Last August, Angela Woldmoe and Cheryl Gippe took to the Driver Elementary School softball field for the finals of the Bennetts Creek Women’s Soft-ball League championships. Woldmoe stoked a pair of home runs that day, but her Narxx lost twice to Gippe’s Producers, incl-uding the championship game. Gippe made the title-winning catch, a lunging snare of a line drive at shortstop.

Sunday afternoon, the two played in the championship game again. This time, however, they were teammates. Woldmoe, Gippe and the rest of the Teamsters defeated the Mulchers 13-5 in the league championship game. Both the Teamsters and the Mulchers had previously defeated the regular season-champion Powerhouse, which finished the season-ending tournament 1-2 after completing an 18-0 regular season.

In a flashback to last season, Woldmoe bashed a two-run shot over the left-field fence in the first inning to give her team a 2-0 lead. But Crystal Baucant doubled home Alex Butler and scored on a single by Wendy Redmon to tie the score in the bottom of the inning.

The Mulchers took a 4-2 lead on solo homers by Katie Skylar (her first round-tripper of the season) and Butler. But in the fourth inning, Tammara Edwards hit her 10th homer of the season to tie the score, and Delores Pope singled home Christine Parrish to take the lead.

From that point on, the Lady Truckers’ offense took over. With one out in the fifth, Gippe doubled Jeannie Brinkley to third, and Woldmoe brought both of them in with a triple to centerfield. Edwards singled in Woldmoe, giving the team in gray an 8-4 advantage. Jennifer Kay reached on an error, and Parrish doubled home Edwards. Kim Bradshaw bashed a single into centerfield to score Kay and Parrish, and Tracey Lewis eked out an infield single to score Bradshaw, ending the half-inning with the Teamsters up, 13-4.

The Mulchers went down in order for the first time all game in the fifth, and Parrish drew a bases-loaded walk to score Brinkley in the sixth. Lydia DeVenuto scored for the Mulchers in the sixth, but Pope matched her in the seventh.

True to form, Gippe made two putouts in the seventh inning, and the title belonged to the Teamsters. &uot;I never assumed that we’d win,&uot; she said. &uot;We just never let up.&uot;

For Parrish, the victory was extra special; after playing 10 full seasons of Bennetts Creek softball, she finally took home a championship trophy. &uot;All of a sudden, we just wanted it more,&uot; she said. &uot;The games in this tournament were the best that we’d played all season. I just can’t wait to take this trophy home!&uot;