Saturday, August 17, 2013
Staff report
Kirkland, Wash.
The Canfield 13-14 year-old softball team’s run at the Junior League World Series came to an end Friday at the hands of a familiar opponent.
South Tampa (Fla.) defeated Canfield 6-5 in the semifinal, giving the girls from Florida their second tournament win over manager Kerry Durkin’s squad.
Canfield will play the Philippines at 2 p.m. today in the third-place game.
“We really played a great game,” Durkin said. “The girls fought back, they showed a lot of heart but just came up a little short.”
After losing 17-2 to Tampa on Monday, Canfield wanted to avenge what Durkin called an “eye-opener” for his team.
“There’s no moral victory, but I guess it gave us some solace to play them so great,” Durkin said.
Tampa struck first in top of the second on a Gianna Carideo home run to center field. Canfield took the lead in the bottom half, scoring two, but Tampa’s Haley Morrell hit a three-run home run to take a 4-2 lead.
The score stayed the same until the top of the sixth, when Tampa added two insurance runs. Trailing 6-2, Canfield rallied for three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run double from Mia Kindinis. She was singled home by Kayla Troxil, but that’s close as Canfield would get.
“I told the girls, ‘Don’t let this define what you’ve done,’” Durkin said. “It hurts now, but kids are resilient.”