Live Oak’s All-Star 10 and under softball team recently won the district tournament played in Madison. The Stars played Santa Fe first. According to Coach Wendy Perrin, the girls played hard and defeated Santa Fe.

The next game up for the Stars in the tournament was Madison.

“We knew this was the team we had to beat,” stated coach Gail Kicklighter.

In the 10 and under age group, pitchers can only pitch six innings in two consecutive games. Haejin Choe had already pitched four innings in the first game. Shayla Kicklighter had pitched two innings. Kicklighter had to be relieved in the fifth inning of game-one due to an injury. But the injury didn’t stop Kicklighter from pitching four strong innings in the game against Madison.

Suwannee went into game two ready to play ball. Kicklighter was the starting pitcher. Madison scored one run in the first inning and another run in the second inning. After that, Suwannee shut the door on Madison, holding them to their two runs. Suwannee took home the 6-2 victory.

After defeating two teams, Suwannee was scheduled to play again on Saturday, the third day of the tournament. Mayo, Union County and Tri-County had already been eliminated. Suwannee would have to play the winner of the Madison/Santa Fe game.

As it turned out, Suwannee had to face a tough Madison team again. Madison pitcher Rachael Webb came on strong. Suwannee bats weren’t there and Madison won. But because Madison had lost previously to Suwannee, they had to beat the Stars twice to win the tournament.

The Stars went into the final game with strong defense, committing no errors. Daycia Robinson made great plays at third. Destiny Perrin didn’t allow anything to get by her on first. Chrissy Traydon made an awesome double play from second base. Sara Futch and Shelby Wadford made great catches in the outfield. Brittany Morales was on top of everything hit her way in the outfield. Brianna Senterfeit did a great job behind the plate. Haejin Choe pitched the first two innings. Shayla Kicklighter came in and closed the last four. Madison only scored one run and had nine strike-outs against Suwannee pitchers. the final score was a big Suwannee Star 3-1 victory.

With nine of the players only nine-years old, this team will be back next year.

The team wants to thank Coach Da Choe and Kevin Thomas. The Suwannee 10-under stars are heading to Orlando July 12 to play in the state tournament.