Lady Dukes 11U softball team wins national championship

The Lady Dukes 11U softball program won a national title this past weekend at the USSSA Eastern National Championship on Sunday in Salisbury.

The Lady Dukes finished the tournament with a 9-0 record and outscored their opponents 82-23. The Lady Dukes capped off their successful tournament run with an 11-3 win over Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s Northwest Explosion.

Trailing 3-0 entering the bottom half of the third, the Dukes tied the game off RBIs from Alyssa Garnett and Kaedynn Seward, plus an error that scored Paige Garrant.

The Lady Dukes grew their lead in the fifth, scoring eight runs to take an eight-run advantage. Garnett led the Dukes with three RBIs, while Kendall Beck and Molly Frantz each drove in two runs. Seward and Juliana Ravanesi each finished with two hits. In the circle, Garnett and Kayleigh Marshall combined for five strikeouts and allowed four hits in five innings of shared work.

Across the nine-game tournament, Harper Schreiber and Emma Blankenship led the team with 12 hits. Four hitters finished the tournament with a batting average of .500 or better. Schreiber led the team with a .571 batting average on 24 plate appearances, Garrant finished with a .526 average, Blankenship ended the tournament hitting .522 and Garnett finished with a .500 average.

Blankenship was named the tournament MVP and Garnett was named the tournament’s Outstanding Pitcher.

The Lady Dukes 11U softball team includes: Alyssa Garnett, Aleeya Bennett, Juliana Ravanesi, Kendall Beck, Emma Blankenship, Paige Garrant, Kaedynn Seward, Harper Schreiber, Finley Hamrick, Kayleigh Marshall, Molly Frantz, JayLynn Secor, Renie Lynch (Coach), Rachel Craine (Coach), Alexia Fitzgerald (Coach)