Willows team falls in seventh

The Willows junior softball all-stars saw a chance to advance in the winners bracket slip away in the final inning against Paradise on Monday.

Playing on their home field, the Willows all-stars built a 2-0 lead over the first six frames, but two errors and a pair of hits allowed Paradise to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh. Willows went down in order in the bottom of the inning to give Paradise the win.

Willows played on Tuesday in an elimination game. If it won, it will play tonight in an elimination game at Jensen Park.

Willows broke a 0-0 tie in the fourth inning. Miara Jaramillo led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second base with a steal. Ashley Love then roped the best hit of the night with a double down the left field line.

Love also figured in the scoring in the sixth inning. After reaching second base on an error and an overthrow at first, Love advanced to third on a passed ball. When the catcher tried to pick off Love at third base, she simply ran home with the steal and a 2-0 Willows lead.

Patricia Farrell took the loss in relief of Courtney Dicharry, who threw three hitless innings before giving up a basehit to start the fourth. Dicharry had four strikeouts while Farrell had three.

9-10 Baseball

The Orland all-stars were eliminated from the District 47 9-10 all-stars tournament with a 17-0 loss to Paradise North at Chico Central on Saturday.

Willows, meanwhile, played Eastside Grey on Saturday at Gridley and stayed alive with a 16-13 win. Willows played Lake Oroville on Monday, but information was not available at press time.

10-11 Baseball

Orland lost its opener to Durham 11-6 on Thursday and played Paradise South in an elimination game on Monday. Results were unavailable.

9-10 Softball

Willows advanced to the championship game of Pool B before falling to Westside in the final on Saturday, 13-2, at Chico Central.

Willows opened the tournament with an 18-1 win over Biggs on June 30 and then fell to Westside 11-0 on July 1. Willows bounced back to defeat Central 4-2 on Wednesday and then eliminated Palermo 16-3 on Thursday and Paradise South 6-1 on Friday.

Orland, meanwhile, defeated Eastside 17-16 in an elimination game on July 2, but then fell to Durham 20-2 on Thursday and was eliminated.

11-12 Baseball

The Orland 11-12 baseball all-stars advanced to the finals of the District 47 all-stars tournament in Willows after edging Chico Westside 7-4 on Saturday.

Andrew Shippelhoute proved to be formidable on the mound and at the plate for Orland as he struck out 10 batters in six innings and also blasted a pair of home runs.

The only sign of vulnerability came in the fifth inning when Chico Westside made a game of it by belting two home runs over the course of three at-bats to close the gap to 6-4.

However Shippelhoute struck out the next batter to end the inning, hit a home run in his at-bat in the top of the sixth, and then set Westside down in order in the bottom of the sixth, including a strikeout on the final batter.

There were plenty of other heroes as well for Orland, which took a 5-0 lead in the first inning and played solid defense throughout.

Levi Paschall got the rally started in the first with a one-out basehit. After a groundout moved Paschall to second, Shippelhoute roped his first home run of the game over the centerfield fence for a 2-0 lead.

But Orland wasn’t finished. Theron Fumasi singled in the next at-bat and Shay Shull added a basehit to right field that allowed Fumasi to move all the way to third base. Shull was able to run to second base on the throw to third, which proved pivotal in the next at-bat.

Tony Esquivel hit a slow roller in between first and second base that drew the Chico Westside first baseman off of the bag. Although the second baseman was able to field the ball, there was no one on first to receive the throw. From there, it was a foot race to the bag with Esquivel just beating the Chico Westside second baseman.

Meanwhile, both Fumasi and Shull raced home to give Orland a 4-0 lead.