The Bristol Girls Little League Softball City Series began with a twin-billing at Rockwell Field and Peck Park on Monday, Aug. 31.

The top seeded Gators met the Rockies in the opening game under the lights at Rockwell Park. Gators starting pitcher Brooklynne Whitlock retired the first three batters of the game in order after Kaci Cistulli popped up to first baseman Bellah Lovell in foul ground, and struck out the next two batters on nine pitches.

Josie Avritch took the mound for the Rockies in the bottom of the first inning. After a lead off walk to Leah Webber led to two stolen bases, Kayla Webber sent a 1-2 fastball towards left-center field where Jadaysha Smalls camped underneath it for the first out of the inning. Leah Webber tagged up on the play and scored the games first run.

Two strong defensive plays by shortstop Cistulli got the Rockies out of the first inning, stranding Loveall at first.

Rockies First baseman Eliza Criss led off the second inning with a line drive single to centerfield. She advanced on a passed ball and scored on a ground ball sacrifice by Angie Croce, tying the game at one run apiece.

The Gators scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning with the longest hit of the day coming off of the bat of 2B/CF Lyla Wegiel, who hit the 3-1 offering from Arvitch to deep centerfield for a standup double.  Wegiel would later score on a passed ball to give the Gators a 6-1 lead after two innings.  

Whitlock retied the Rockies in order in the top of the third, as the Gators scored another five runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 11-1 lead heading into the top of the fourth inning.

Whitlock struck out the top of the order to end the game by mercy rule, 11-1. The Gators advanced to the second round of the tournament, to face the winner of the Panthers-Diamond Girls game at Peck Park that evening.

The Panthers jumped out to a four-run lead in the top of the first inning, after shortstop Desiree Nickerson led off the game with a double, later scoring the games first run. 

Diamond Girls pitcher Hailey Beebe faced seven batters in the top of the first inning, striking out two and inducing a ground out to the shortstop.

The Diamond Girls sent eight batters of their own to the plate in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs on a Beebe home run.

The second inning was much like the first, as the Panthers added to their lead with three more runs in the top of the inning. Madison Morrissey, Nickerson and Maria Albert all scored with two outs for the Panthers to give them a 7-2 lead.

The Diamond Girls, however, would score five runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at seven as Beebe collected another two RBI’s on a single that scored shortstop Haley Powers and catcher Tori Hogan.

Beebe retired six of the next seven Panthers batters in the third and fourth innings, as the Diamond Girls began to pull away putting up another seven runs of their own to take a 14-7 lead after four compete innings.

The Panthers would score two more runs before completing the top of the fifth inning in a game that was ultimately ended by darkness after 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The Panthers will play the Rockies at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the tournaments first elimination game from Peck Park.

The Diamond Girls will face the Gators at 6pm from Rockwell Park on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the Championship game on Thursday.