| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| West Side(OH) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| Paseo Verde(NV) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
WP: Edwards LP: Osborne
A long day of eight games began early at Lamade Stadium after Thursday’s total washout. But Paseo Verde Little League woke up and walked off West Side with a base hit through the middle by Hudson Cowley.
“It’s just a lot of small baseball players doing the right work,” manager Cory Edwards said of his team. And those words rang true time and time again during this one. No eye-popping numbers, no home runs, just twelve boys working their tails off to achieve a big win on the big stage.
Lamade Stadium was abuzz early for a 9AM start between these two contenders. With coffee in hand, the large contingent from West Side entered the complex, many in line since 7:00 or earlier to see their team play.
Hamilton jumped out to the early 1-0 lead as Owen Guzman issued walks to Boone Treadway and Xander Kincade. Bryson Williams hit a sharp ball to Hudson Cowley who stepped on the bag for an out, but fired across wide of first base, allowing Kincade to go to third. Leo Feltner grounded one into right to bring Kincade home and put Ohio on top.
Feltner made a nice play in the bottom of the first, ranging out into shallow left to catch a flyball off the bat of Guzman. After a 1-2-3 first by Nevada, Ohio was back to bat and trying to keep the pressure on.
They were able to chase Guzman from the game at the 50 pitch threshold after Finn Dykes’ liner into deep left scored Walker Osborne. Payton Hinsen replaced Guzman on the bump and struck out the next two to keep the Ohio lead at 2-0.
“It took us a second to wakeup, obviously with the rain delay yesterday. Waking up early, getting down to the cages, so I don’t think we were our full selves at the beginning, but I loved how we battled.” Manager Cory Edwards commented on the earl going for his Paseo Verde squad.
Treadway was cruising through the bottom of the second, sandwiching a walk to Jace Ward around two strikeouts. But two passed balls bounced away from Caiden Trent, allowing Ward to go to third. Michael Kleiner laced an RBI double to the left field corner. Maddox Bryan went up the middle to bring him in and tie the game, prompting a meeting on the mound by Ohio.
“We did what we do best: take pitches, get deep in the counts, make the plays that we’re supposed to make, ” Edwards stated.
Hinsen got through the top of the third as Ohio turned its lineup over. Kinkade swung through a fastball for the final out. Treadway matched him in the bottom of the inning, striking out two and getting Adrian Cruz to popup to Josiah Infante on the infield grass near first. Halfway through, we remained deadlocked at 2-2.
The middle of the Ohio order broke through for a 3-spot in the fourth, as Bryson Williams singled to left and Infante walked. Both runners moved up on a passed ball to the backstop. Leo Feltner collected his second RBI of the day with a sac fly to right. Two batters later, Jack McAdams singled to the gap in left center to score Infante. Walker Osborne hit into a fielders choice on a grounder to short, but the run scored. The inning was ended by Logan Edwards snagging a liner at short, hit by Dykes. Ohio had a 5-2 lead to protect with Bryson Williams coming in to pitch against the top of the Nevada order.
Williams ran into some two-out trouble in his first trip to the mound. James Esber went up the middle and walks were issued to Hudson Cowley and Jace Ward to load up the bases. A first pitch to Logan Edwards got away from the catcher, Caiden Trent, allowing Esber to score and two more to move up. Edwards ended up grounding into a fielders choice, as Cowley came in to score. Jace Edwards got hung up going from second to third and was the final out of the inning.
“I think we got a little lost in how many outs there were but I actually think it worked out. If it had been a clean throw to first, he would have been out and so wouldn’t have allowed the run to score,” Edwards commented on the timing play.
In the top of the fifth, Ohio had another major chance for insurance runs, but left the bases loaded after three walks. Logan Edwards came in with two outs and got Bryson Williams to ground down to Cowley at third who fired across to end the inning.
Walker Osborne came on to pitch the fifth for West Side. He struck out Michael Kleiner, but the third strike was a wild pitch that got away, and he reached first base. Maddox Bryan doubled him home on a ball that fell in and rolled to the wall in center. Ryan moved to third on a dropped third strike to Michael Guerrero but was stranded there as Osborne got Carsynn Meyer swinging. After five, we were tied at 5-5.
Ohio got to work again in the sixth, with a long Josiah Infante single that was quickly cutoff in the right center gap. Leo Feltner worked a walk and Ohio had two on with nobody out. Bob Frazieer hit one to right that tailed foul and James Esber recorded a huge first out bringing it in on the run. Owen Guzman then handled a grounder by Jack McAdams, stepping on second and firing over to first for an inning ending double play.
Nevada had the last shot before extra innings. Owen Guzman singled with one out, as the lineup turned over. He quickly moved to second and then third on a pair of passed balls. Josiah Infante entered the game to pitch, trying to force the seventh for Ohio. He got Esber to ground back to Treadway at short, who held Guzman and threw to first for the second out. Hudson Cowley stepped in an took a first pitch strike and fouled the next off. He swung and put the next ball back through the middle for the game-winning RBI walk off.
Hudson talked about his emotions and his thoughts on the play, “I never thought I’d do anything like that in my life. I was just so excited, like my body was numb. I couldn’t even feel myself. I just heard the crowd and all.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Sweetwater Valley(CA) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Davenport Northwest(IA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
WP: Thissen LP: Kirk
Cooper Thissen and Noah Kirk faced off in what would become the best pitching performances of the tournament so far. The two combined to strikeout 28 batters over five plus innings of work and it all came down to one early first inning mistake pitch that gave Davenport an “upset” victory at Lamade on Friday afternoon.
Thissen struck out the side in the first inning, getting his counterpart Kirk swinging at a ball down in the zone. Jesus Cuadra and Leo Gonzalez went down looking. Then, Thissen helped his cause. On a third pitch fastball, he swung for the fences and connected, golfing the ball and powering it over the center field wall. That staked Davenport to a 1-0 lead.
“Just getting my A-swing going and once it hit the bat, I kind of knew it was gone. And just looking in the crowd was amazing–everyone cheering me on, it was great,” Thissen remarked on his deep blast and his pitching performance, “I thought Noah was good and me, myself, I thought I got ahead in counts really well and my breaking ball felt good.” I’ve been waiting for this for a while and just coming out here and finally playing on the field is amazing.”
California Steve Winnick commented on the home run, “A lt of respect to Cooper. Noah pitched his butt off, too. He made one mistake and Cooper took advantage of it.”
He kept the momentum going in the second, striking out three of four batters faced in the middle of the California lineup. Sebastian Pino worked out a two out walk on a full count pitch that missed, but Sweetwater Valley mustered nothing further.
Not to be outdone, Noah Kirk settled in and struck out the side in the bottom of the second, matching Thissen with six Ks and using 35 pitches through two. Liam Rasso’s swinging strike three marked five in a row for Kirk.
The two continued their duel into the third. Thissen struck out three more, working around a leadoff walk to Asher Gialio. Through three innings, he needed 49 pitches. Kirk held serve, fanning two more and making the toss to first base against Tate Devaney, the first contact since Thissen’s home run in the first. Through three, that one mistake pitch remained the lone difference in a 1-0 Davenport lead.
Thissen faced Kirk again in the fourth, and this time, Davenport’s Xavier Ludtke became the first Iowa fielder to field a ball, backhanding it at short and throwing high, but still on target to Anthony Johnson Jr. at first. Thissen struck out the other two he faced, running his total to 11 on 61 tosses. Kirk, in turn, walked Thissen in t he bottom of the frame, not giving Thissen anything to get ahold of. Kirk followed up with strikeouts of Kannon Kane and Johnson Jr. to match Thissen with 11 total strikeouts.
Thissen reached a milestone with his 14th strikeout in the fifth, getting Tempe Tran to swing through the fastball. That marked the most strikeouts thrown by a single pitcher in the LLWS since 2013. With ten pitches left until the 85 pitch limit, he was able to come back for the sixth as well.
Noah Kirk walked Caleb Erwin to open the bottom of the fifth before fanning Logan Chantos and Xavier Ludtke. Having reached 85 pitches, he gave way to Leo Gonzales to record the final out. After hitting Crue Neff, Gonzalez rallied to get Liam Rasso looking, ending the inning.
Three outs were all that separated Davenport from what many believed would be an upset win over California. Thissen returned to the mound to try and close it out.
But nothing worth it ever comes easy. Pino worked his second walk of the day against Thissen to open the inning. Asher Gialio faced a 3-0 count, but Thissen came back to force a full count before ultimately losing him. He then took his exit, giving way to Anthony Johnson Jr. AJ walked Julian Sevilla to load the bases with one out. He righted himself and struck out Mateo Ruiz for the second out. On a pitch that grazed the outside edge, James Griffin was rung up on a full count pitch that could’ve resulted in a tie ballgame.
Iowa manager Mark Erwin was asked if this is the best he had ever seen Thissen throw, “The best I’ve seen. I know he’s capable of it. I’ve seen him pitch well This…this was a dominant performance against a very good California team. We knew this was going to be a dogfight, We were hoping to maybe get three runs and hoping to keep them down. But Cooper helped himself out with the one and made a couple little plays there.
“Coming out of the pen, I was just focusing on my mechanics, trying to find the zone with every pitch and then getting that last strikeout just felt amazing. Knowing that we just beat one of the best teams and seeing the whole crowd and just how hype it was. Just a great feeling.” Johnson Jr. spoke on his experience coming into the game late to keep the no-hitter intact and, ultimately, the victory.
“That was our game to take right there. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it done. We pride ourselves on a two strike approach of battling, putting the ball in play fouling it off, do whatever it takes. Today, we didn’t have that same fight that we normally do,” Steve Winnick talked about his California team’s effort and hoped for a rematch, “I would love to face them again. I think it could be different next turn. It’s tough, but we can make it out of this losers bracket.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| SoundView(WA) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| Boerne(TX) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
WP: Weaver LP: Yarbrough
Washington entered the day with a win already under their belt at South Williamsport. And that may have helped prepare them for what was to come against an offensive jugernaut like Boerne, Texas.
Manager Kyle Yarbrough thought so. “We got the nerves out of the way…for anybody who says there’s no nerves, they’re lying to you, right?” We were able to get that ouf ot the way the first game and even our infield-outfield warming up today was cleaner. We were a little bit more focused, a little bit less jittery.”
The first inning saw the offenses fire up right away. Kasen Workman led off with a walk and Rhonan Loomis did the same. Frankie McCabe put one on the ground into right field to load the bases right out of the gate. Paxton Hansen tried to chase home the first run, but Merritt Crude got the ball at first and threw home to get the force for the first out. Winston Weaver took a first pitch hack and went back up the middle to put Washington ahead 1-0. Evan Yarbrough, after fighting off three pitches in a row, drew a bases loaded walk. On a ball that got away from Chandler Schramek, Hansen tried to come home, but Schramek threw quickly to Kase Yarbrough covering the plate and upon review, the out call was confirmed. Hansen tried to sneak his toe in, but was tagged out. Anthony Romero was thrown out at first following a dropped third strike, but SoundView had a 2-0 lead.
Boerne responded quickly. Kase Yarbrough singled in front of the mound; Winston Weaver came off the mound to his right and tried to field the ball with his glove, but made the throw late and wide of first. Walker Yost walked and Crude laced one to left to bring home the first run for Texas and cut the lead to 2-1. Weaver struck out the next two to limit the damage and hold Boerne off the board the rest of the inning.
Bradley WIlliams picked up a one-out single in the top of the second, but SoundView was turned away. Boerne, on the other hand, got a small two-out rally going after Weaver struck out Kasen Martinez and Preston Baird to open the frame. Anders Paulson drew a free pass and took second on a wild pitch. From the 10-hole, Lawson Belden hit one back up t he middle to plate Paulson and tie the game at 2-2.
Artie Hinzman worked himself a single to right field to open the third, ticking the ball off the glove of Belden, the second baseman. Boone Blalock took over pitching duties for SoundView after that, as Washington turned the lineup over back to Kasen Workman. Workman promptly doubled off the third base bag into left and brought home two runs for a 4-2 SoundView lead. Rhonan Loomis sent one to center field, over the head of Case Greco. But Greco got to the ball quickly and threw to Walker Yost at second who fired home. Schramek tagged out Loomis up the line, turning a near disaster play into a huge out. Blaclock rode the momentum of the big play and fanned the next two to put the inning to bed.
Tyler Landry continued showing that he is one of the best third baseman at Williamsport this year, backhanding a ball hit by Merritt Crude and making the long throw across the diamond to get the third out. Halfway through, Washington led 4-2.
“That’s the hot corner, right? You’ve got to have quickness to get to the ball and have a strong enough arm to make it all the way across the dimaond. And he has both of those. He’s been steady for us all postseason and made a great play,” manager Kyle Yarbrough spoke about Landry.
Winston Weaver settled in as he faced the middle of the Boerne order in the fourth, striking out Case Greco and Carson Patrick, while Workman made a routine play at second to throw out Scramek.
Washington’s bottom of the order nearly came up big one more time in this game. Tyler Landry led off with a hit up the middle and Artie Hinzman worked a walk, reaching for the second time.
But through all the talk of SoundView, Boerne had another rally in them, too. Kasen Martinez started the bottom of the fifth nearly knocking one over the center field fence. It barely stayed in play, but Romero was able to throw it back in. The ball got by the cutoff man, allowing Martinez to go to third. Paxton Hanson came on in relief of Weaver, who was at the 85-pitch limit. Weaver struck out eight, giving up four hits and walking three on the day. After Preston Baird drew a base on balls, Anders Paulson drew Boerne within 4-3 on a bouncer back through the middle. Still with nobody out, Lawson Belden stepped in. He grounded back to Workman at second who flipped to Loomis covering at the base for the first out. Hansen then got a huge swinging strikeout from Lyle Fischer. Boone Blalock gave a fastball a ride to deep left, but Quinn Herchold was up to the task and gloved it for the third out, protecting the SoundView 4-3 lead heading to the sixth.
Merritt Cude came on in the sixth to get the heart of Washington’s order. He struck out McCabe and Hansen as part of a 1-2-3 inning, setting his team up for one more chance in the bottom of the inning trailing 4-3.
Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blasted through the speakers as Paxton Hansen took the mound one more time for the bottom of the sixth. Kase Yarbrough belted one down the left field line to open the frame, pulling in at second with a leadoff double. On a 2-2 pitch, Hansen got Yost on the arm, sending him down to first, still with no outs. Cude then lofted one to Hinzman at second base. Hinzman tried to make a play but the ball fell in front of him and he fell and spun trying to barehand the ball. Now the bases were loaded with nobody out for Case Greco.
Kasen Workman was called upon to do the impossible–get out of a bases load no out jam and preserve a one run victory. On his second pitch, Greco hit one on the infield grass to Winston Weaver at first. Weaver tossed home for the forceout at the plate for the first out. Schramek swung on a 2-0 pitch and Rhonan Loomis charged in at short, again throwing home to forceout another run. Suddenly Carson Patrick was the last hope for Texas and there was light at the end of the tunnel for SoundView. Anthony Romero easily grabbed the popup to him in center field and somehow, SoundView escaped with the win and moved to 2-0 at the World Series.
Workman spoke on his performance, “Just crazy. When I was on the mound I knew I just needed to throw strikes so my defense could work behind me.”
His manager spoke highly of him as well: “Kasen’s been a phenomenal pitcher for us for a number of years. His back was definitely against the wall, But I know he has the stuff to work himself out of that jam and he proved it today.”
Manager Gregory Yost commented on his Texas squad and believes they’ll bounce back just as they did in states and regionals, “The bench, our bullpen is deep. We’ve got lots of pitchers, so I have a lot of faith in them to pick it up. And I know we’ve got to play a lot of consecutive days, but our boys will be ready.” He continued, “You’ve got to give Washington creditThey threw strikes and grounded us out in big moments and so you give credit to them. You’d think in a bottom of the sixth bases loaded no outs, heart of the lineup, 99 out of 100 times feel like you’re going to score a run, but that’s just baseball.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| East Side(PA) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Bayonne(NJ) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
WP: Klimkowski LP: Warner
The battle of two rival states took a new shape, coming to the Little League World Series in the form of Bayonne versus East Side(West Chester). Both teams mirrored each other, each with 16 home runs, few errors, and plenty of wins under their belt. The question for each is how would they respond to the big stage? Would Bayonne have the pitching to followup a great performance by Mason Rincon? Would East Side be up to the test after cruising through Mid-Atlantics?
Ryan Donnelly seemingly answered the hitting question on the very first pitch, shooting one into right field for a leadoff single. But Chase Klimkowski battled back quickly, striking out Darren Mollineux and Cole Warner. Dillon DiGiulio popped out to Owen Feliz at second. And it would be some time before East Side had another good scoring chance, thanks to the pitching and defense of Bayonne.
Cole Warner struck out the side in the first. Mason Rincon was struck out for just the second time for his entire postseason. Perhaps that stuck in his mind for his second at bat later in the game.
Bayonne made noise in the bottom of the second. Jett Bridges walked on four pitches from Warner and AJ Tapia then won an eight pitch battle, slashing one down the left field line into the corner. That hit moved Bridges to third, placing two in scoring position with one out. Connor Oliva walked, but ball four went behind Colton DiGrazio, allowing Bridges to come home. Joey Dwyer sent one into left field, working against East Side’s decision to shade Paul Cowperthwait toward center. Warner was able to get the next two outs, but the damage was done and Bayonne led 2-0.
Mike Nolan reached to open East Side’s third, on a little tapper between home and the mound. Klimkowski fielded the ball but could not make the throw in time. A 6-4-3 double play ended the inning, as AJ Tapia threw to Owen Feliz, who made an excellent turn to Leandro Anaya.
Tapia spoke on the play: “It was really amazing. I saw the ball coming to me and then I flipped. Practice makes perfect We always practice that every practice,” he continued, talking about busting out of a slump and collecting two hits on the game, “It was amazing. I had a slump before these games and then I got my swing back and now I’m hitting them.”
Warner navigated the third inning with ease, inducing two comebackers that he handled and striking out Connor Reed. Midway through the contest, New Jersey led 2-0.
Reliable East Side 12-hole hitter Patrick Corliss came through again for his team on a hot shot in the fourth inning to AJ Tapia at third. Tapia fumbled the ball and Corliss reached on what would’ve been a close play even if he fielded it cleanly. Ryan Donnelly sent a ball back through the middle, putting Klimkowski on his seat trying to make a grab for it. With their biggest threat of the night and top of the order batting, West Chester seemed primed to score at least one. However, Bayonne buckeld down and Klinkowski struck out Mollineux. Warner hit a ball to short, where Gabe Garcia Jr. was nearly screened off by Donnelly going to third, but he was able to make the throw for the final out at first.
Bayonne was in search of insurance, as they seized momentum. And Mason Rincon delivered again. Rincon turned around a Donnelly fastball and lined it out to right, over the glove of a leaping Hennessey. Bayonne led 3-0 after four and the lead felt like a mountain for East Side.
“It just feels amazing to help the team., to be able to come up in that spot and put the exclamation point
The fifth inning saw Pennsylvania opened with a tremendous start for East Side, as DiGiulio flew one out to left that dropped in for a leadoff double. With two outs, Jack Cassidy hit one deep in the hole at short that Gabe Garcia Jr. had to eat. Mike Nolan provided the RBI hit, doubling to the wall in right center to get PA on the board, trailing 3-1. In the bottom of the frame, Donnelly worked himself in and out of trouble, striking out Dex Zimmerman and Brayden Gaitan to strand two.
With three outs remaining, East Side had the bottom of its order due up and Chase Klimkowski had one more batter before being forced to leave the mound at the pitch limit. He got James Martin to pop to Owen Feliz at second, leaving the final two outs to Garcia Jr. After walking Adam Gazonas, he got Corliss to strikeout. On a little tapper down the first base line, Donnelly was tagged out and Bayonne was victorious 3-1, moving to 2-0 in the tournament.
For Bayonne, it was about harnessing the energy from the fans and their families.
“It was crazy, because even the first game, when we first stepped on the field, all we heard was ‘Let’s go Bayonne,’” noted Klimkowskho
Rincon added, “…tbere’s almost 10,000 people here coming to watch us play and it just felt amazing to know I’ve got a good community on my side and they’re cheering for us.”
“Listen. We played a hometown team today and I still think we outnumbered them. It’s 100% credit to the people back home who make that 3.5 hour ride up here and cheer these boys on,” added manager Justin Smith.
“East Side manager Bob Hennessey spoke about the loss, “I think the boys were a little nervous, just like any other 12-year old boy would be. We just kind of got away from our gameplan. Our gameplan was to attack early in some at bats and I feel like we didn’t succed in that.
“[Cole Warner] overall threw really well for not having pitched in a week. So overall, I thought our pitching did really well, we just didn’t hit like we thought we were going to hit tonight. We were just a little flat tonight.”
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