BY ALLEN GREGORY
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Va. – Tristan Blevins had reason to be sad Monday morning at Highland View Field.
Her Washington County team dropped a 13-3 decision to Mechanicsville in the championship round of the Virginia State softball tournament for 10-11 year-olds.
Somehow, Blevins managed to see a happy picture.
“[Mechanicsville] is a good team, but we worked hard to reach this point and the experience will help us next year,” Blevins said.
According to Blevins, the path to the finals was paved with sweat.
“We practiced every day, for sometimes three hours, the past month and a half,” Blevins said. “We like the game.”
Washington County, which stopped Great Falls by a 15-5 margin Monday, had no answer for Mechanicsville.
Displaying depth and speed, the Richmond area team collected eight hits and took advantage of seven walks. The game was shortened to three innings due to the mercy rule.
“Our pitching just fell a little short, that’s what us in both of our tournament losses,” Washington County coach Joey Blevins said. “We put together a couple rallies, and just couldn’t finish it.”
Haley Overbeck, Kaycee Casteel and Caitlynn Doss all collected singles for Washington County, with Doss driving in a pair of runs.
“This game was little bit disappointing, but we’re glad to finish second and we look forward to playing together more,” WC centerfielder Kaci Fuller said.
The Washington County story is a bit unique. In an era where participation in Little League is shrinking dramatically due to travel teams, Blevins said his group is committed to the community cause.
Due to the dismay of parents and Little League administrators, several districts in Virginia have not had had enough players to field softball or baseball teams in the various state tournaments the past few years.
“[Travel ball] is pulling a lot of kids away, but I don’t see anything wrong if the kids still play within your league,” Blevins said.
“I’ve got two or three girls that compete on travel teams. Little League is their main thing, though. And that’s what Mechanicsville does. That was their travel team out there today.”
Mechanicsville, which finished second in last year’s 9-10 year-old state tournament to McLean, features a lineup developed through travel, Little League and school teams.
“Pretty much all of our girls can hit,” Mechanicsville coach George Gulick said.
“We got off to a little slow start in this game, but the bats came through.”
In fact, Mechanicsville scored 12 runs in the third inning. Kiandra Mitchum set the pace with two hits and four RBIs.
For the Washington County coach, it was just another page in a story that began long ago.
“I’ve coached most of these girls since the T-ball and minor league league level,” Blevins said. “We were one run away from winning the district two years, then we finished sixth in the state last year.
”We’ve been moving up each year, we just have to work on our pitching.”
Video games and computers take a backseat to softball for the WC all-stars. Their lab is an indoor practice facility on the Lee Highway.
“About six of these girls have worked year round on their games,” said Blevins, a former standout athlete at Grundy. “We’ve actually got girls from throughout the area working at our indoor facility at no cost.
“This is a diehard group. We practice on Sunday, and sometimes work twice a day. They just love the game.”
The immediate concern for Tristan Blevins is fun.
“Yeah, I’m going to Myrtle Beach next week,” Blevins said.
agregory@bristolnews.com (276) 645-2544.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement