MCLEAN, VA — For the first time in McLean Little League history — and possibly for all of Virginia — three girls' all-star softball teams from McLean have won the Little League Virginia State title.
During the state tournament last week, the 10s (8-10 year olds) defeated Madison County 8-1; the 11s (9-11 year olds) beat Matthews County 12-3; and the Majors (10-12 year olds) edged out host York County 3-2.
Thanks to these victories, the 10s and 11s will compete in the Tournament of State Champions in Clarksville, Tennessee.
The Majors team will next play in the Southeast Regional Tournament in Warner Robins, Georgia, from July 31 to Aug. 5. Games will be broadcast on ESPN platforms, and scores can be followed on GameChanger.
“We’re very fortunate that our local softball league is really, really strong,” said Brad Prendergast, who coached the Majors. “We've got 350 girls in the program. We have great parents, great volunteers, great coaches, and the players really are committed to it.”
The Majors' journey to the state championship final began once the McLean girls won the Northern Virginia District Four championship.
That qualified them for the state level tournament, where they competed in four pools of teams, according to Prendergast. In their pool, the McLean Majors defeated teams from Abington, Richmond County and Bridgewater to advance to the quarterfinals to face the Richlands Little League team.
“After we beat Richlands, we advanced to the semifinals, where we played Loudoun South,” Prendergast said. “We beat them and that qualified us for the state title game the next day.”
The McLean team played York County Little League, which was hosting the state championship tournament.
“The state title game was a phenomenal game,” Prendergast said. “We won 3 to 2. We scored two runs in the first inning against an exceptionally fast pitcher. She was throwing about 56 miles an hour, which is probably the fastest speed we saw all week.”
After scoring another run in the top of the fourth, the McLean Majors held onto the 3-2 lead all the way through to the bottom of the sixth inning. They needed just three more outs to win the state title.
“Their batters coming up were their 10th, 11th and 12th hitters in their order,” said Prendergast. “Those were the last three hitters in the batting order. We really wanted to get those three outs, because otherwise we'd be facing the top of their order with a one-run margin and somebody on base.”
The left fielder made a nice catch to get the first out and the pitcher fielded a ground ball that came back to her for the second, according to the coach.
“With the last batter, our pitcher threw two balls to start the at-bat, and I went out to talk to her and just calm her down,” he said. “She was feeling pretty confident, and she came back and threw a few strikes in a row and got the batter to pop up to our first baseman to end the game and win the title for us.”
Once the final catch was made, the entire team ran onto the field and specifically to the mound to congratulate each other and Maddie Memoli, who followed starting pitcher Lilly Johnson to pitch the final three innings.
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“We knew York County was going to be good,” Prendergast said. "In fact, one of the tournament organizers said before the game that he thought that this tournament had played out exactly as he would have predicted, with York County and McLean being the two teams left at the end. So it was a really good matchup between the two teams.”
Since winning the state title, the McLean Majors have continued to practice in preparation for the Southeast Regional Tournament.
“We had batting practice this morning, and then we're having our fielding practice this evening, and that's sort of our routine for the next few days, practicing in the morning from 8 to 9 before it gets too hot,” Prendergast said, on Tuesday. “Then we're practicing in the evening, 6 to 8 just to keep working on things and try to improve.”
On Sunday night, this year’s Majors scrimmaged with the 2024 Majors team, which made it all the way to the regional final in Georgia last year.
“After the scrimmage, we did a Q and A with them for half an hour,” the coach said. “And it was just like, 'What are your favorite parts about it? What do you remember most? What stands out?' The most common refrain was, ‘This is a once in a lifetime thing, and make sure you enjoy every minute of it.’”