GREENVILLE, N.C. – For a team that’s made a season out of grinding through adversity, it was only fitting that West Suburban Little League pulled off another comeback on the biggest stage.

Down to their final three outs and still without a run, the Mid-Atlantic representatives rallied in dramatic fashion with three clutch hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to walk off New England (Guilford, Connecticut Little League) 2-1 in their Little League Softball World Series opener Sunday night.

Leilah Schilling-Mansour delivered the game-winning moment, lining a single to right field to score Kendal Schilling and set off a dugout-clearing celebration.

“That was awesome,” said Reagan Bills, who dominated in the circle. “We walked off in our regional championship, so I know we could do it again. My team’s been awesome through this whole thing.”

Bills was nearly untouchable once again. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out 15 batters, walked just two and allowed only a single run in the sixth inning. She struck out the side twice, including a key three-pitch comeback to freeze Maeve Eagleson, the opposing pitcher, after falling behind 3-0.

“Having my team behind me supporting me the whole time was really awesome,” Bills said. “I knew they’d come through with the bats.”

West Suburban plays the West (Los Angeles) at 4 p.m. Monday on ESPN+.

For five innings, both offenses were stymied. Bills kept Guilford to one hit through five, while Eagleson didn’t allow a Mid-Atlantic baserunner until the fifth.

In the top of the sixth, New England broke through. A leadoff walk and throwing error moved the go-ahead run to third. With one out, Michaela Mascari scored on a delayed steal when the throw home was dropped, giving New England a 1-0 lead.

But West Suburban has made a habit of late heroics, and this night would be no different.

Mallory Bailor led off the bottom of the sixth with a ground-ball single to right, the team’s first hit of the night. After a lineout and a walk to Haley Shepherd, Schilling ripped a single to center to score Bailor and tie the game. Shepherd was thrown out trying to take third, leaving the winning run at second with two outs.

That brought up Schilling-Mansour, who wasted no time – drilling the first pitch she saw into right to walk it off.

“It felt like it was going to give me a heart attack, to be honest with you,” West Suburban manager Les Gaunt said. “I don’t want to get used to coming from behind, but we’ve done it before. We use the word grind a lot on this team and that’s sort of how this season has gone for us.”

Mid-Atlantic now rides an 11-game win streak dating back to its state tournament, where it lost their first game and clawed back to beat the No. 1 seed twice in one rain-delayed night.

Gaunt praised his team’s effort all around, especially their belief in each other.

“You never know who it’s going to be.” Gaunt said. “When it comes to winning games, it’s always somebody different who comes through clutch. That makes it challenging for a team watching us, you never know where the clutch hit is going to come from.”

The players never lost confidence, not even down to their final three outs.

“We were trying to keep our heads in it because we knew we can score runs,” Bills said.

“We’ve seen our bats come alive before when we need them. It was just awesome to watch.”

Gaunt echoed that mindset in the dugout throughout the night.

“I was just reminding them that we’re outhitting them,” Gaunt said. “We’re putting the ball in play more. If we keep doing that, the chips will fall where they may, and they did.”

As for what Gaunt will tell the team before Monday’s game?

“All we’re going to do is try to rinse and repeat and move along,” Gaunt said.