Portland, OR - Thousands of miles from home and with much of the Alpenrose Stadium crowd chanting for its underdog opponents, Southeast representative Warner Robins, Ga., couldn't be blamed for feeling a bit uncomfortable before the championship of the Little League Softball World Series on Wednesday.
But less than a half-inning later and with a four-run lead in tow, the defending champions were suddenly right where they wanted to be.
"This is home away from home," said Southeast manager Roger Stella, whose girls jumped ahead early and hung on for an 8-6 victory over West representative Burbank, Calif., to capture its second consecutive LLSWS championship.
Catcher Chelsea Whaley and shortstop Melissa Cox had multiple hits for Southeast, who rode a solid defense and gutsy complete-game performance from pitcher Haley Tierce.
"I was a little worried they might come back, but I knew my defense was behind me," said Tierce, who struck out four and labored through eight walks and six hits.
Whaley, one of five Southeast girls who won the title with the 2009 squad, said despite the early lead, her team never counted out the scrappy West team.
"We knew we couldn't score four runs and be done with it," Whaley said.
Southeast scored four runs in the first inning on one hit and five walks. West answered in the second inning when Tori Talavera crushed a stand-up triple into the right field corner, scoring Bridgette Pisa and Lili Flores.
Her teammates nearly tied the score three batters later when, with runners on second and third, Kaitlin Okimoto knocked a blooper into center field, but Southeast centerfielder Amber Coy made a diving catch to end the inning and preserve the lead.
Tigard 5, Central 4: The Oregon District 4 champs became the first host team in seven years to capture third place with a thriller over Central representative Poland, Ohio.
Tigard pitcher Emily Sorem scampered home on a passed ball with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, giving the locals their second walk-off victory of the tournament.
East 4, Southwest 0: Hannah Olshevski struck out five and allowed just two hits while three of her teammates had multiple hits to lead East representative Robbinsville, N.J., in the fourth-place game.
Latin America 10, Europe, Middle East and Asia 4: Catcher Jennifer Morales was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and Latin American representative Maunabo, Puerto Rico jumped out to an early lead to cruise past EMEA representative Wroclaw, Poland, in the fifth-place game.
-- Brian Gjurgevich