By Rich Bevensee

It took just 24 hours for the Delaware Stars Fastpitch 14U team to discover the difference between giving up 10 runs in a losing effort and winning on a two-hit shutout.

The difference was Kaia Bennett.

Looking for revenge against the Pennsbury Gems after a lopsided loss the day before, the Stars fought their way to the tournament final in hopes of seeing the Gems once more. 

And after earning a dramatic victory in the semifinals, the fifth-seeded Stars turned the ball over to Bennett, who shut down the second-seeded Gems’ high-powered offense and propelled her team to a 2-0, five-inning victory and the Finch’s Aces Fall Invitational 14U championship on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.

“I wasn’t nervous because in the end, it doesn’t really matter because it’s still really fun to play softball,” said Bennett, named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Bennett is a freshman at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del. “My approach was to try to throw strikes and if you don’t, come back with the next pitch.”

When these teams met in pool play on Saturday, the Gems exploded for seven runs in the first inning and rolled to a 10-3 win over the Middletown, Delaware-based Stars.

The Gems, who hail from Yardley, Pennsylvania, enjoyed no such elongated rally in the championship game. They pushed runners into scoring position three times and came away empty all three times thanks to Bennett, who either induced weak contact or was fortunate to have hard-hit balls directed right at her fielders. 

“All weekend she was around the strike zone,” Stars coach Dave Pinand said. “When she missed, she missed by inches, and that forced the batters to be aggressive and swing at her pitch. That produced some weak contact, and when they did square one up, we had fielders in the right place.” 

Pinand stressed how important it was for Bennett to be on point in keeping the Gems off the bases. In their previous six games – three pool and three playoff games – the Gems outscored their opponents 72-9. 

“That’s a very aggressive team on the bases,” Pinand said. “So the fact that Kaia was able to keep them off the bases without the walks and silly stuff allowed us to neutralize one of their best weapons.” 

Gems coach Jason Fidishun, whose team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the final, pointed to his team’s wait before the final as the reason for his team’s offensive letdown.

The Gems made quick work of 11th seed Langhorne Lightning 14U Miller, 6-2, in the semifinals, but were forced to wait for the conclusion of the other semifinal, in which the Stars needed extra innings to defeat top-seeded Empire State Huskies 14U Harris, 7-2. The second semifinal caused the final to be delayed by an hour. 

“I think the two-plus hour wait before the game allowed us to get cold and our bats went cold,” Fidishun said. “That’s literally what it comes down to.”

Bennett not only clamped down on the Gems bats, she supported her own cause with an RBI single in the Stars’ critical top of the fourth inning.

After Katie Pinand singled and Mia Rojas and Ava Perrucci earned back-to-back walks to load the bases, Jalynn Ludd walked to force in the game’s first run.

Delaware Stars pitcher Kaia Bennett pitched a two-hitter in the 14U final to earn the MVP award.

It appeared Gems pitcher Paige Fidishun would wiggle out of further damage when she got a fielder’s choice out at home and a strikeout. But Bennett, who struck out in her previous at bat, stroked a hard hit grounder past the outstretched mitt of third baseman Aubrey Bedell to drive in Perrucci for a crucial insurance run.

“I was thinking too much,” Bennett said of her first at bat. “When I think too much I overthink it. My dad tells me to open my eyes and don’t think, and I did that and it turned out well.”

Paige Fidishun pitched a solid game, allowing four hits and four walks and striking out four in her four innings of work. Cass Luna pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Gems.

The Stars reached the final by first going 2-1 in pool play, beating TLT Tribe Black, 17-0, and Ascent Athlete Kistler, 14-1, before bowing to the Gems, 10-3. In the playoff bracket, the Stars knocked off Ascent Athlete, 11-2, Empire State Huskies-Hotel, 6-4, and the Empire State Huskies-Harris, 7-2 in the semis.

“The loss (to the Gems) was the girls’ third game – we just pulled them together; this is our first tournament – and over the weekend we continued to build together and kept the energy high,” Pinand said. “In the championship game we showed who we truly are. I don’t think we showed who we are in the first game, but we flexed our muscles in the second game.”

In that semifinal victory over the top-seeded Huskies-Harris, the tied game entered the seventh with no time left on the clock. The inning began with the California rule where the team at bat begins with a runner at second base, and Bella Holl broke the tie with a bases-loaded triple.

“Finishing the semifinal game the way we did – bases loaded, one out, triple by Bella Holl – we kept the energy flowing into the next game,” Pinand said. “It was a great way to bring the energy into this game.”

The Gems went a perfect 3-0 in pool play, beating Ascent, 14-0, TLT Tribe, 17-1, and the Stars, 10-3. In the playoffs, the Gems eliminated TLT Tribe, 13-1, East Coast Tsunami White, 12-2, and Langhorne Lightning, 6-2, in the semis.