2026 LLWS Day 1: Bayonne Walks Off Bridgewater; Washington Outlasts Alabama; Nicaragua Shows Off Strong Pitching

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Nicaragua	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	4	0
Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0

WP: Pichardo LP: Pichardo

Clemente Sevilla Pichardo’s double to left scvored the first run of the 2026 Little League World Series. Nicaragua’s Moises Estrada Juarez reached on a fielders choice on a ball hit right to third baseman Carlos Jose Abreu. The Dominican Republic tried to turn the double play but Juarez was safe. He moved up on a wild pitch.

Pichardo helped his own cause early, striking out the side in the bottom of the inning, working around a two-out walk to Diego Suarez Herrera.

Nicaragua threatened with a two out rally in the second. Marvin Gomez Pichardo singled to left and moved to third on a wild pitch that rolled to the backstop. Marvin Sommariba worked a full count walk, as did Giovvani Urroz Chavez. Justin Vega Nunez came in to pitch and promptyl walked Sergio Jiron Fuentes to bolster the lead to 2-0. However, he got out of it with a strikeout of Joatin Martinez Castillo to strand the bases loaded and avoid major damage.

Clemente Pichardo continued his excllent outing on the mound, striking out two more for a total of five through two innings.

In the top of the third, the Dominican Republic was able to get some nice defense from shortstop Diego Suarez Herrera coming in on a ball and firing to first to get Moises Estrada Juarez by a half step at first.

Yansel Guzman finally broke up Pichardo’s no-hitter with a hot shot to short. Pichardo quickly recovered, striking out Eddyel Jimenez and Jostin Vega Nunez, the latter on three pitches. After three innings, Nicaragua held their 2-0 lead and Pichardo had thrown 29 of his 41 pitches for strikes.

Jostin Nunez Vega mixed his speeds well and struck out the side in the top of the fourth, doing his job and holding Nicaragua off the board. The Dominican Republic, though, needed a rally from the bottom of their order. But Pichardo had other plans, getting two more via the strikeout and allowing no baserunners. After four full, Nicaragua held the 2-0 lead and Pichardo had completed his first trip through the Dominican lineup with nine strikeouts.

Ethan Estevez knocked in a run with his double in the fifth, scoring Suarez Herrera. However, Pichardo fanned two more to limit the damage and keep Nicaragua in front 2-1. With two outs in the sixth, Pichardo reached for his elbow, indicating that he needed to come off the mound after 81 pitches. Moises Estrada Juarez took the mound trying to record the final out. In fitting fashion, the ball found Pichardo in right, who fired a dart home to Jose Martinez Pedilla, who tagged out James Cruceta Nin outside of the circle for the final out.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
SoundView(WA)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	3	1
Phenix City(AL)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3

WP: Weaver LP: R Rasmus

“These close games are nothing new to us. We were down in the state tournament, down in regionals…and it’s a testament to how well these guys can settle in and battle and get through adversity,” said manager Kyle Yarbrough of his team following a seventh inning 2-0 victory.

“This game was supposed to be her story, but we didn’t let that happen. We reversed that. We scored runs…and came out with a win.” A confident Frankie McCabe commented in the postgame.

And while a lot of this story is about Kinley Rasmus becoming the 25th female athlete to play in South Williamsport and the spectacular game she had, in the end, it was about SoundView grinding out an extra innings victory and overcoming odds that, to the outside, looked stacked against them.

Kinley Rasmus took the mound for Phenix City, Alabama in the first United States game of the 2026 Little League World Series, becoming the 25th female athlete to compete at South Williamsport.

She didn’t seem to have any nerves making the first start for Phenix City, using just ten pitches to get through the top of the first. She induced a grounder to short, struck out Rhonan Loomis and got her counterpart Frankie McCabe to foul out to third.

Her squad made some noise in the bottom half of the inning. Easton Allen walked on a full count pitch that went to the backstop. Kinley Rasmus hit into a fielders choice at third, with Tyler Landry throwing to Kasen Workman at second to get the lead runner out. Workman fumbled a ball hit by Urijah Berklite and suddenly there were two on with one out. Casen Smith bunted to third for an infield hit to load the bases, but Cam Lee grounded to Landry who threw home to cut down Rasmus at the plate. Cedric Harrison popped to short to strand the bases loaded.

“Just flush it, just let it go, knock the jitters loose and we’ll be off and running,” was Yarbrough’s message to his team after that first inningn trouble.

Rasmus worked her spots and changes in speed allowed her to strikeout the side in the second, catching Evan Yarbrough looking for the third out. Through two innings, Rasmus threw just 22 pitches, remaining efficient.

Frankie McCabe recovered well in the bottom of the second, striking out Lorenzo Quintero on a full count fastball to finish it off. Ryker Rasmus made solid contact but right at right fielder Artie Hinzman. After two, the contest remained scoreless.

Smith Huteson became the first SoundView batter to reach, laying down a bunt back to Kinley Rasmus. She came off the mound to her left and flipped the ball wide of her cousin at first base. However, she recovered and her infielders recorded a pair of fielders choices to get out of the inning unscathed.

Tyler Landry continued to flash the leather at the hot corner for SoundView, snagging a liner off the bat of Layton Burt to open the bottom of the third. Jerry Taylor turned the lineup over with a two-out walk, but Easton Allen flew out to Quinn Herchold in left to keep the pitchers duel going. Through three innings the game remained scoreless.

Kinley Rasmus remained stalwart on the mound, Artie Hinzman made the first really hard contact of the day for Washington, but right to Cam Lee in center. Rasmus added her sixth strikeout, getting Herchold swinging on the fourth pitch he saw.

She then led off Alabama’s half of the fourth with a walk. Urijah Berklite made loud contact, but Rhonan Loomis at short snagged the ball on a diving catch. The play was reviewed and stood. Casen Smith struck out swinging, but the final pitch got away from Evan Yarbrough, allowing Rasmus to advance down to second base. Frankie McCabe also walked Cam Lee, and again the third strike trickled away from Yarbrough. Now, Casen Smith, pinch running for Rasmus, was 60 feet from home. Alabama tried to execute the double steal and Cam Lee stayed in the rundown between first and second, but not long enough for Smith to score, keeping the game scoreless after four.

“McCabe talked about the fourth inning, noting it was about his mindset: “I thought in the fourth I could just cruise through, but this is the Little League World Series No team is going to just be able to cruise through. We are going to have to pitch to every single batter on every single team and that’s the mindset throughout the rest of the tournament.”

SoundView put together their most significant threat of the game to that point with two outs in the fifth. Frankie McCabe reached on a ball that ate up Casen Smith and Paxton Hansen grounded one through to left field to put two on. However, Kinley Rasmus dug deep and notched her seventh strikeout of the afternoon, getting Winston Weaver swinging at the high cheddar.

Kinley Rasmus continued into the sixth, and after a meeting on the mound, she was kept in past the 65 pitch mark. She picked up her eighth strikeout of the day by fanning Evan Yarbrough and was able to work around two walks to Anthony Romero and Bradley Williams. Easton Allen fielded a grounder to him at third and fired across to get Tyler Landry to end the threat. The game stayed scoreless with everything in Phenix City’s hands.

Winston Weaver toed the rubber in the sixth, with Frankie McCabe reaching the 85 pitch limit after five. For Alabama, it was 9-10-11 due up in the order to try and win it before extra innings. Lorenzo Quintero worked a leadoff walk, benefiting from a ball four illegal pitch. Weaver rallied for two strikeouts and on a bang-bang play, Quintero was tagged out at second by an awesome throw from Yarbrough to his pitcher Weaver. That out sent us to extra innings still knotted at zero.

The top of the seventh finally saw Washington break through From the bottom of the order, Artie Hinzman singled into right field, putting runners on the corners with one out. Two batters later, Kasen Workman delivered on a ball hit into right that got by the fielder and rolled far enough for two runs to score. Kinley Rasmus had one more big play in this game, as she took an RBI hit away from Loomis on a leaping grab.

Workman talked about his hit to the outfield: “In the box, I was just waiting for my fastball, because I knew I could hit his fastball–I felt like I had a lot of pressure, but I knew I could get the job done.”

“We took 13 on the roster. A lot of teams don’t do that and I heard a comment in regionals where they were saying this is Artie, the 13th batter, they must really trust him to be the 13th batter. That’s not our mindset at all. He could be the two-guy or the 6-7-8-9 guy. It doesn’t matter. Our guys know we have confidence in him to go out and do a job when it’s time to do a job.”

Weaver stayed out for the bottom of the seventh, and staked to the 2-0 lead, got Alabama in order. Loomis closed his glove on a popup from Kinley Rasmus to end the ballgame and advance SoundView in the bracket. Weaver commented on coming in in relief, “I usually just want to throw strikes, keep it low, get softcontact and hopefully my curveball is on, because if my curveball is on I feel like I am a dominant pitcher.”

Kinley tied Mo’Ne Davis for the most strikeouts by a female athlete at the LLWS. “It looked like she was throwing three–a mix of fastball, breaking ball and maybe a change there, too, I don’t think the story is much that she’s a girl pitching, I think she’s just a phenomenal pitcher.”

Frankie McCabe talked about his outing: “I had some nerves in the first inning for sure, but after that…settling in and realizing these guys can’t hit me –I got this.”

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Bridgewater(MA)	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	2
Bayonne(NJ)	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	0

WP: Garcia Jr LP: DeSimone

“My first-ever walkoff homerun–and for it to be on this stage, it’s awesome…to feel the atmosphere of the stadium and feel everybody chanting my name…it just felt amazing,” were the words from Mason Rincon following his walkoff blast over the center field wall and into the night, getting his team over the hump and to a 2-1 opening round victory in the Little League World Series. But it was a long battle.

A day of awesome pitching continued into the evening hours as dusk settled on Lamade Stadium. Dominik Mombeleur, The Dominator, versus Mason Rincon. A must-see matchup lived up to the billing Wednesday night.

Rincon was up first and got Massachusetts in order. Jackson Morin flew out to Chase Klimkowski in center and AJ Tapia handled a ball hit to him at first by Luke Schlatz. Then it was time to face the Dominaotr. Gabe Garcia Jr. was up to the task, catching a hard-hit liner right at him at short to end the frame.

Momebeleur was a bit shakier to begin the game, tossing a pair of walks and wild pitches. Gabe Garcia hit Mombeleur for a single through the right side before Owen Feliz walked on four pitches. A wild pitch moved them both into scoring position with no outs. Another pitch that missed the mitt of Luke Schlatz saw Garcia score. Mombeleur righted himself, though and fanned the next two to limit the damage. After one, Bayonne held the 1-0 lead.

Mason Rincone kept the pressure on by striking out two more and making the flip to first on a comebacker by Callan Goodwin. Jude DiSimone did work a walk for Bridgewater’s first baserunner.

Bayonne kept up the pressure in their half of the second, as Connor Oliva walked on four pitches to open the inning and moved up with two outs when Brayden Gaiten grounded out to first. Dex Zimmerman served one into left, but Anthony Sullivan got the ball back in so quickly that Oliva could not advance. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Then, Mombeleur worked himself out of trouble by fanning Connor Reed. New Jersey held their 1-0 lead after two, forcing Mombeleur to throw 49 total pitches.

Then the tenor shifted, as with one swing on the first pitch he saw, Anthony Sullivan crushed one out to deep center to tie the game at 1-1. Rincon bounced back, striking out three of the next four to end the inning, but Sullivan had, for the moment, had stemmed a tide of Bayonne momentum.

But Bayonne kept the pressure on, aided by a little more wildness from Mombeleur on the bump. Leandro Anaya was plunked on the first pitch of the inning and Owen Feliz hit an infield popup that fell in a Bermuda triangle between Mombeleur, Cam Hutchinson. With two outs, Jett Bridges went back up the middle, loading the bases. But it would not be a big inning for Bayonne, as Mombeleur bounced back one more time to get Klimkowski looking. After three, we remained knotted at 1-1. Bayonne stranded seven runners on base in its first three innings, but forced the Dominator to throw 75 pitches.

With Jackson Morin on and one out, Mombeleur tried to help his team’s cause, hitting one up the middle. But Klimkowski quickly fired to Garcia Jr. covering second and Morin was thrown out at second on a long fielders choice.

Bayonne made more noise in the fourth, but stranded two more thanks to a diving full-extension catch by Tristyn Lee in left field that ended the inning. In the inning, Jude DeSimone took over for Mombeleur after he reached the 85-pitch limit. Mombeleur moved to right field. Mombeluer exited with eight strikeouts, giving up four hits and four walks.

Mason Rincone exited shortly after in the top of the fifth with one out. He was pulled at the 65-pitch mark, giving him four days of rest. Like Mombeleur, he struck out eight and allowed two hits, walking three. Garcia Jr took the mound and was promptyl greeted by a single down the right field line by RJ Zackrison. Anthony Sullivan walked and Massachusetts had a big threat. However, Tristyn Lee hit into the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Calvin McCough flashed the leather in the bottom of the fifth, charging in on a ball tapped by Owen Feliz and firing on the run to Zackrison to record the out. The play was reviewed and stood as called. The game remained tied after five and Bayonne stranded one more on base for a total of ten.

Anaya countered with his own defensive web gem, snagging a liner off the bat of Eamon Hynes for the second out of the sixth. Garcia Jr. then won a nine pitch battle with Jackson Morin, getting him to strikeout and strand leadoff runner JJ Gaff at second. Bayonne would then get the last crack before potential extra innings for the second time in the day at Lamade.

And it didn’t take long. Three pitches into his at bat, Mason Rincon turned one around and out to deep center field, walking it off for the boys from Bayonne, sending a raucus crowd home happy and setting up a Friday night battle with Pennsylvania.