ST. CLAIR — After the St. Clair Little League junior softball team fell behind 6-0, coach Ken Kern gathered his players for a brief meeting.
It was the second inning, and a state championship was on the line.
"I just told the girls, 'Let's weather the storm. We're going to get ours. The momentum is going to shift,' " Kern said. "And that momentum did shift. We just had to buckle down."
Down but not out, St. Clair rallied to stun Clare, 7-6, in eight innings to clinch the Michigan junior state title in West Branch on July 11.
The team's roster featured 12 players — Leah Cybulla, Blair Distelrath, Emma Hustek, Kamryn Kern, Darby Larch, Alyssa Malcolm, Ella Murray, Emma Roberts, Emerson Rowlett, Dyllan Smith, Maliyah Smith and Kara Yeager.
"Clare came out hot," Ken Kern said. "We had to go right from our semifinal game to the final. Clare had a break (in between). So, they were well-rested, came out hitting the ball and were on a roll the first couple innings ... we clawed our way back with tough defense and timely hitting. We were able to tie it up and get (the game) into extra innings."
In the bottom of the eighth, Malcolm scored the winning run on a base hit from Yeager.
The epic comeback not only delivered a championship, but also gave the team an 8-0 record in the state tournament. St. Clair outscored its opponents, 93-16, during that stretch and posted five shutout victories.
The club ultimately fell short in the Central Regional tournament held last week in Pendleton, Indiana. St. Clair went 2-2 in the double-elimination bracket and finished third.
Still, that shouldn't detract from what the team accomplished this summer.
"(Our kids) showed a lot of maturity and a lot of growth," Ken Kern said. "They really showed the potential that they have. They've been playing together since they were seven or eight years old. This is what you play all that Little League for — an opportunity to play in these type of games. They've really showed a lot of growth as a team, and that's what I'm most proud of as a coach."
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper .
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: St. Clair Little League softball team wins 2024 junior state championship
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