MERIDIAN, Idaho — The Port Angeles girls who competed in Babe Ruth tournament play are heading home after losing consolation bracket games Saturday.
The 14U girls suffered perhaps the most heart-breaking of defeats, as they saw a 7-1 lead in the championship round slip away to Twin Falls, Idaho.
Playing under 95-degree heat, North Olympic, “just ran out of gas,” according to one parent, as Twin Falls scored seven runs in the seventh inning to win 8-7.
The loss ended in an impressive run for the 14U squad, which battled back through the consolation bracket after losing its first round game 10-9 to host Meridian on Friday.
The Port Angeles squad ran over Kuna 10-0 to survive and advance later that night.
Then the girls gained a measure of revenge against Meridian with a 6-4 win in extra innings.
After giving up a 4-1 lead, North Olympic went on to score two runs in extras to move on to the title game.
North Olympic ended up second in the tourney.
After the 10U girls began regional play with three straight wins on Thursday, they suffered their first loss Friday morning, falling to Meridian 5-4.
They regrouped and beat Twin Falls, Idaho, 17-4 later on and won an evening game against Kuna, Idaho, 8-7 in seven innings to get into the last day of the tournament.
The team had trouble taking on the heat that greeted it Saturday, allowing six runs in the first inning of its game against Twin Falls.
Yet the Northwest girls caught fire as they fought back to win 20-12.
The bats went silent in the semifinal game as the North Olympic ladies lost to Meridian once again 6-2.
They finished third in the tournament.
