| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | X | 5 | 3 | 0 |
WP: Tavares LP: Phelan
Some things in life are unstoppable. A speeding train. The world spinning. And, oh yeah, Evan Tavares when he takes the mound.
The boys from Hinsdale, Illinois have been off up to this point, readying for their debut. They threatened early, when leadoff batter Fred Sackley walked and Kellan Goodwin singled to right. Sackley’s walk was just the fourth allowed by Tavares on the entire all-star season. With Goodwin on third and Dillon Phelan going to second on a passed ball, Tavares had his work cut out. As usual, he came through and got Michael Kipnis looking and Jimmy Macri swinging to end the early push.
Opposing pitcher Dillon Phelan is no stranger to the big game or big numbers, either. He entered LLWS play with only seven hits and four earned runs against him in the postseason. Evan Tavares worked a one out walk and Brextyn Kamaha’o was hit by a 2-2 pitch. Kanon Nakama then singled into right. While Tavares scored, Hinsdale got an excellent defensive play from Michael Kipnis in right, who fired to third base to gun down Kamaha’o.
Both pitchers then settled in for the next inning, as both Phelan and Tavares struck out the side, all swinging. Tavares added two more in the third and retired Illinois in order once more. Hawaii began a rally in the third, with the bottom third of their lineup coming big in unconventional ways. With only one hit, they plated three runs, benefiting from four walks and an error. Matthew Yang had the only hit of the inning and Hawaii’s second of the game, moving Gabriel Laloulu into scoring position. A wild pitch moved both of them up and Kamalei Santos walked to load the bases. Jett Pontes got the free pass on four pitches, forcing in a run, making it 2-0. As the lineup turned over, Gauge Pacheco hit one back to Phelan who came home with it to record the second out. Evan Tavares kept the rally going, though, with a sharp hit to short, which got by Emiliano Nepomuceno. Two runs came in to make it 4-0. Kanon Nakama’s groundout to second finally ended the inning.
From there, Hawaii was in cruise control. Tavares remained solid, making a nice play on a bunt back to him from Dane Graham. He got Sackley looking in the fourth. Cam Kaneshiro was busy in the fifth, as all three balls in play came to him in center field. He was three-for-three and Illinois went in order. Hawaii tacked on a run as three more batters were plunked. Santos getting hit forced in Gabriel Laloulu for the final run of the afternoon. Tavares notched his ninth and final strikeout of the night to open the sixth before giving way to Kellen Takamura who secured the final two outs.
“I got mad in that moment and when I get mad I usually throw harder and more strikes. That’s pretty much me locking in,” said Tavares of his two-hit outing. The third inning, I just realized, throw strikes. I was just trying to hit my corners and sides.” Tavares, who has yet to allow an earned run in the postseason was asked if he could imagine being this dominant this far along in the year. His answer was simply and confidently “yes.”
Manager Daniel Bolduc was impressed with the bottom of his lineup leading the charge: “Our whole team can hit, but if the top’s not doing it and the bottom is, we’ll take it any way we can get it.” He continued on the early lead, “If you can put up runs, life starts getting easier in the dugout.”
Bolduc was also asked if depth was a concern, as Tavares will not be available for Monday’s winners bracket contest: “We’ve got a lot of pitchers on this team; we’ve only got one of this guy[Evan], but we’ve got a lot of pitchers.”
With two wins under their belt, coach knows his team has some confidence moving forward: “It’s huge. It helps bring them more confidence, especially in the batters box.”
Matthew Yang had a day, with two singles. “I was just trying to barrel the ball, put it in play, hit something hard and advance the runners.”
The boys also love the support they’re getting from back home in Hawaii. Yang noted “I’m getting texts from all my uncles and friends and they’re all motivating me, kind of just pushing me to have more confidence.” For Tavares, the message he got was “be humble and compete and just do your thing. just like in Hawaii.”
“Even the intermediate schools are putting up the games during lunchtime. It’s not just Maui, it’s the state. Everybody’s cheering for us and it’s amazing. We say thank you,” Bolduc added.
Manager Vhad Wanless knows his team was up against a tough test, commenting on Tavares, ” He is such atalented pitcher, and you have to play nearly flawless basbeall to beat someone like that and we didn’t today. We had an off day, and layoff or no layoff, we would’ve had to play a whole different ballgame to beat him.
That was a great team we did hold down the offense on pretty well. We’ll build off of that and get back to playing the baseball we’re used to. We’re a talented defensive team and our bats are much than we showed today. Let’s come out and trust the work we’ve done and have a great time. Even that last inning, down 5-0. You look up and…it doesn’t get any better than this.”
Hawaii is back in action on Monday at 3:00 when they;ll face Paseo Verde, Nevada. Hinsdale will be in an elimination game on Sunday morning at 9:00 against either New York or South Dakota.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Florida | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Washington | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
WP: Calo LP: Blair
Lake Mary Little League has shown an incredible ability to cause chaos due to their aggression both at the plate and on the basepaths. Tonight was no different, as they used constant speeding traffic on the bases to keep South Hill off-kilter.
Brayden Blair got the start on the mound for Washington and surely had some confidence when Florida was retired in order in the first inning. Chase Anderson grounded out in a routine play from Jett Taylor at third to Easton Stolmeier at first and then James Feliciano struck out swinging. Zander Hoover ended the top of the first with a catch in right field. The first hit of the game would go to Washington, as Morey singled up the middle, but he was stranded when Luis Calo fanned Stolmeier.
Things got much more wild in the second inning. Lake Mary Garrett Rohozen ripped a grounder into left with one out, followed by a gapper in right center by Jacob Bibaud. Morrisey brought the first run of the night in on a sac fly to center, as Aaiden Brown got had to get on his horse to track it down.
South Hill looked to respond in kind. Kohen Hills reached on a wide throw from Hunter Alexander at short and he was bunted over by Taylor. Aaiden Brown flew out to center and Antonio Foster walked, putting two on. However, the rally came to a close when Deegan Rowley grounded out to short.
The third inning saw the first of a few wild ones that favored the boys from Lake Mary. as they would plate two runs without a hit in the frame. Lathan Norton was hit by a pitch with one out and Hunter Alexander reached on a double clutch and bobble by Rawley Jennings at short. n typical Florida fashion, Norton had stolen second and gone to third on a passed ball, allowing him to score on the error. Anderson then walked, moving Alexander into scoring position. Feliciano scored Alexander on a sac fly after Alexander stole third. The defense tried a pickoff play on Anderson at second base, but the throw was mishandled by Rawly Jennings at short, allowing Anderson to go to third. He would be stranded there as DeMarcos Mieses popped out to Morey at second.
Down just 3-0, Washington got to work in the bottom of the third. William Hemenway worked a full count walk and was followed up by Tyler Dobbelaere. The ball hit by Dobbelaerre got Chase Anderson streaking over near foul territory from his second base position, but the ball landed just fair behind first base. Luis Calo then came up big with two swinging strikeouts against Jaxon Jacobs and Zander Hoover. South Hill did get on the board, though. On his second pitch in relief, Morrisey threw ball that got by his catcher Landon Bono, scoring Hemenway.
Florida got a two out rally going in the fourth with plenty more chaos to go around. Landon Bono had led off the inning being hit by a pitch, but after two fly outs, it seemed things would go quickly in the frame. An errant throw from third to first put Morrisey on and moved Bibaud to third, after he had moved to second on a passed ball. Florida manager Jonathan Anderson then put the double steal on, without a second rhought. Morrisey took second and moments later Bibaud scored easily to increase the Lake Mary lead to 4-1. Morrisey stole third as Connor Morey toed the rubber late in the inning. Teraj Alexander then hit a ball into center, where Aaiden Brown threw back into Rawly Jennings covering second. Calo was out at second base, but the Morrisey’s run counted, making it 5-1.
The bottom of the fourth began with an outstanding effoer by Florida center fielder Jacob Bibaud, who went to the wall at the 225 sign and took away a potential home run from Brayden Blair. Washington kept fighting, though, loading the bases on three walks. Jonathan Anderson went to Lathan Norton in one of the toughest positions a pitcher can face–and Norton shined by striking out Aaiden Brown on four pitches.
Lake Mary had visions of adding more runs in the fifth, but Hunter Alexander grounded into a fielders choice and was then ruled out on offesnvie interference by Norton, who was hit by the throw to first base. Norton tallied two more strikeouts in the bottom of the inning.
The final insurance run came on a solo home run by Fecliciano, who deposited the ball over the center field wall.
“It made me feel great. Rounding the bases was a really great moment,” Feliciano said of his home run and his mom being in the stands. She also was able to get the ball for him. I was very excited and very pumped. It was just me and the ball. The ball came right to the bat, that’s all I saw.”
Norton struck out four of the last six he faced, getting Washingtin in order in both of the final two innings and despite only tallying four hits on the night, Florida won in convincing fashion. Like their first game, no player had more than one hit, showing some fine balance up and down the lineup. Washington ended the night with four errors, three walks, two hit by pitches thrown.
Lathan, who entered with the bases loaded. “I figured I’d pretty much do fastballs and it worked,” he commented on what worked for him.
Manager Jonathan Anderson was asked about his team’s strategy and having won two games already: “We pushed the other team to make good throws and good tags. South Dakota was a good team, they made some great plays and good throws. I don’t think that’s consistently going to happen if we keep pressuring like we usually do.”
“Jacob is very athletic. We knew we were going to steal. Liam’s extremely fast and…we executed it perfectly,” he added on the double steal.
“I think we’re getting the jitters out a little bit. Once we settle in, it’s going to be game on. This is the greatest experience in the world.”
If you watched our regional, we like to play dangerously, and we lost the first game there. We also have good depth and they believe in themselves. The sharpness and crispness we habe come to expect just wasn’t there. This is a spot where Rawly Jennings shines–he;s an incredible player. His baseball IQ for a 12-year old is incredible. Some of the plays he was almost ahead of the play a little bit. He’s also the guy who, if you go back to regionals, who can make briliant double plays and he’s a wizard out there.
If there were any jitters, I think they’re gone now and they’ll be great. I love the experience for the boys. Just look around, because in ten years you;ll be like ;I played in the Little League World Series. They’re making a memory that very few people make and they’ll never forget it.”
Florida advances to play Texas on Monday night, where Lamade Stadium will be electric. Both teams have been picked by many to win the United States championship or the entire tournament. Washington will face elimination on Sunday at 1:00 when they play either Pennsylvania or New Hampshire.
LSV Sports 
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