LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The tears came quickly after the final out. Floyds Knobs’ remarkable run to its first Little League Softball World Series championship game ended Sunday in a 1-0 loss to Pennsylvania, with one swing — and one clutch defensive play — making all the difference.
Trailing by a run in the bottom of the fifth, the Indiana state champions loaded the bases with two outs against Pennsylvania ace Reagan Bills, the tournament’s dominant pitcher. Scarlett Renn came to the plate with a chance to deliver the breakthrough hit. She stung a line drive right back up the middle — but Bills snared it in her glove to end the inning. The Johnstown, Pa., dugout erupted, knowing they were three outs away from the state’s first championship since 1978.
Bills, who had not allowed an earned run all week, worked a quick 1-2-3 sixth to finish off a complete-game shutout. She also drove in the game’s only run with a single up the middle in the third inning, a throw to the plate that might’ve caught the runner slipped past the catcher, allowing the game’s only run.
Floyds Knobs’ biggest “what if” came in the third inning. With the game still scoreless, Sawyer Abel ripped what looked like a leadoff triple down the right-field line — only to be called out for having her foot outside the batter’s box at contact. Video confirmed the call, but the timing was brutal.
One batter later, Renn reached on an error, a sequence that likely would have brought Abel home.
Briley Mercer pitched another gem for Floyd Central, which rallied from an opening-game loss all the way to the first championship game appearance in its history. The only run she allowed was unearned and she struck out eight in five innings.
Despite the loss, Floyds Knobs left Greenville with history made: the first Indiana team to ever reach the LLSWS championship game. Along the way, they blanked defending champion North Carolina in extra innings, allowed just one run over their first five games, and showed they could go toe-to-toe with the best in the world.
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