| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Texas West | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 12 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
WP: Hurst LP: Longo
They say everything’s bigger in Texas. On Thursday night in front of over 15,000 at Lamade Stadium, t he team from Boerene showed just how big the bats can be, clobbering three home runs in a shutout victory over a Council Rock Newtown team from Pennsylvania that had entered the game hitting and pitching well.
Sav Longo started on the mound for Pennsylvania and had some of his best stuff going. After allowing a leadoff double to Julian Hurst, he benefited from a diving catch in left by Tyler Wexler off the bat of Gray Collins. His first strikeout came against Kole Newson to end the inning.
The bottom half of the inning saw some early drama. Brayden Peiffer walked on four pitches with one out. Tyler Neeld then hit a ball to shortstop Jett Matthews, who had to range to his right deep in the hole. He double clutched and fired late to first. Upon review, the safe call stood. Longo then grounded into what appeared to be an inning ending double play, 6-4-3. However, manager Brad Hamilton challenged the call at first base and Longo was safe. Unfortunately for fans of Pennsylvania, Caden Guffy fanned Gavin Caudill, earning his second strikeout of the inning and getting out of early trouble.
Longo hit a snag in the second inning when Aiden Munoz hit a hard grounder down to Brody Gage who misplayed it. The ball rolled away into foul territory and Doc Magford scored the first run of the night from second base. Gavin Caudill opened the bottom of the second with a scorching liner back at Guffey, who made the catch. Rocco DaBronzo tried to spark his team with a single into no-man’s land between third and the mound, pulling Guffey off the mound. Guffey double clutched and fired past first. The ball went out of play and DaBronzo went to second. The threat would again be tamped down by Guffey, however, as he struck out Brody Gage and got Ryan Uhl to fly out to center.
Every now and then you see something you haven’t seen before or in quite some time. And a lot of the time, those things happen at the Little League World Series. Jett Matthews singled towards the mound, forcing Sav Longo to move to his right and try to make a very tough play. He fired into right, where Will Siveter got the ball. Meanwhile, Matthews, who had run well past first, thought about second and made a slight turn. Siveter fired back to Tyler Neeld at first and Matthews was tagged out for your routine single with a 1-9-3 putout.
Longo then struck out Kaleb Christ for the second out, and it seemed we would play on in a 1-0 contest. However, Boerne mounted a two out rally as Brad Hamilton lifted Longo in favor of son Dean Hamilton.
Hamilton hit Ben Burkhart with a pitch to flip the lineup over. Hurst and Collins both singled to load the bases and the second run of the game came home when Cooper Hastings wore a 1-0 offering from Hamilton.
Texas manager Justin Newson also made a pitching change, going to his ace, Julian Hurst. Hurst quickly struck out Wes Esteves, throwing a mean fastball. Will Siveter was able to then work a walk, just the fourth walk in the entire postseason allowed by Hurst. Julian responded by striking out Wexler and Hamilton, notching his 50th K of the postseason going back to districts.
Caden Guffey opened the fourth inning with a bang. On a first pitch fastball from Hamilton, he launched it to deep left for a solo home run and the first on the United States half of the LLWS bracket. Tyler Neeld entered the game after that and did allow a single and walk, but kept it at a 3-0 deficit by striking out Matthews looking. Julian Hurst proved as dominant as advertised, striking out three more Blue Dawgs in the fourth.
The wheels came off in the top of the fifth. Kaleb Christ was hit by a pitch, while both Burkhart and Hurst singled. With the bases loaded, Collins walked on a 3-1 pitch to force in the fourth run. Two batters later, Will Siveter came in to pitch for Pennsylvania. He was greeted with a Kole Newson grand slam on a rocket out to left field, making it 8-0. “It was really cool becasuse the pitch before, I dipped my shoulder but then I flatenned my swing out, saw the ball really good and hit it hard,” said Newson. His manager and dad Justin was proud: “it takes it to another level for sure. That was his first grand slam and to do it on this stage is really cool.” Two batters later, Doc Mogford followed up with a solo bomb to left and the game was well in hand at the eventual final score of 9-0.
Julian Hurst would go on to strike out ten on the night, adding to the three from Caden Guffey. He was also 3-4 at the plate with a run scored. “It felt great. I feel like I’m seeing the ball really well right now. I’m just trying to hit hard line drives and hard ground balls. Anything to make the defense work.”
“My approach at the plate is just hit line drives and be a tough out; just put it in play and make the fielders do the work.,” said Newson.
Despite all the power on display for Texas, manager Justin Newson added, “Line drives and doubles. Home runs are accidents.”
Julian Hurst on his 10 strikeout performance: “it was a great experience. I just focused on keeping the ball in the zone and inducing contact.”
Newtown manager Brad Hamilton on the loss: “The boys got beat by a team better than us. That’s just baseball. The reason I went away from Sav early is because I didn’t have a good feeling with the hitting. I think you learn a lot from losing. It’s a good way to go back and practice tomorrow and focus and clean up.
It was so much fun. Even in a tough loss, it was just a great vibe. Everyone was cheering us on from Pennsylvania. For mea as a coach and also for the boys. That’s what’s great about being the PA team–there’s a lot of love coming at us.
The message will start tomorrow with getting back to us. We’ve been through tough losses. My goal isn’t to focus on the loss, My message will be ‘we’re OK, dump it and move on.”
Texas will now be off until Monday, when they face Washington or Florida at 7:00. Pennsylvania faces New Hampshire in an elimination game Saturday nightvat 7:00.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Nevada | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | X | 9 | 11 | 2 |
WP: Erickson LP: Grippo
Paseo Verde Little League opened up their time at Williamsport with a dominant victory over a Staten Island team that had won 17 times and lost just twice to get to the Little League World Series.
Despite getting the leadoff man on in the first two innings, Nevada thwarted the scoring efforts quickly. Wyatt Erickson, recorded two strikeouts after walking Vincent Ruggiero to open the game. Ultimately, Ruggiero was ultimately strande on second to end the inning.
Stephen Grippo entered World Series play with 90 strikeouts through his all-star season work, and he was able to add two more to also get out of early trouble. With Oliver Johnson and Russell McGee on base, Grippo got Noah Letalu to strikeout.
A 6-4-3 double play got Nevada throug the second inning, after a Chace Curro single. Russell McGee flipped to Gunner Beranek who fired on to Letalu. Parker Soranaka tried to bunt his way on in the bottom of the inning, but Peter Giaccio caught it. The teams were at a 0-0 standstill until the bottom of the third.
Liam Sparks led off that frame with a ball hit into right-center. Chace Curro ranged far to his left in an effort to get it, calling off Dean Scarangello. Curo was not able to corral the ball and Sparks was on first. Grippo struck out the bottom two in the order, but with the lineup turned over, Nevada batters got a second look. Caleb Gomez patiently worked a full count walk and Russell McGee dumped a ball into right, scoring the first run of the game. Wyatt Erickson followed up with the biggest hit to that point, doubling into left-center to bring in two runs and give Nevada the 3-0 lead.
Jake Romero took the mound in the fourth for Nevada and was able to induce a lineout to third and struck out Jason Rocchio. It was then that Staten Island got a rally going, beginning with a walk to Ruggiero. Grippo then cracked one to right field and it got by Dom Laino and rolled to the wall. Ruggiero scored and New York was on the board, trialing 3-1. In the bottom of the inning, Jake Romero came on to pitch for New York and was met with a similar rally by Passeo Verde. Despite fanning Laino and Jimmy Foss, Luke Lentz’ hit to left loaded the bases. Letalu would score on a wild pitch to increase the lead back to 4-1.
It seemed Staten Island had one more rally in them, as Curro reached on a ball hit near first base where Letalu collided with Erickson. Alex Torres singled. With two on and one out, Dean Scarangelo singled into deep left. Luke Lentz came up with the ball and fired home to get Curro by a mile at home.
With that, Paseo Verde broke the game open with a five run fifth. After Oliver Johnson was intentionally walked to load the bases, Letalu, Soranaka and Laino strung together three RBI hits to help secure a 9-1 victory.
Wyatt Erickson finished with a complete game on 85 pitches, striking out eight following his no-hitter in the Mountain region final against Utah. “It was business as usual. I was a little nervous because there were a lot of people there, but after that I settled in,” he said of his performance.
Manager Adam Johnson commented on Erickson: “We feel like he’s really efficient. He works fast and limits free passes. He’s had low pitch counts which helps our defense stay focused and helps his maintain his stamina throughout the game. Velocuty sometimes gets thrown around, but Wyatt understands if he has you in an 0-1 count and gets a rollover to second base, that’s much more efficient for him. It’s about being effective and being the best teammate you can be.”
Russell McGee when asked about his 2RBI double that opened the scoring for Nevada: “I took a big deep breath and just blocked out the crowd and told myself in my head to come through and score two runs. It felt great because I knocked in two runs on one of the biggest stages you can play on.”
Staten Island manager Bob Laterzo was disappointed with his team’s effort, but believes they will get back on track. “They seemed not themselves. I thought we were in the game at 3-1 and it just wasn’t to be. We’ll get them back. Our backs are against the wall. You win or go home.”
With the win, Nevada advances to play either Hawai’i or Illinois on Monday at 3:00. Staten Island will be in action on Saturday at 3:00 against Sioux Falls, South Dakota in an elimination game.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Japan | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | X | X | 11 | 6 | 1 |
| Puerto Rico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | X | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Japan made another impressive opening showing in Williamsport on Thursday, run-ruling Puerto Rico in their opening game.
Disciplined at bats will let you see a lot of pitches, and that was on Japan’s agenda early on. Kanata Furuyama led off the game with a walk and two batters later, Tomoki Watanabe did the same. Taio Honryo brought them in on a single into center. With two outs, Sho Tanaka doubled deep just inside the right field line to bring home two more.
The lone hit for Puerto Rico came when Jonyel Cordero singled to left with two outs in the bottom of the second. He would be quickly stranded when Kanta Iwashita struck out Mateo Nieves. Iwashita would go on to strike out eight in his four inning one-hitter, needing just 57 pitches.
From there, along with a tough day on the mound for Puerto Rican pitching, walks and errors would blow the game open in the third inning. Furuyama led off the frame with a full count walk and Watanabe made it to first on a misplay at second. Two wild pitches would bring in Furuyama and Watanabe. Then, Joaxiel Rolon took the mound for Puerto Rico. On a 1-2 count, Kanta Iwashita homered to deep center, off the tower in center field to make it 9-0. Another error and wild pitch ended the scoring.
Japan will next be at Volunteer Stadium on Monday at 1:00, where they’ll face either Mexico or Venezuela. Puerto Rico matches up with Canada on Saturday at 1:00 and the loser of that game will be eliminated.
LSV Sports 
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