Congratulations Mendham Little League 12-Year-Old Girls Softball All-Stars!

You go girls! Mendham defeated Morristown National 5-1 at Veterans' field in Morristown to capture the District 1 championship.

"We lost our first game in pool play, but since then we won every game," head coach Lori Margiotta said. "I'm so proud of them. They've just improved from when the tournament started two weeks ago to now. They didn't let that first loss get them down and they kept playing."

Mendham struck early with a run in the bottom of the first. First baseman Emma Corbett reached first with a single to center field. After she stole second, she attempted to take third, forced a throwing error from Morristown National, and came around to score.

Morristown National tied the ball game at 1-1 when Alexa Grniet hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Morgan Katona from third base.

Mendham responded in the bottom of the fourth inning when Corbett reached on a walk, proceeded to swipe second and third base before being driven in by a ground out from Irene Margiotta, giving Mendham a 2-1 lead.

Mendham capitalized on a few Morristown-National miscues in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Margiotta, Mendham's starter, some insurance runs. Erin Lanahan and Jamie Shirt both reached base on back-to-back bunt singles. Lanahan scored on an error, giving Mendham a 3-1 lead.

Three batters later, Margiotta stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and ripped a double to center field, plating Sammie DiMaio and Nikki Skuraton, giving Mendham a 5-1 lead.

"It was a 2-0 count and from pitching I know a lot about counts and when pitchers need to throw a strike," Irene Margiotta said. "So I just wanted to make contact with it and it just felt really great hitting it to center field." Margiotta allowed only two hits while striking out six batters over six innings of work. "She came through with a big hit," Lori Margiotta. "We needed it, I tell you,. With this team, they're such good hitters. They hit up and down the lineup. The one run was just not enough. Those couple runs relaxed them in the sixth inning. It was really important."

Mendham will now prepare for the Section 1 Tournament, which begins next week. Good luck, Mendham!!