LOCAL SOFTBALL SQUAD WINS NATIONAL TITLE

HOUMA, La. -- The Heartland Nationals, a local fast-pitch girls softball team made up of players ages 13 through 15, can now call itself national champions.

The Nationals won the title in the Babe Ruth Girls Softball National Tournament 13-15 division by rallying past Terre Bonne, La., 7-6 here Sunday afternoon.

That victory capped a 4-0 tournament for the Nationals, who finished the season with a 12-0 record. The team, based in Benton and containing players from several communities, is an all-star squad featuring players from the Benton Babe Ruth Softball League.

"Our girls just had a great tournament," said Nationals head coach Mike Riley. "We really focused on fundamentals, knowing that defense wins championship. We didn't want to make any mental mistakes. You can't catch them all and we weren't really worried about some errors, but we wanted to do all the fundamental things and I think we were able to do that for most of the tournament."

Trailing 6-5 heading into their final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Nationals rallied. Jodi Pfefferkorn led off with a double, Bridgett Riley sacrificed her to third and Pfefferkorn scored the tying run on Nicole Kern's squeeze bunt, which went for a hit.

Then with two outs, Mika Williamson reached on an infield single. Kern moved all the way to third on the play and, when Terre Bonne threw wildly trying to retire Kern, she was able to score the winning run.

"It was a great championship game for that age group," said Riley. "The teams were very evenly matched. Both teams were very fundamentally sound and did the little things that let you win games."

Marissa Essner was the winning pitcher as she relieved Riley in the second inning. Essner went on to allow just two runs in six innings.

Essner, who won three of the Nationals' four tourney games and got a save in the other, was named the tournament's most valuable player. She pitched a shutout during Saturday's contest that got the Nationals into the finals.

"Marissa had an outstanding tournament," said the Nationals' coach. "She did a great job pitching and she also had a good tournament offensively."

The Nationals had 13 hits, two each by Essner, Pfefferkorn and Traci Kluesner. Pfefferkorn also walked twice and scored two runs.

Other team members are Megan Beggs, Morgan Kiefer, Cassey Graviett, Ashley Reinagel, Amanda O'Brien, Kari Lape, Ashley Kern, Allison Johnson and Dana Essner.

Doug Johnson and Randy Kern are the squad's other coaches.

"We're just really proud of all the girls. It's a tremendous accomplishment," Riley said. "Since we put the team together after our league got over with, they've just really played well. They worked hard and they deserve this national championship."