The 11U Boys Green All-Star team eliminated Eagle Creek from the District 8 Tournament on Wednesday evening with a tense 6-3 victory on Eagle Creek’s home field. With the win, ZLL advances to the championship against Brownsburg on Thursday evening. Because of the double elimination tournament format, ZLL must defeat Brownsburg on both Thursday and Friday evenings at Eagle Creek Little League park to take home the District 8 Title. Brownsburg moved into the championship with no losses, while ZLL has one loss. Start time for the games will be 6:30 pm.
The Eagles were led by a complete game pitching performance from Ethan Barksdale, who allowed only 3 runs in 6 innings. ZLL jump-started the game with 4 quick runs in the top of the first and never trailed the rest of the game. The first inning rally was ignited by key hits by Barksdale, Alec Rheinhemer, and Jacob Fancher.
Meanwhile, the ZLL Minor Girls Green team faced Broad Ripple for the chance to win the District 8 Title. As the survivor of the elimination bracket, Broad Ripple needed a victory to force a second game against the Eagles, who were undefeated in the tourney.
Broad Ripple played terrific defense throughout the game, holding the Eagles to 4 runs through the first 5 innings and taking a 9-4 lead. In their last at-bat, the Eagles scratched out 5 runs to tie the game 9-9. The ZLL rally was snuffed out by an excellent catch of a line drive by a Broad Ripple player with two runners in scoring position. Unfortunately, the Eagles could not hold Broad Ripple scoreless in the bottom of the 6th, and fell 10-9, thus forcing a second championship game on Thursday evening. ZLL and Broad Ripple will play again at 7 pm on Thursday at Lion’s Park.