North Harrison softball standout Millie Long and the Worthy Rebels overcame a bad start and 95 degree heat to win a softball tournament last weekend.
The Rebels dropped a walk-off 5-4 win to Nebraska Kingery. They built up a 4-1 lead, only for Kingery to push four runs across in the final frame to get the 5-4 win.
Long went 2 for 2, pitched five innings, gave up three hits, only one walk, and struck out five, but the Rebels could not overcome five errors and fell to the Bombers 5-2 in their second game.
But the Rebels treated the two losses as wake-up calls and they delivered in the third game, playing errorless ball in a 3-1 win over South Dakota Players 12U.
From there, the Rebels got better each time out. Against the Western Iowa Heat, they once again played errorless ball. They fell into a 1-0 hole, but scored two in the fourth and three in the fifth to get a 5-1 win as their bats came alive to allow them to even their record. Millie drove in a run and pitched three innings, battling traffic but only allowing one run while striking out four.
As the weather heated up Sunday, so did the Rebels as they broke up a slugfest in the second and third innings, scoring four in the second and two in the third to put West Des Moines Buchholz away 10-3. Millie was 1 for 1 with a walk and a run scored.
The final game featured a rematch between the Worthy Rebels and the South Dakota squad. The first game was a close win, but this time, the Rebels scored five in the third and eight in the fourth to secure the 14-1 win. Millie Long was 1 for 2 with a walk, an RBI, and a steal. Despite the heat, the Rebels only made two errors on the second day.
For the tournament, Millie batted 4 for 12 with two RBI's and a run scored with two walks. On the mound, she pitched 8 2/3 innings with 10 hits, two earned runs, only one walk, and 9 strikeouts.
