LLWS Day 1: Pitching and Defense Dominate Early

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Aruba	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Mexico	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	3	0

WP: Guerrero LP: Angela

Antonio Guerrero made it abundantly clear early that he would be a star in the international bracket. The right-hander was dealing some cheese early and oftenashe quickly fanned two of the first three batters he saw. The fastball sizzled and cracked in the glove of catcher Ulises Ortiz. He worked around a two-out walk in the second, striking out two more.

In the bottom of the second, Ortiz led off with a single up the middle. He was bunted over by Luis Longoria and came around to score the first run of the Little Legue World Series on a passed ball that first took him to third and then on to home, with the tag at the plate coming late.

Guerrero kept dealin in the third, striking out the side after a leadoff walk. His counterpart, Naivmar Angela, held Mexico off the board in the third, stranding Sergio Gonzalez on third after he had walked and moved up on two passed balls. Guerrero would strike out the side again in the fourth, bringing his total to ten and six in a row.

Mexico’s next scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth, but not without a nice defensive play from Aruba. Isaac Garza bunted a ball to the first base side with two on. First baseman Henry Kransen bolted in on it and fired to third to get the lead runner, otherwise the bases would have been loaded with no outs. As it ended up, Mexico would load the bases on a hit by pitch. Then, om a 2-2 pitch, Longoria was plunked, forcing in the insurance run.

Guerrero ran his streak to eight strikeouts in a row, as Aruba turned the lineup over. Raul Hernandez Jr. came on in the sixth after Mexico went in order in their half of the fifth. With two strikeouts against the top of the Aruba lineup, he got the Caribbean representatives to go in order to close out the game and the combined no-hitter.

Mexico will next face Venezuela on Friday at 1:00 in a winners bracket game. Aruba takes on the loser of Cuba and the Czech Republic on Saturday at 5:00

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
New Hampshire	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	1
Hawai’i	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	1

WP: Tavares LP: Johnson

Hawai’i enters not just this, but most every Little League World Series, as a favorite. Salem, New Hampshire was a significant underdog, but they played like top dogs for a lot of this game, giving Hawai’i all they could handle and then some.

It was New Hampshire that threatened first. Jacob Guerrero-Lomba struck out to open the first frame, but Grayson Buckley the nreached on an error by Kanon Nakama on a high throw from short to first. Brayden Miller walked with two outs, putting two on for the boys from Salem, but Evan Tavares fanned Jackson Lamire for his third strikeout of the inning to get out of early trouble.

Hawai’i then got going in the bottom of the first when Gauge Pacheco walked and Tavares singled on a ball that brought Colton Johnson off the mound. Nakama was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. The big damage came from a 2RBI single into right by Hayden Takahashie and was follosed up by an RBI hit from Eassie Miller. Hawai’i left two on, but led 3-0. After Tavares struck out the side in the top of the second, it seemed the team from Maui was going to be in firm control.

Then we got our first dose of the unexpected, as the rains came, causing a 35 minute rain delay on a day that weather forecassters seemed certain would be clear. When play resumed, Hawai’i looked to get on the board again, as Kolten Magno reached on a booted ball by Patrick DeFrancesco at second base. Magno was wiped out on a fielders choice and New Hampshire flashed some leather as William Briggs made a diving catch in left to end the inning.

Having reached the 35 pitch threshold after a strikeout to open the third, Evan Tavares was lifed and Nakama replaced him. The results were similar, as Nakama got Griffin and DeFrancesco swinging to make it seven Ks in a row. He also helped record the first out of the fourth on a comebacker, which he tossed to Takahashi at first. New Hampshire again went in order in the fourth and still trailed 3-0.

Nolan Dupuis, who took the mound with two outs in the third, ran into some significant trouble in the fourth. Takahashi singled up the middle and Eassie Miller walked. With two on and nobody out, Dupuis dug deep and fanned Kellen Takamura. He would get a comebacker from Magno and fire to first to end the threat three batters later, keeping Salem in it.

Nakama walked his counterpart Dupuis to open the fifth and would walk the bases loaded with two outs. Colton Johnson hit one past the diving outstretched arm of Magno at second and the ball went into right, bringing home New Hampshire’s first run of the game. Unfortunately for New Hampshire, Zach Bolduc grounded one down to Brextyn Kamasha’o who fired to home for the force out, ending the fifth inning.

Matthew Yang opened the bottom of the frame with a double to left, but Dupuis struck out the side to again hold Central East Maui at bay. Kamalei Santos was on the mound for the sixth inning, trying to close out New Hampshire. He struck out Own Griffin looking and things seemed to be in order. However, New Hampshire again made a valiant rally attempt. Patrick DeFrancesco walked on a 3-1 count and Kevin McDonough was hit by a pitch, flipping the lineup back over. Guerrero-Lomba also walked, loading the bases with just one out.

It was here where either New Hampshire would get a big hit, or Hawai’i would get a big play. It went the way of Hawai’i. Grayson Buckley absolutely smashed a ball towards left, welcoming Kamasha’o to the mound. However, Eassie Miller, from his third base position, found the ball jn his glove and stepped on third base for the game-ending double play.

“It was very exciting,” Miller, a man of few words, said of the game-ending double play.

“You practice it all the time: catch the ball, step on the base. That’s the play, ” were manager Daniel Bolduec’s thoughts. He continued on his team plating close games: “It’s high stress, but at the end of the day you gotta be lucky, the ball has to bounce your way. And today it bounced our way. If that ball would’ve been two feet to his left, different game.”

Evan Tavares was asked what he had working for him having struck out seven overtwo and a thid innings, “I knew my fastball would work a lot. The fastball would blow by them so, the curveball, I didn’t need it. It felt good to get into a rhythm.

Hayden Takahashi was pleased with breaking the ice for his team, but wanted to do more in his first at bat: “it was really nice, but that pitch, I should’ve bit a little earlier on it.”

In defeat, manager Dan DeFrancesco spoke at length and had some great persepctive: “Obviously, I’m disappointed on how the game ended, with that being said, I’m super proud of this team. If you would’ve told me at the beginning of this year, we’d be in Williamsport playing the West regional championship team in a two run gamer with the opportunity to take the lead in the sixth inning, I’d take it 100 times out of 100. I’m super proud of how the guys handled it. I’m very impressed and proud with how they handled the emotions of it. We were in a good position with the right guys up, but with that said, we’re in Williamsport. We saw some of the predictions, so for our guys it was almost a relief. Going through districts, states, regionals, there was some pressure because we were almost expected to win. But I think we came here and the kids had an opportunity to play free with no expectations. The wins feel so good because the losses feel like this.

We just played one of the powerhouse regions and took them to the last out. They should all be very proud.”

Hawai’i is in action next on Friday at 3:00 against Great Lakes champions Hinsdale, Illinois. New Hampshire will play Saturday at 3:00 against the Metro or Mountain region.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Florida	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	8	1
South Dakota	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	0

WP: Feliciano LP: Henry

Lake Mary, Florida, despite being a first-timer to Williamsport, has a lot of expectations. After cruising through the Southeast tournament, many have Florida atop their favorites in the United States part of the bracket. And for good reasons. They bring a 0.72 staff ERA to the LLWS and had struck out 119 opposing batters entering the game against Sioux Falls, South Dakota. South Dakota, on the other hand, had shown a lot of ability to hit the ball, bringing a .453 postseaosn batting average with them.

It was defense that would shine first and quite frequently for the Midwest champions. With Chase Anderson on first base, DeMarcos Mieses hit a liner to Sully Krueger at second, who flipped to shortstop Bode Biteler to get an inning ending double play. Third baseman Jacob Bibaud made another nice play in the top of the second, snagging a line drive off the bat of Luke Fenton to send Florida down in order.

Meanwhile on the mound for Florida, James Feliciano was on his way to making a big statement. Striking out three through two innings, Sioux Falls went in order each time. Meanwhile, the Florida offense picked up its aggressiveness. Luis Calo reached on a single up the middle to open the top half of the third. and Teraj Alexander double deep to the wall in right. Calo attempted to score, but Sam Wurth showed off his glove for the first of many times by hitting his cutoff man in August Vorthorms who fired home to Kimmick Noble, tagging out Calo.

Feliciano continued his domination on the bump, fanning two more in the bottom of the third and setting aside South Dakot in order once more. Through three innings, he threw only 29 pitches and struck out five. He did find trouble in the fourth, though, walking Griff Sommer and Tait Ready on full count pitches. Kennyel Flores, the last batter in the lineup, then laid down a beautiful bunt that died between home and the mound, earning him a single and loading the bases. Feliciano rallied, getting Biteler and Noble swinging. Ryan Henry then hit a hard ball to Chase Anderson at short who dove and smothered the ball, preventing it from going into the outfield. However, a run scored and Sioux Falls led 1-0.

With no hits going out of the infield in that fourth, the pressure was now on Lake Mary to make something happen in their final two turns at bat. They got their opportunity in the fifth when Henry walked both Landon Bono and Garrett Rohozen and then gave up a bases-loading single to Jacob Bibaud. With hard contact being the theme all night for Florida, they were able to make some more and Liam Morrisey broke through with an RBI hit up the middle to tie the game. Luis Calo then hit a sacrifice fly to right and Rohozen scored, putting Florid on top 2-1. On the same play, Florida again got aggressive, as Bibaud also tried to come home on the deep hit sacrifice. He was thrown out at the plate, ending the inning.

South Dakota rallied again in the fifth, getting two on with just one out. Sam Wurth, who also had an outstanding running catch in foul ground in the fourth inning, waas up and struck out on a foul tip into the glove of Bono. South Dakots showed more grit in the top of the sixth, as Florida looked for insurance. On a Lathan Norton single to deep left, Tait Ready, who had just entered the game, came up firing to third to gun down the lead runner in Chris Chikodroff. Despite their best efforts, however, South Dakota went in order in the bottom half of the frame and Florida emerged with the 2-1 win. Feliciano struck out 11 on his night and Florida spread eight hits around to eight different batters.

Manager Jonathan Anderson wa very matter of fact about the victory and what’s to come: “We knew day one would be hard. Every game today was close, so to get out of this with a W is a great day.” I think this win gets the jitters out. Now we can go do what we’re supposed to do. Now we get to settle in. We feel really good. We came in here to win some games. We’re not going to miss our opportunity this year.”

Feliciano spoke on the atmosphere and how big the stage is: “It’s me and my catcher. I block out all the people and hit my spots and get them off-balance.”

Landon Bono had some great thoughts on what it’s like to be a catcher at the Little League World Series: “When you’re sitting there, you glance over [to the stands] and say woah! Then you glance over to the other side and woah, there’s so many people. And then you’re almost in shock, and then you start zoning back in. It’s super cool.”

Sioux Falls manager Nick Kortan spoke on the loss and the experience: “Defense keeps you in ballgames and we knew it would be crucial. We reiterated all week we need that plus one mentality in the outfield because they’re going to be aggressive. They smashed the ball around the field and we made some good plays in the outfield and that’s what kept us in the ballgame tonight. We gave them a game and put them in a position they’re not often in.”