Zama catcher Evangeline Nelson gazes at the umpire for the call as she tags out Perry's Autumn Hendra at the plate. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, Japan — Zama has had its share of close calls en route to a perfect 30-0 season.
The latest instance came Friday in the Far East Division II Softball Tournament final. Kira Herring and the Trojans fell behind Matthew C. Perry by five runs, then scored 15 unanswered runs to rally past the Samurai for a 17-7 triumph and their first D-II title since 2017.
“I told myself I am not going to lose,” said Herring, a junior right-hander who survived eight hits, five walks and a hit batsman, striking out seven and helping herself with an RBI single and sacrifice fly. “I’m stubborn. I don’t quit. And we came back.”
Herring said she has looked around Zama’s high school gym at the banners posted there. “I told myself I wanted to win one, I wanted to bring one home,” she said.
The memories of a couple of comeback victories, rallying from behind 12-0 to beat Robert D. Edgren 13-12, and a neutral-site 11-4 win over Kubasaki after trailing 2-0, helped the Trojans’ mindset in Friday’s final, Herring said.
“We just come back stronger,” she said.
Zama's Asia Brae slides safely into third base ahead of the throw to Perry's Keri Edeyaoch. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Perry's Meliyah Bevett watches one of her two base hits. Her father, Marine Master Sgt. Shaun Bevett, is a 2004 Yokota High School graduate. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Zama junior right-hander Kira Herring finished the season 16-0. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Perry's Laney Mullins batted 2-for-2 in Friday's final. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Zama's Miona Fujita touches home plate with the game-ending run ahead of the throw to Edgren catcher Teniya Nelson in the Trojans' 15-0 semifinal victory. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Composure has played a part in the Trojans’ completing the campaign without a loss, Zama coach Parish Jones said.
“The word composure has come up” in many team discussions, he said. “They held their composure. They had goals. They believed in themselves and that they could have an unbeaten season and win a banner. This is a team with six freshmen, and the seniors, they just refused to quit.”
Perry broke out of the gate quickly with a five-run first inning, highlighted by a bases-loaded triple by Maia Minton. Emma Roberts singled in a run and Meliyah Bevett added an RBI triple.
Zama bounced back with one each in the first and second, on an RBI single by Sofia Olson and Evangeline Nelson’s fielder’s choice groundout. In the third, Bevett doubled in a run and Keri Edeyaoch scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-2.
It was all Trojans from there, including an 11-run fourth inning. The turning point came on Jeidy Leon-Quinones’ two-run single, scoring Shamariah Blackmon and Miona Fujita to tie it. Asia Brae walked with the bases loaded to give Zama a lead it would not relinquish.
After her game-tying single, “we felt that we could come back,” Leon-Quinones said.
Jessa Bolin also walked with the bases loaded. Nelson hit another run-scoring fielder’s choice groundout, Blackmon added the second of her two RBI singles in the inning, Leon-Quinones doubled in two more runs and Herring singled in another to cap the inning.
“They’re a slow-starting team, but once they get going, it’s hard to shut them down, and we knew it,” Samurai coach Brad Cramer said.
Zama put the game away in the fifth. Bolin doubled in a run and scored on Nelson’s single to right field.
“They (Trojans) were humble, confident, they believed and they stayed composed,” Jones said.
