AREA DIAMONDS

AREA DIAMONDS
Youth softball
Traveling 16-younger
Valley Sting Purple finished tied for 25th in the 113-team double-elimination National Softball Association A World Series in Columbus. Sting defeated Buffalo Blaze in an eight-inning international tiebreaker contest. Southpaw Markie Pozzuto (Mecca) fired a three-hitter with nine strikeouts, and Amy Downs (Cortland) doubled in the winning run. Colleen Courtney (Boardman) had three sacrifice bunts, and Jessica Sferra (Columbiana), Chelsea Butler (Cortland), Trisha Dreslinski (Kingsville) and Allie Patton (Poland) all had hits. Sting defeated Ohio Classics and lost 2-0 to Extreme Edge of Tennessee in an international tiebreaker contest. Ashley Conger (Poland) led the offense with two hits. Sting defeated Indiana X-Rays 4-1 as Pozzuto pitched a five-hitter. Kari Thompson (Poland) led Sting with an RBI double and a single. Dreslinski and Pozzuto combined for a 4-3 five-hitter over Ohio Stars. Amber Adley (Kingsville) had a hit and two RBIs, and Downs had a hit, an RBI and two runs scored. Sting defeated Ohio Ice-Hair 5-1 as Dar Bott (Conneaut) had three hits. Butler had two hits and two runs scored, Conger had two hits and Patton tripled. Pozzuto tossed a two-hitter with eight strikeouts. Conger and Downs doubled in Sting's 5-2 loss to Indy Edge.
COPYRIGHT 2004 ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN, OR REDISTRIBUTED.