Players from Alabama and North Carolina gather for prayer on Sunday.

The North Carolina (Dunn) Ponytails (12-and-under) softball All-Stars defeated Alabama (Coffee County) 19-3 on Sunday morning in the Dixie Youth World Series in Alexandria, La.

The outcome improved the local girls to 2-0 in the World Series going into a matchup with Mississippi.

The North Carolina-Mississippi game was rained out Sunday night and rescheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m.

N.C. scored five in the first inning on Sunday, three in the second inning, one in the third and 10 in the fourth.

Ashley Bliven had a single and a three-run inside-the-park home run. Lilly McLamb had a triple, Emily Scott had a triple and Harmony Horne had a two-run double.

Alabama pitchers had some control problems walking or hitting 12 batters. Alabama also had some fielding errors that compounded their defensive issues.

“We scored a lot of runs this game but as a team we did not swing the bats all that well,” said N.C. coach Jeremy Bass. “We had some big timely hits. We need to hit better as a team as we advance further into the tournament.

“We had our first little hiccup with our pitching the first inning of the game. The Louisiana heat and the moisture on the pitchers’ hands got to us today.”

Emily Scott pitched the first three innings, walking four. A fielding error accounted for all three Alabama runs.

“She got the ship turned around, striking out five batters,” noted Coach Bass.

Aubree Bass pitched her first inning of the tournament, striking out two batters with one hitting a ball to right field with Lindsey Knoll making a great catch. Aubree Bass threw seven pitches and they all were strikes.

Carmyn Ivey finished the game getting one to pop up, one to ground out and one to hit a line drive to short that Harmony Horne made a great catch on.

North Carolina players get some nourishment in the shade.
Heat has been a factor at the World Series in Alexandria, La.

Aubree Bass winds up during a brief pitching stint on Sunday.