| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Nevada | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
WP: Gaudin LP: Pacheco
The Paseo Verde and Maui fans’ chants of “P-V!” and “Maui!” rang out all afternoon in a nip and tuck affair between two teams trying to reach the LLWS winners bracket semifinals. At the end, it would be the team from Henderson, Nevada with the victory cheers, as a late Hawaii rally came up just short in a game full of star power and highlight reel plays.
There were many defensive plays to showcase in this one, starting off in the first inning. Russell McGee hit a line drive to second baseman Kolten Magno, who streetched high to keep t he ball from going into right field. Wyatt Erickson then came up and turned on a pitch, nearly missing a home run to center. The ball karimed off the wall into the glove of Evan Tavares who quickly fired to Brextyn Kamahao’o Hong on a heads-up play, but Erickson was safe. He would be stranded at third as Oliver Joghnson hit into a routine grounder to short.
Hawaii countered with a threat of their own. Gauge Pacheco led off the first with a groundball single that got by Caleb Gomez and had to be chased down near the warning track. Pacheco moved up to second on the E8. Tavares then singled through a diving Wyatt Erickson. The ball rolled to McGee and he tried to fire to first, but the throw was late for the single. Both runners were stranded, as Gunnar Gaudin struck out Kanon Nakama and relied on his defense to catch a popup and flyball.
Nevada walked six times in the game, and the first two of those came with one out in the second inning. Jimmy Foss singled to load the bases. Luke Lentz then laced a ball down the left field line. It was cutoff by Pacheco, but the first run was in. Pacheco fired in to Yang slightly up the line, but Matthew Yang ended up in perfect position to tag out Dominic Laino trying to score.
Gaudin, who mostly pitched to contact on the afternoon, fanned two in the second inning, working around a Cam Kaneshiro bunt single down to third base.
The boys from Maui flashed some gloves in the third inning, turning a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. Then, Caleb Gomez hit a hard groundball that was destined for right field. Kolten Magno made an amazing snag, diving to his left, getting up and firing to first to record the inning ending out.
Nevada had another chance to extend their lead in the fourth inning. Russell McGee hit a ball that was mishandled by Hong at third base and trickled down the line to put him on first base. Oliver Johnson added a single into shallow right and, credit to Hawaii, Takamura threw to Takahashi and Takahashi threw to Hong in an effort to get an out at either base. The rally was silenced when Pacheco struck out Letalu swinging and Parker Soranaka bunted back to Pacheco.
While he was ineligible to pitch tonight, you knew Evan Tavares would have an impact on this game. He singled with two outs in the fourth and was brought home on a Kamaha;o Hong double down into the left field, just over the outstretched glove of Luke Lentz.
The drama continued in the fifth when Dominic Laino ripped a single through Kanon Nakama at short. Two batters later, Lentz hit one to Kamaha’o Hong, whose throw to second went wide. Liam Sparks hit a hard ball to first, where Takahashi initially dropped the ball and then had to turn, pick it up and race Sparks to the bag for the out. This allowed Laino to score the go-ahead run and make it 2-1 in favor of Nevada.
With the game getting late, Hawaii needed to respond again. Takahashi provided a leadoff single up the middle and went to second on a passed ball. Easie Miller bunted him over to third and he scored on a Takamura groundout to short. With the game tied, the rally nearly continued in stunning fashion. With two outs, Kaneshiro singled into shallow right and Gabriel Laloulu singled in a Bermuda triangle, as the ball dropped between center, second, and short. The table was set for Magno and he put a ball in play near first base. Oliver Johnson got over too late to stop it, but Gunner Beranek had run all the way over and was able to grab the ball and get to first base to end the inning.
Manager Adam Johnson commented on the play, “To have a kid like Gunner who’s baseball IQ is off the charts. In all honesty, he probably shouldn’t be there to make the play, but because of his athleticism and his instincts, he does. And that’s a huge play because if we don’t get that, a run scores and we’re chasing one.”
It would be Nevada’s turn to manufacutre a run in the top of the sixth. Beranek opened the frame by walking on four pitches and Caleb Gomez bunted him over. Beranek went to third on a passed ball and McGee walked on a 3-1 count. Wyatt Erickson was hit by a pitch to load th bases. With two outs, Noah Letalu watched five pitches go by him and walked to force in Takahashi.
There was still one final turn at bat for Hawaii, and they aggressively tried to capitalize. Kamalei Santos singled and Jet Pontes stepped in. Gaudin struck him out swinging and Soranaka threw down to first to try and pickoff Santos. Santos had taken off for second, so Oliver Johnson threw to McGee covering second, who tagged out Santos and ended the game on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out 2-3-6 play.
Gunnar Gaudin pitched a complete game, despite Hawaii managing nine hits off of him. He struck out five and walked none, all on 78 pitches.
“I was really excited to see what I could do and I feel like I executed and we had a good outcome.” While he did struggle at times and did allow the two runs, he noted “You can’t let it phase you. I mean, they’re a good team and had some good hits, but you’ve got to stay focused and stick with the gameplan and don’t let it get in your head, because that’s when you start to fold.”
Manager Adam Johnson on the victory: “That’s a great Hawaii team. They had nine hits, but I feel like we played great defense. Parker Soranaka came out today and there aren’t enough superlatives for that kid. He’s a warrior. It’s outstanding to watch them believe in their team.” He continued later, reflecting on his favorite moments so far at Williamsport, “The coolest part is to see them embrace the team mentality. The families that we have are nothing but supportive. Little League does a magical thing with this. At one point, they’ll understand this, but for right now, we want them to enjoy it. They’ve earned every bit of this.”
Noah: Letalu spoke eloquently on his eventual game-winning bases loaded RBI walk: “I was just thinking to myself ‘I can’t be a selfish hitter at this point. I can’t be going to the plate trying to hit a grand slam and put the entire team on my back. If I went up to the plate with that mindset, I probably would’ve been swinging at balls in the dirt. But I knew that I have to score a run for my team and inthat situation, a walk was just as important as a hit.”
Nevada, now 2-0 at the Little League World Series, will face Texas on Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 in a winners bracket semifinal game. The winner of that game will go to the United States championship game on Saturday afternoon. Hawaii will face Pennsylvania at 3:00 on Tuesday in an elimination contest.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Florida | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Texas | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 3 | 0 |
WP: Hurst LP: Feliciano
This game had all the makings of a true battle of titans at Lamade Stadium. Julian Hurst versus J.J. Feliciano has a nice ring to it and when you look at their statistics and how their approach on the mound, it’s clear they’re two of the best pitchers in Williamsport. Early on, it all went according to expectations.
Julian Hurst took the mound first and his counterpart would get the first hit off of him in a single up the middle. DeMarcos Mieses, on a 1-1 pitch, doubled into the left field corner, allowing Feliciano to score. As Hurst recovered and got his feet under him, he struck out Landon Bono looking and got Garrett Rohozen to groundout to short.
J.J. Feliciano then toed the rubber and met a similar situation early. He plunked Gray Collins and Cooper Hastings singled down the right field line, scoring Collins. Feliciano found his own footing and struck out the next two, recording three in the first frame.
Jacob Bibaud appeared to keep things going for Lake Mary, leading off the second inning with a single into right. As Hurst got the ball back, Bibaud took off for second base, but Hurst threw to Aiden Munoz to get the out. Julian then struck out the next two to salt away the inning. Feliciano also settled in, though his curveball was faltering at times. He hit Munoz on an errant one, but came back to strikeout Gage Steubing, giving him six.
Julian also settled down and struck out the side in the third. Then, things began to unravel for Florida.
Feliciano opened the bottom of the inning by walking Kaleb Christ on four straight pitches and then struck out Dylan Burke swinging. Another curveball went awry and hit Ben Burkhart. At the 50 pitch mark, manager Jonathan Anderson lifted J.J. in favor of Luis Calo. Calo came in and would only throw seven total pitches. Three of those were went wild. The first moved Christ and Burkhart into scoring position and the next two allowed both to score, giving Texas a 3-1 lead. Anderson again went to his bullpen and brought in Bibaud, who promptly hit Gray Collins with a pitch. Cooper Hastings hit a ball down to Hunter Alexander at third. Alexander threw home and Hurst was chased back to third; the bases were now loaded. With four HBPs, three wild pitches and two walks to this point, Texas took full control. Doc Mogford scored Hasgins with a single to left, the only hit of the inning.
Florida never threatened and would not have enough another base runner for the entire night after the caught stealing in the second. Landon Bono gave one a ride to deep center in the top of the fifth, but Mogford corralled it on the warning track. Also in that inning, Jett Taylor took a hit away from Garrett Rohozen, leaping and spinning to come down with a spectacular play.
I’ll put our middle infield up against anyone else’s. He was phenomnela at shortstop holding them down. That frustrates an offense when they barrel a ball and the hit gets robbed, but I’ve seen him doing that since he was five or six years old.”
Jett commented, “It feels great. It’s just makes them all happy and we start playing better when that happens. That’s how you win games.”
Julian Hurst pitched a complete game three-hitter, striking out ten and walking none on 78 throws. He needed just 30 pitches to get through the second half of the game.
Newson on the win: “We talk about stacking good at-bats and eventually the runs happen and they did.”
Hurst was asked about his performance on the mound and stated, “I just stayed focused and did what I always do in the last five innings. I just keep focusing on strikes. I think I had 72% strikes this game, which is an all-time high for me.”
Burkhart talked about his team’s ability to get on base, despite not racking up many hits. “I just try to get on base, because base runners score runs and runs score games. Just focus on hitting the ball hard, or if I can’t do that, finding a way to get on base.”
Lake Mary manager Jonathan Anderson was still very determined despite the loss: “I think we’ve got arms to work our way back. We’re in a pretty good position. We just need to get our bats to come alive. We need to figure that out and maybe playing every day is going to help that.”
Texas will face Nevada on Wednesday night at 7:00. The winner of that game will play for the United States championship on Saturday. Florida will be in action Tuesday when they play New York in an elimination game.
LSV Sports 
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