There was plenty of action to close out the final day of the Battle of the Borders in the 16U division. 

Quarterfinals

In the quarterfinal matchup on Field 2, the Wisconsin Rebels defeated the McHenry Jr. Warriors 6-3 on a walk-off 3-run home run by Emily Miller in the seventh inning.

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with a three-run bomb from Mannon Amelio to open the scoring, but struggled to get anything going the rest of the game. Meanwhile the Rebels chipped away at the lead, scoring runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings to tie the game. The last of those three runs was driven in by Leah Welch, who went 2-3 with an RBI for the game.

Despite surrendering the lead, the Warriors had a great opportunity to take it back in the top of the seventh. With Sydney Goessele starting the inning on second by extra inning rules, the Warriors loaded the bases on back to back two-out walks from Danielle Loonsfoot and Amelio. A blooper to right from Madison Drake would not fall however, which set the stage for the Rebels in the bottom half.

Megan Footit started the inning on second for the Rebels, and was successfully moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jessica Pentland. Lead-off hitter Neva Oates tried to bunt home the winning run, but the Warriors were prepared and looked Footit back to third and were not able to get the speedy Oates on the play either. 

Then, with Oates taking second on fielder's indifference, Miller came to the plate. Early in the at-bat, Miller popped up a foul ball to third base that should have been the second out, but it was dropped. Miller made the most of her second opportunity, crushing an ensuing pitch over the left field fence for the walk-off victory.

Semifinals

In the semifinal matchup also on Field 2, the Rebels were unable to keep the momentum going from their walk-off victory with little break in between. The Whitnall Rage Fastpitch squared up pitches all game long from Rebels pitchers Lacey Cruz and Alyssa Muench. Rage Catcher Mackenzie Sutton was an especially tough out for the Rebels defensively, as she went 2-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Whitnall jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Wisconsin came back with two runs in the second, including one on a bunt single by Footit that drove in a run.

The wheels fell off for the Rebels however in the top of the third, as the first eight hitters that came to the plate reached base for the Rage. Haley Wynn led off the inning with a base hit, which was followed by a bunt single by Regan Schultz and a 2-RBI double by Sutton. Starting pitcher Lacey Cruz was relieved by Alyssa Muench after the double, but the Rage were not finished. Hannah Ruffert would drive Sutton in with another base hit, and Emyli Kreiser would drive in the Rage's fifth run of the inning with a bases loaded walk. The scoring rampage was finally quelled with a heads up play by third baseman Leah Welch, who stabbed a line drive off the bat of Lauren Guglielmi and tagged third base for a double play. The Rebels would add one more run in the bottom of the fourth on a Neva Oates RBI triple, but were unable to draw any closer, as the Rage advanced to the championship on a 7-3 victory in four innings as time expired.

Finals

The championship stage served as the culmination of a lengthy weekend of games for both the Rage and their opponents, the Wisconsin Bandits. Both teams struggled to put runs on the board as pitching prevailed over tired bats in the first three innings. The Bandits capitalized on the first lead-off base-runner of the game when Cheyenne Sowinski drew a walk to start the fourth. Coach Jeff Wehner substituted Angie Laabs to run for Sowinski, and Emily Groves got her into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Kat Brandl drove a liner into the gap to give the Bandits their first lead on an RBI double. 

Brandl's bat stayed hot in her next at-bat, as another base hit in the sixth inning increased the lead to 2-0 after Karissa Ryan bunted herself aboard and stole second base.

"I just went up there looking for a base hit, I was struggling in the games before, so all I really wanted was contact, and I just found the gaps," said Brandl.

Meanwhile, the offense for the Rage struggled to get to pitcher Kayla Schwebke, who retired 15 straight hitters from the end of the first inning to the first out of the sixth inning. Schwebke overpowered hitters with her fastball, striking out 6 hitters and inducing 10 fly ball outs.

"She pitched a good game for us, kept us in the game," said Coach Wehner. "She's a very good rise-ball pitcher, she was the Division 3 player of the year and won the state championship, so she's a heck of a good pitcher."

Down two in the bottom of the sixth and with a runner on, Rage Coach Eric Wynn elected to try for a hit and run, but Regan Schultz popped the bunt attempt up to the catcher, leading to Haley Wynn being doubled off to end the inning.

With the Bandits adding one more run in the top of the seventh to go up 3-0, the Rage needed a rally to keep their hopes alive. Mackenzie Sutton led off the inning with her second hit of the game, hitting a double to the wall to establish an early scoring threat. Sowinski would drive her in on a base hit to follow, and suddenly it appeared the Rage had fought their way back into striking distance. However, with the tying run at the plate for the next three batters, the Rage could not muster one more big hit, as Alyssa Vilkoski and Olivia Kelly flew out, and pinch hitter Rachel Rosenwald swung through a Schwebke fastball to end the game.

"It comes down in championship games to timely hitting," said Coach Wynn. "We had some base runners, we had some opportunities, we just weren't able to push them across when we needed to."

Both coaches were happy with the way their teams performed in the tournament.

"We came here to win, we play and prepare for every game to win," said Coach Wehner. 

Even in a losing effort, Coach Wynn was pleased with his team's effort as well.

"I couldn't be more proud of our girls, they came into a tournament loaded with talent," said Coach Wynn. "To come out with a second place finish losing 3-1 in the championship, we'll take that all day and we'll come back fighting the next time."

Written coverage of the 2016 Battle of the Borders provided by Zac Bellman, who can by found on Twitter @ZacBellman_WNY.