Irmo Junior softball’s historic runs ends in World Series championship game
Irmo’s bid for the Junior League Softball World Series championship came up short on Saturday.
Michigan scored two runs each in third and fourth innings to defeat Irmo, 5-1, in the championship game in front of a nationally-televised audience.
It was Irmo’s only loss of the tournament and the postseason. Irmo was the first SC team ever to advance to the World Series.
Irmo won the Southeast Regional, outsourcing its opponents 53-5 and was 6-0 at the World Series entering Saturday’s game.
Michigan advanced to the championship game with a pair of extra-inning wins over Connecticut, 3-2, on Thursday and 9-8 over Nevada on Friday in the semifinals.
Autumn Dennis had two hits and an RBI and Callie Naber had two hits for Michigan, which benefited from three Irmo errors in the game.
Pitcher Makenzie Cammenga got the complete-game win, allowing a run on four hits while striking out seven.
Olivia Hill had two hits to lead Irmo. Pitcher Stephanie Jones drove in the team’s lone run in the third on an RBI single to score Eve Smither to cut the lead to 2-1. Irmo had a chance to tie it but Hill was tagged out at the plate while trying to score on a wild pitch.
This was the first time the World Series has been held since 2019 because of COVID.
Members of the team are Stephanie Jones (Ben Lippen), Layla Peppers (Dutch Fork), Haley Alderman (Dutch Fork), Olivia Hill (Dutch Fork), Eason Davis (Chapin), Allie Bickley (Chapin), Reagan Haggard (Chapin), Makenna Reimer (Irmo), Katie-Grace Hill (Dutch Fork) and Eve Smither (Ben Lippen). Coaches are Robert Peppers, Bryan Jones and Aaron Reimer.
