LLWS Day 5: Pennsylvania Dominates in Front of Major League Crowd

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Washington	0	1	1	0	X	X	2	1	2
Pennsylvania	4	2	6	X	X	X	12	9	1

WP: Longo LP: Stolmeier

Council Rock Newtown has settled in nicely over the weekend. With little time to celebrate their 5-0 victory over New Hampshire nor prepare for their game against South Hill, Washington, Pennsylvania kept the redhot batting going on Sunday.

The final score doesn’t necessarily indicate how hard Washington played for much of the game. Sav Longo took the mound in the first inning and needed 22 pitches to get through after hitting the leadoff batter, Rawly Jennings. A couple of infield popups and a strikeout later, the Pennsylvania bats made their presence felt in a big way.

Dean Hamilton got things started with a shot into left over the outstretched arm of Jennings at short. Brayden Peiffer then hit a hard liner to Jett Taylor at third. After Tyler Neeld walked, Sav Longo reached on a sharp hit down to Taylor, who bobbled the ball, loading the bases. A wild pitch scored Hamilton and Greyson Gage followed up with a fly ball that dropped in deep center, allowing two runs to come in. Gavin Caudill capped the scoring with an RBI double on a ball that hugged the left field line.

In the top of the second, the team from Puyallup got one back on a sac fly RBI from Easton Stolmeier. Longo needed another 24 pitches to get through the inning, bringing his total to 46 through two. The inning was ended by a ball hit hard up the middle by Deegan Rowley, right to Gavin Caudill, who threw to Hamilton for an 8-4 putout of Jett Taylor.

In the bottom of the inning, the bats stayed strong. Ryan Uhl singled on a grounder into left and that was followed up by Wes Esteves depositing one in right. Will Siveter walked to load the bases with no outs. Uhl was able to score on a wild pitch and Tyler Wexler dropped a blooper behind first base to score Esteves. With the score 6-1, Pennsylvania was firmly in control. On a couple of passed balls, both Siveter and Wexler were tagged out. The first was challenged and confirmed.

With the score 6-1 and a 2-2 count to William Hennenway, the game entered the first of two weather delays. The tarp wasn’t rolled out for the first lightning delay, but lightning remained in the area for about an hour before play could be resumed. When play resumed, Longo remained on the mound and his first pitch was singled through Hamilton. An error and a walk would load the bases, as Longo looked to regain his ground. Rawly Jennings hit a sac fly to right to score Hemenway before Longo struck out Brayden Blair to get out of trouble.

Pennsylvania kept the pressure on and the peddal to the floor. After a Brayden Peiffer walk to open the bottom of the third, Tyler Neeld placed a ball perfectly behind the mound and in front of Rawly Jennings at short. He and pitcher Connor Morey collided as Jennings tried to make a throw to first, which arrived late. Even on outs, Newtown took advantage. Longo flew out to Aaiden Brown in center who thre back into Jennings. Jennings tried to get Peiffer going back into second, but instead threw the ball away, allowing runners to move into scoring position. Peiffer would score on a wild pitch.

Greyson Gage then turned on a ball that got lost in the left field corner for a standup RBI triple. The game continued to unravel for Washington, with a walk and hit by pitch to load the bases. Brody Gage went right back up the middle for an RBI single and all runners moved up one bag and the lead increased to 9-2. Uhl walked, forcing in Caudill. Rocco DaBronzo did came home on yet another wild pitch, making it 11-2.

Then the weather came again. This time, the tarp was rolled out and the delay lasted about an hour and a half. Little League waited it out to get the teams back on the field and Will Siveter walked on five pitches when the game resumed. That made the score 12-2 and put the mercy rule in play.

Tyler Wexler came on for the fourth and struck out both Morey and Taylor, while Kohen Wills grounded out to third. The game was over and both teams quickly headed off to the Little League Classic at nearby Bowman Field. Due to the Classic, there was no media availability following the game.

Going back to the third inning of their 5-0 victory over New Hampshire, Council Rock Newtown has now gotten the leadoff runner on base in seven consecutive innings, keeping constant preesure on opposing pitchers and defense. Greyson Gage finished the evening with 3RBI on two hits and scored two runs. Washington did an excellent job working deep counts, forcing Longo to throw 75 pitches over three innings, making him ineligible for the next four days.

speaking of pressure, let’s not forget that this entire game was played as the New York Yankees were arriving to the Little League complex. Yankees players then entered the stadium to watch a portion of the game. Amongst all the commotion, Brad Hamilton’s team took care of business for one more day, assuring them a tip 6 finish in the entire country.

Pennsylvania will next face the loser of Hawaii and Nevada on Tuesday at 3:00 in an elimination game.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
New York	0	0	0	4	0	0	4	9	0

WP: Ruggiero LP: Vivanco

You might get through the high-powered lineup of South Shore Little League once. It’s very unlikely you’ll get through them unscathed a second time. And that was the story for the second game in a row, as a big fourth inning lifted New York past Illinois.

Illinois threatened first, getting a one out Kellan Goodwin single and Michael Kipnis was hit by a pitch. With the two on, Jimmy Macri hit into a fielders choice and Joe Iraci flipped to Alex Torres for the out.New York opened their half of the frame with a fly ball to right by Vince Ruggiero. Kipnis caught it a step in front of the warning track. Steve Grippo walked and Nick McLean placed a ball perfectly on the first base side where the infield grass meets the dirt for an infield single. Alex Vivanco worked his way out of the frame with a strikeout of Peter Giaccio and inducing a popup to third off the bat of Chace Curro.

Staten Island had a golden opportunity to put some runs on the board in the third inning. Dylan DeGaeta reached on a double to left where Dane Graham slipped on the wet grass from overnight rain. Next, Joe Iraci then walked. With two on and nobody out, New York would not be able to push a run across. Jason Rocchio had a tough at bat, bunting a little popup back to Dillon Phelan for an out.

Meanwhile, Illinois went quickly in order in the third and fourth innings. Witht the heart of the order due up for New York, the Metro champions were poised to strike. And strike they did.

Steve Grippo led off with the first of six hits in the turn at-bat, putting a charge into one to right field where Kipnis had it get by him. Grippo moved to second on the error. McClean singled on a shallow pop into right. Emiliano Nepomuceno made a good play at second–on a ball hit to him by Pete Giaccio, he looked Grippo back to third before quickly tossing to first for the first out. Chace Curro singled to left, bringing in the first run of the inning and game. Alex Torres flew out to left, scoring McLean. Dean Scrangello added the big hit, lacing one into right to score Romero and Curro. Kipnis made a stellar play in right, throwing to third base to retire DeGaeta and end the inning.

Illinois went in order in the fifth, marking the third consecutive inning they had done such. New York would go on to victory.

Coach Bob Laterzo was excited. “They won;t go home. They want to stay here and we’re not leaving. Zero-zero again and we hung in there and started to hit the ball again.DeGaeta is 4-4 in two days. Scarangello, outfield, relief pitcher. Vinny was just spectacular today. They couldn’t touch him.”

Ruggiero talked about his success on the game: “I thought what really helped me was I felt really good and my arm was really loose.”

I thought the shoe was going to fall sooner or later, but you never know. Sometimes it doesn’t fall or it falls on you, but they fought through it,” Laterzo commented on the missed opportunities in the third inning versus the success in the fourth in terms of quality at bats eventually payin off for his boys.

Scvarangello commented on his game-breaking two run hit: “I just want to drive in runs and get on base and just do my job so we can up the lead.”

DaGaeta was asked about his success over the last two games: “I;ve been hitting curveballs very well recently. Two of my four hits were off curveballs so I think I’m just smashing curveballs.” Coach added, “He hits when I need him. He gets me a hit when I need it. We call him ‘Da Gator’.”

Laterzo thinks his team is ready for primetime on Tuesday when they will face the loser of Monday’s big matchup between Texas and Florida. “We love night games. If we could move that game to 9:00 instead of 7:00, we’d be very appreciative.

“I think Little League might be to blame a little bit–they forgot to tell us to bring out bats. They said we were going to get new bats but they forgot to tell us to bring bats altogether. We just didn’t,” Illinois manager Chad Wanless joked but then got to the heart of the matter. With just five hits on the tournament, Illinois was unable to score a run in their two games.

Wanless had a the perfect message for his team as their time in Williamsport comes to a close: “Hold your heads high. Look around, it doesn’t get any better than this. Think about the journey they’ve been on, the memories they’ve made. This was a world class experience and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”