Submitted by Kristine Farley
The Cranford Baseball and Softball League hosted their annual 12U Softball Tournament during the weekend of July 6, 2018. Due to a rainstorm, the games on Friday night were canceled and one team dropped out last minute, requiring the 12UA Cranford Gold Girls to play 4 games on Saturday, July 7. Through the heat and number of games, the girls persevered and ended up being the number 2 seed in the standings.
On Sunday, July 8, they won their first game in the play-off with a 12-1 score and got ready to play #3 seed MSO Red, a very strong team.
The semi-final game looked like MSO Red was going to win. Cranford was down 0-5 going into the bottom of the 4th inning. Cranford scored 2 in the bottom of the 4th, bringing the score up to 2-5. Both teams were scoreless in the 5th inning. At the top of the 6th, MSO Red scored another run, bringing the score to 2-6. Finally, in the bottom of the 6th, the Cranford bats came alive! The girls managed to score 5 runs, bringing the score to 7-6! At the top of the 7th inning Cranford Gold held MSO Red and won the semi-final game.
12UA Cranford Gold advanced to the finals where they would face the #1 seed, Chatham. Cranford took an early lead in the final game. They were up 6-0 going into the 4th inning. However, Chatham was not going down without a fight! Chatham scored 1 in the bottom of the 4th, 2 in the bottom of the 5th and another 2 in the bottom of the 6th. Going into the 7th inning, Cranford was up 7-5. Both teams were pumped, but stayed scoreless in that 7th inning.
Cranford Gold won the tournament. This was the first time this group of girls had won a tournament since they were the 8UA team. It truly was a team effort to win! Congratulations to all the girls and coaches on a job well done!
(above) The Cranford Gold U12 softball team won the annual tournament this year, persevering through the heat and tough matches.
