SAN ANGELO — With unlimited substitutions, a batting order that can be as long as one wants and a game length stretched to nine innings (rather than seven), one may think the Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star Softball Game is taken about as seriously as a slow-pitch game in a public park. 

On the contrary, while Friday’s 5-4 win at Mayer Field achieved its primary aim of Christian fellowship, it backed it with a highly competitive game that came down to the final out. 

It was the first time in the six-year history of the game that the South had won — something the southerners took seriously enough to use Brownwood ace Chyanne Ellett over the final six innings.