two outs just climbed over the glove of second baseman Kasey Romohr.
York had a great chance in the third when Michaela Ocken singled, advanced to second on the sacrifice bunt by Amy Powell, and then the next batter, Edie Nickel, singled.
However the threat ended there with a weak fly ball to first base and a ground out to the pitcher.
York never had two runners on base at the same time the rest of the game.
On the hill, Melanie Baker went the distance scattering seven hits and struck out four, including all three batters in the Belles’ second to avoid further damage.
Other than Nickel and Ocken, Powell and Baker had the other two hits.
The 18-U Eagles have all but four girls returning next season. Kirby Newcomer, Ocken, Powell and Katlynn Killion played their last game for the York State Bank Golden Eagles.
Coach Powell will also hang up the coaching duties, as she will be on the Legion Baseball scene with her son. “ Next year I will be following my son around to the Legion ball parks,” she said. “This was a funny year, but this was a great group of girls to work with.”

Lakeview            000 321 0- 6     12     2
York Golden Eagles    001 000 0- 2       6     1

York State Bank        000 000 0- 0       4      1
Gothenburg Belle’s    020 001 X- 3       7      0