The day started off with a great time of devotion and worship to God. Pastor Mike Johnson gave a sermon on the body of Christ and all the parts play a vital role for the Body to work. It was a great sermon on how we as believers each play a role in spreading God's Kingdom.
In Round 1, Bethany played Conshohocken UM Church. Bethany played a great ball game both at bat and in the field. We were 1 - 0 after that game.
In Round 2, we had to play the defending champions. As daunting as that task was, we again played another solid game, and we came a way with a close victory. We were 2 - 0 after that game.
In Round 3, we had to play last year's runners-up. Hope played a great game. They jumped on Bethany early, and we played catch up for the rest of the game. We went down in defeat, and we were eager to have a chance to play them again.
We had to win Round 4 in order to get a rematch with Hope, and we did what we had to do against a scrappy team from Grove UM Church.
To win the championship, we had to beat Hope twice. Hope beat Bethany earlier in the day, but we were up for the challenge. Bethany's Softball Motto is that we do not give up. Never give up, because we do not know what is going to happen.
In Game 1 of the Championship Series, we jumped up on Hope right away, and never trailed at any point. We played a fantastic game which we knew would propel us into Game 2.
Hope got out to an early 3 - 0 lead on us in Game 2. Although we were losing to a great team, we did not give up. We got on the scoreboard with a hit up the middle, but we were still losing 3 - 1 after three innings. Our bats came to life in the fourth where we got three more runs to take a one run lead. Hope scored two runs in the top of the fifth to go up by one run. Bethany had a huge 5th inning scoring eight runs to take a lead that Hope just could not come back from.
The game results from the tournament were as follows:
Round 1 Bethany 22 Conshohocken UM Church 3
Round 2 Bethany 7 New Hanover UM Church 3
Round 3 Bethany 11 Hope UM Church 18
Round 4 Bethany 18 Grove UM Church 8
Championship Round
Game 1 Bethany 13 Hope UM Church 5
Game 2 Bethany 13 Hope UM Church 8
Congrats to the Bethany Softball Team on this great accomplishment. Not only did you win the Championship, but your witness and testimony on the field was that of Christ. There were times you could have gotten down and been defeated, but it was at those times, that you came together as a team, and rose to victory.
Well done, and I hope that you have as much success next year as you did this year.
