Members of the team La Chaos cheer their teammates after a home run pulled in three runners during the game against SGS Magic. The 18-under and 16-under championship softball games were held at the Summit of Softball complex on Saturday. Both games were delayed by rain in the fifth inning.As chaotic as the ebb and flow of Saturday's 18-under championship game in the National Softball Association A Division Eastern World Series went, it must be fitting that the Chaos won.
Linzey Cifreo's single to center field in the bottom of the final inning capped the championship run and a magical summer for the Louisiana Chaos, who defeated Ohio's SGS Magic 6-5 at the Summit of Softball complex.
The Chaos were one Kaylee Guidry pitch away from winning the game in the top of the sixth after the time limit had expired right before the Magic's Tanya Calkins came to bat. Instead she found a pitch to her liking and drove it out in center field.
"Two outs, two strikes and a home run of all things," said Chaos coach Ben McDonald, a former major league baseball pitcher. "That team is really good. They're the best hitting team we faced.
"We could've folded right there. One thing about our girls is they never get too high or too low. We didn't want to go to a second game. We figured out a way to do it."
The Chaos seemed to sieze momentum back quickly in the bottom of the inning with Haylee St. Amant's leadoff double, but two outs later she was still at second. After Brooke Morris reached on an infield hit, the Magic chose to pitch around Natalie Landry, setting the stage for Cifreo.
"I knew they would intentionally walk Natalie," said Cifreo, who has signed a scholarship with Louisiana-Lafayette. "She'd been hitting the ball all week. The only thing I was thinking was 'Get a hit.' I knew I had to pick my pitcher up. That was my opportunity."
McDonald wasn't surprised by the Magic's strategy.
"I wouldn't have pitched to Landry, either," McDonald said. "She'd been the best hitter in this tournament by far. She hit three or four home runs and probably hit close to .600 or .700. But Cifreo has been a clutch hitter. She's a big-time player. She came through with a huge hit and won the ballgame."
Cifreo also had an RBI single in the third. Two batters later, Megan McCullum hit a three-run homer.
The Magic's Karyn McCarty and Vanessa Garcia doubled and singled starting the fourth. An error allowed one run to score, and later in the inning Kayla Kostich hit a run-scoring single.
Tori Allen's triple in the fifth drove in the tying runs, although she was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a home run.
After the teams sat through a near three-hour rain delay, the Chaos took a 5-4 lead when Landry, who had walked and was on third, scored on an errant throw when courtesy runner Blake Ray stole second.
The Chaos ended up unbeaten in their last 54 games. McDonald credited that to a strong battery, some timely hitting and a few breaks.
"This was Guidry's first year with us," said McDonald, who also worked in a couple of other pitchers at times. "I didn't realize how good she was. I think she gave up nine runs the entire summer, counting this tournament. Nobody stole a base on us this entire tournament, either.
"We have a lineup that's strong top to bottom, and a few bounces went our way. But you never envision winning 50-something games in a row."