VARINA, Va. — The North Olympic 16U softball team didn’t get the breaks it needed Sunday.
Thus, the compilation of all-stars will spend the rest of the Babe Ruth World Series on the sidelines.
North Olympic was officially eliminated from the national championship after Sunday’s games by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker.
The team failed to advance out of pool play after finishing 1-3 in its division Saturday.
After the rest of the teams concluded its first round schedules a day later, three teams were tied in third at 1-3: North Olympic, Pittsfield (Mass.) and host Varina.
A difference in runs allowed — North Olympic gave up 12, Pittsfield 15 and Varina 6 — allowed the host squad to move on.
That, combined with North Olympic’s narrow run differential of minus 2, was a bitter pill to swallow.
“We beat ourselves,” North Olympic manager Warren Stevens said. “We really did.
“We should have been coming out of [pool play] 4-0. We had 7 errors in the first game and we lost 3-2 [to Lodi, Calif.]. We had two errors in the second and lost 2-1 [to Varina].
“In the fourth game [against Fern Creek, Ky.] we were leading 2-0 into the sixth. We had one error [after that] and lost 5-2.
“We [committed] errors and opened the door. You just can’t do that with these teams.”
That being said, Stevens was still proud of his team.
North Olympic scored first in each of its four games, only to lose three of them in heart-breaking fashion.
It played each of its opponents close, scoring 10 runs and giving up 12 in temperatures that often exceeded 100 degrees.
If the all-stars had managed to win just one of their two one-run losses, they would have easily advanced to the next round.
(North Olympic beat Pittsfield 5-2 in its third game for its lone win.)
“I have no doubt that if we were in this bracket play that we would have been competitive,” Stevens said. “The jitters would have been gone with these kids, and they would have played to their potential.
“We were hitting the ball consistently. We were just hitting it to people. Stacey [Webb] pitched very, very well. It’s just a shame that we don’t get to move on.
“I’m really proud of these kids.
“They’ve done a heck of a job. There wasn’t one of them that gave up. They played their hearts out.”
A total of nine girls will return next summer, so the future should be bright for North Olympic, Stevens said.
“If we can keep them together . . . who knows?” he said.
One of the big concerns may be finding a way to fund the team’s trip.
The elimination of host families at the Babe Ruth World Series forces teams to pay for lodging. That means fundraising will be even more important in the future.
That change from years past put a heavy burden on this year’s club, which was forced to spend more time fundraising and less time playing this summer.
That resulted in just one tournament appearance prior to the Series.
“I think as an organization we’re going to have to do some different things,” said Stevens. “The community stepped up again and supported us immensely. I can’t thank them enough.
“But in order for us to excel we’re going to have to play more tournaments to get better prepared. That’s going to have to take some sort of corporate sponsorship of some kind.
“I don’t know if we have that in our local community. . . but we’ll have to see.”
“It’s unfortunate, but that’s a sign of the times. That’s the way things are going to be.”
