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Youth softball: Golden Gate 11-12s drop 1-0 heartbreaker in Section 6 title game
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FORT MYERS — In spite of a one-hitter pitched by 11-year-old Briana Newland, the Golden Gate Little League Softball All-Star's run at the Section 6 title game came to an end Sunday night. The only error of the game brought home Cape Coral's only run, lifting Cape to a 1-0 win at Sam Fleishman Regional Sports Complex.
The game marked the farthest that Golden Gate had ever advanced in 11-12-year-old softball, having never won districts at that level until this year.
"It's never been done before, so this group of girls accomplished an awful lot," Golden Gate manager Paul Jukins said. "Just to get here, bring us down to the last game, the last out, 1-0 game, we've accomplished a lot. And we're building."
The game was originally supposed to be played Saturday afternoon, but severe weather pushed it to Sunday at noon. More rain in the morning Sunday pushed the game back to a 7 p.m. start. Fortunately, the skies had cleared in time for the third attempt Sunday evening.
It was the lack of offense that made the difference for Golden Gate, as the team scattered three walks in different innings.
"We just didn't get enough hits," Jukins said. "There's no excuses. We just didn't hit the ball enough."
Newland dueled with the Cape pitchers, throwing 10 balls and 42 strikes. She did not throw a ball until the third inning.
"Briana pitched a great game," Jukins said. "We couldn't have asked for anything else."
The team, made up of several members of last year's district champion 9-10-year-old team, has six 12-year-olds, and six 11-year-olds. With that in mind, things are looking up for the developing program.
"We have a really good team coming back next year," Jukins said.
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