BAINBRIDGE – Given the events of the regular season, there were actually two definitive winners at the recent Little League Majors Softball Championship: Ice and rain.

“A quarter of our season was rained out,” Ice manager Thom Alpaugh said. “We didn’t even get a practice on the field until late April; it was very frustrating.”

Fortunately, the rain stopped and the Ice and Racers teams took the field to play a spirited championship game that saw plenty of offensive scoring.

The Ice struck first, scoring three runs in the top of the first as Grace Apel, Sydney Weibel and Ruby Narte touched home base.

The Racers answered right back in the bottom half, as Cashmere Bowman, Kate Wikstrom and Kayla Jarreau scored. The damage could have been worse, but catcher Weibel threw a pick-off to shortstop Grace Apel covering third, and the subsequent throw to home threw out the Racer base runner.

In the second inning, the bottom of the Ice lineup came through, with Maya Fletcher and Rose Weaver scoring on RBIs by Sophia Dilorio Triesch and Lucia Apel. With two outs, Mia Alpaugh hit a single up the middle to score Grace Apel and Alpaugh then stole bases to eventually score herself for a 7-3 Ice lead.

The Racers would not go away as they closed the gap to 7-5 after Jada Sovick scored off of Darby OHare’s single to center field and OHare subsequently crossed home plate.

The Ice gave themselves some breathing room in the third inning, when Malia Griffith, Sofia Peato, Imogen Jarreau and Fletcher all scored, while the Racers scored only once on Bella Ramirez’ run to cut the lead to 11-6.

Defense then played a more predominant role, as the Racers Leah Baker played stellar defense at second base to snuff Ice rallies, and Kyle Bushnell limited the Ice to just three runs over innings that she pitched.

What seemed like a comfortable 15-6 lead for the Ice heading into the bottom of the sixth inning turned out anything but. Walks became a problem that saw OHare, Hanna Harris and Bowman score, which cut the lead to 15-9.

After a pitching change, another run was averted when a passed ball led to Weibel making the perfect toss to Grace Apel for a close out at the plate.

Samara Hutchinson and Kayla Jarreau then subsequently scored and suddenly the score was 15-11.

Apel then found her groove and struck out one batter, before a come-backer to Apel to throw to Alpaugh covering first for the final out and a 15-11 Ice victory.

The Ice finished the season with their record at 8-4-1.