GREENVILLE, N.C. — West Point had one chance against Willcox’s pitcher in the fifth inning, getting a run out of a rally. But Willcox ace Hattie Macumber didn’t allow another opportunity. Macumber fanned 15 West Point batters as Willcox (Ariz.), the West Region champion, dealt the Mid-Atlantic champion a 2-1 setback in the opening game of the Little League Softball World Series on Sunday at Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park. West Point is scheduled to play an elimination game at 10 a.m. Tuesday. "We knew she was a good pitcher coming in,” West Point coach Matt Maiers said. "We knew we were going to have a pitching duel and a battle, but we were going to be to see some of the riseballs and different pitches. "She’s tough. She’s really good. These girls need to kind of move on to the next game and learn from it. That’s the coaching point now is that they played one of the best pitchers here.” After West Point gave up a leadoff single and put runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning, Willcox’s Jayleen Aguirre was sent home on a passed ball on a third strike to Lilly Williams. But West Point catcher Rian Starz recovered, grabbed the ball near the backstop and threw it back to pitcher Jayelyn Luft stationed near the plate to tag Aguirre out. Further helping West Point’s cause was that Williams went into the dugout before going back out to first base, which meant she was also out. Luft’s next pitch was grounded to Peyton Reamer at third base, who threw to Braylyn Graft at first to get out of the jam. "We rely on our defense and pitching a lot,” Maiers said. "Our defense was sharp to begin with.” With one out in the fourth inning, Aguirre reached on a dropped third strike with one out. Macumber singled up the middle, and both runners advanced to third and second as the throw back into the infield went to the backstop. After Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases, West Point shortstop Piper Hoppel cleanly fielded a ground ball by Julie Ann Larson, but the throw home to Starz to get the forceout was off-target, allowing Aguirre and Macumber to score to stake Willcox to a 2-0 lead. At that point, Macumber had yielded just one infield hit in the first inning by Jocelyn Luft. Macumber already had struck out 10 and had gone to three balls in the count just twice — both times to leadoff hitter Jayelyn Luft. "I know our girls like to jump on the first pitch,” Maiers said. "We’re looking to swing, and we’re looking to hit the ball, and a lot of times, we would foul balls off, putting her ahead in the count.” But in the fifth inning, West Point finally got to Macumber. Hoppel led off the fifth with a single up the middle, took second on a passed ball and advanced to third after Willcox shortstop Josey Benavides was cited for interfering with Hoppel running from second to third. Jocelyn Luft walked — Macumber’s only free pass of the game — and stole second before Willcox could even react to her rounding first. Morgan Maiers followed with a shot off Macumber’s glove on the third-base side of the circle as Hoppel sprinted home to cut West Point’s deficit in half. Starz followed with a grounder right back to Macumber, who faked the throw to first and instead threw home after Luft was sent from third to get the out and preserve the lead. "She does that a lot, and it gets me every time,” said Willcox coach Patrick Macumber, who is Hattie’s father. "I always think she’s going to go and I’m saying ‘Save the run, forget the out,’ and she gets me every time. It’s gotta be hard on the other side trying to stop that.” Even after Starz eventually stole second to put two runners in scoring position with one out, Macumber shut the door again, striking out the last two batters to mitigate the damage. Macumber then needed just 15 pitches in the sixth to reach 15 strikeouts for the game. "She shines the brightest on the biggest stage,” Patrick Macumber said. "We know these girls are really good hitters, so they were cautious.” West Point’s Jayelyn Luft held up her end of the bargain in the pitchers’ duel, giving up only three hits, walking two, striking out four and hitting a batter. Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free. Get Ad-Free > Sign Up for NotificationsStay up-to-date on important news from TribLIVE