Mallard Creek softball wins Junior Little League World Series ‘revenge tour’
Mallard Creek Optimist Club Softball coach Kyle Turner was at one of his player’s birthday parties last year. It was the first week of August, days after his team was eliminated from the Junior World Series Regionals by Florida.
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It was a unanimous decision amongst the eight players who would be returning to next year’s roster. World Series, or bust.
“A revenge tour, that’s what they kept calling it,” Turner said.
Revenge was gained.
Mallard Creek softball took home the Junior League Softball World Series title Saturday, notching a 6-2 win over California to hoist the pennant.
The team went undefeated in the seven-game series representing the Southeast region, including wins over teams from Canada and Africa.
Pitcher Addison Lowder won all seven of those games, racking up 39 strikeouts and a 1.15 ERA along the way.
“It felt unreal,” Lowder told The Observer. “It’s not something that I would’ve expected at age 14.”
The schedule was grueling, with seven games played in seven days, all of them single-elimination. Turner said the team practices year-round, with players balancing other travel teams and schoolwork.
That didn’t stop the team from enjoying themselves along the way.
First baseman Lynzie Murillo recounted a time she knocked a home run over the fence in the opening game, tripping over first base as she ran home.
“We were there to have fun and everything,” Murillo said. “But we definitely got serious when we needed to get serious.”
Mallard Creek hoisted the trophy in Kirkland, Washington, nearly a 3,000-mile trek from Charlotte. It was many of the players’ first time on a plane, let alone a journey across the country to youth softball’s biggest tournament.
“It takes a lot to dig deep as a 14-year-old and be on a world stage like that,” league president Joe Flores said. “I’m just over the moon proud of them.”
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Kyle Turner called last year’s regionals loss “heartbreaking,” and commended his team for the resolve to bounce back in this year’s World Series.
“They showed the world they’re the best team in Little League,” he said.
Flores said Mallard Creek’s win was historic. It was the first time a Charlotte Little League team took home a Junior World Series pennant.
“I saw our social media following grow day after day and the words of encouragement grow day after day,” Flores said.
Returning home was also a special moment.
Some of the players began school this week, others getting in a quick couple days at the beach to rest from the grueling tournament schedule.
Wherever they were, there was no shortage of support from the community.
Turner estimates the amount of people who’ve stopped to congratulate him is in the hundreds, even though the team hasn’t had the chance to officially celebrate.
His daughter, catcher Kylie Turner, has become somewhat of an overnight celebrity at West Stanly High School.
“People were coming up to me at open house for school, and congratulating me, giving me hugs and high-fives,” she said. “Like it was just crazy, they were watching me on TV, and they were right there the whole time.”
Jetting 13 players and a coaching staff across the country isn’t a small cost. The team set up a GoFundMe to retroactively fundraise from the week in Washington.
The team headed to Washington in hopes of revenge and left with a trophy and a spot in the record books. It’s tough to put a price on that.
“You see tears, you see smiles all at the same time,” Turner said. “They put in a lot of work, and it paid off this year.”
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This story was originally published August 13, 2026 at 2:30 PM.
