Team ELITE, a 12-and-under travel team, lost its first two games but battled back to claim a 14-and-under Global Sports Authority tournament at Dellinger Park.
Team ELITE lost its pool game against RBI Softball, another Bartow County-based team, then fell to the Explosion, sending it into the losers’ bracket.
With back-to-back games that spanned the entire day — with no real rest between games — Team ELITE fought its way to the championship.
“Man, I hate putting the girls into that kind of situation where they have to play nonstop all day, but we just didn’t play well this morning and I made some bad coaching decisions as well,” head coach Ken Godfrey said. “I told them not to give up, to just win one game at a time and they put their heart into it and did just that.
“All four of our main pitchers were on, and I think it made them feel good to know they had some relief behind them. No one seemed to be tired.”
Team ELITE pitchers included Savannah Poole, Kayla Watson, Courtney Godfrey and Shana Abram. Catchers were Tori Evans and Lindsay Hamby.
After falling to RBI Softball and Explosion, Team ELITE won Game 3 against the North Georgia Coyotes; Game 4 against RBI Softball; Game 5, the first championship game, against Explosion; and Game 6, its “if” game, against Explosion.