Photo courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball. The Austintown 12U softball team poses with its Central region championship banner. The team will play in the Little League Softball World Series next month.

This summer, especially the past week, has been a once in a lifetime experience for the girls on the Austintown Little League 12U softball team.

After losing its first game of the tournament to Iowa, Austintown bounced back in a big way, rattling off six straight wins to capture the Little League Softball World Series Central Region championship on Friday and advance to Little League Softball World Series.

They may not realize it just yet, but they’ve been a part of history, and it’s something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

“I don’t think they really even understand how big of a thing this is — being here, just to get to this point,” Hamley said. “Winning districts, then winning states was an even bigger accomplishment to get to this point. These girls played seven games on ESPN+ and ESPN like it was almost nothing to them. They didn’t feel like the moment was too big for them — they just kind of rolled with it.

“But I would like to think at some point, and it might take awhile, it might take even years for them to realize how big of a deal this was. But I know one day they’ll look back on this summer and know how amazing this experience was.”

The whole week, the team had to tiptoe on the edge of a knife. After the first round loss, Austintown was just one defeat from going home.

The loss was tougher to stomach because Hamley felt like they should have won that game, that it was a missed opportunity. But still, the team put it behind them and moved forward, persevering in the face of adversity.

“After losing that first game, it was a heartbreaker,” Hamley said. “But we had a huge uphill battle from that point on — almost an impossible task in front of us. We had to come right back the next day, where we could have been the first team eliminated. So from there on out, our backs were literally against the wall. That was the speech I gave the girls every day. What are you going to do? It’s either us going home or the other team going home, and they responded every single day. They showed just tremendous toughness and resilience.”

Along the whole journey, Austintown got better and better in all facets of the game.

First they made it through the district tournament, defeating local rival teams like Canfield and Boardman. Then, they cruised through states with a defensive masterclass, shutting out their opposition on their way to the title. Finally, Austintown made its unprecedented run through the elimination bracket in the Central Region tournament.

As a result, it was a full team effort. Whether it was Mila Hamley or Annabel Mikesell’s strikeouts in the circle, Seneca Coates’ running catches in outfield, hits from the likes of Kate Averell or Zara Burt or acrobatic outs at first base by Tori Greathouse, every one of Austintown’s 14 players played a role in the team’s success.

“Our pitching was great the whole time, but pitching won’t win you games,” Matt said. “So even though our bats weren’t hot the whole time, we were always able to do enough after the first game to scratch out runs when we needed to. And our defense played absolutely lights out for the entire week.”

For Matt, the team’s journey has been particularly special. His daughter, Mila, has been the team’s ace in the circle all season, and her pitching has been a crucial part of the team’s run. Mila threw a complete-game shutout in the final against Iowa, including the final two strikeouts that garnered the team the victory.

“Just being with her the whole step of the way, not only her, but the whole team, just knowing how much work she and the team put in day-in, day-out, week-in and week-out,” Matt said. “To get to see her shine on the biggest stages — it’s amazing and it makes you feel really proud.”

Now Austintown heads to the biggest stage, the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, NC from Aug. 6-13, where it will face the best teams in the world — teams from Europe, Latin America, Asia and from across the country.

If the team continues to get better and better the way it has against tougher and tougher competition, then the sky’s the limit for Austintown.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com