Maine District 3 host Bangor shuts out Canada, 8-0

By Chris DeBeck

Assistant Information Director

Pitching was the order of the day in the opening session of the 2010 Senior League World Series.

Host Bangor East/West L.L., the District 3 champion, rode the strong arms of Jesse Wood and Kyle Savage to an 8-0 win over East Park L.L. of Edmonton, Alberta, the Canadian champion, in the opening game.

Bangor started the tournament in impressive fashion, as Wood and Savage teamed up to two-hit the Canadian champions, walking just one and striking out eight.

“This whole year, I’ve walked a lot of batters, hit a few,” Wood said. “Knowing I’m on a pitch count...I knew I had to pitch to contact.”

Wood came out of the game in the top of the sixth inning after throwing his 75th pitch, which allows Wood to pitch again on three days’ rest, per Little League tournament pitching rules.

“I was thinking of the big picture,” he said.

Bangor opened the scoring in the second on Anthony Capuano’s RBI double, then added two runs in the third, one more in the fourth, another in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

“Early on, we were too aggressive,” Bangor coach Ron St. Pierre said.

Bangor was led by Luke Hetteman (two singles, RBI), Josiah Hartley (two singles), Nic Cota (two singles, RBI) and Adam King (run-scoring triple).

Bangor ended the game in style. Seth Freudenberger made a diving catch of a line drive off the bat of Kyle Rossell. Freudenberger then threw to teammate Capuano at first to complete the double play and the game.

Photo courtesy of Monty Rand.

Manhattan Beach, Calif., tops Palm Bay, Fla., 2-1

In the second game, Brett Collins hit a long game-winning single to left, driving in Brett Clark, to lead Manhattan Beach, Calif. to a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Palm Bay East (Fla.) to end another pitcher’s duel.

Clark started the winning rally with an infield single, stole second base and moved to third on a fielder’s choice, setting up the dramatic finish.

The U.S. Southeast regional champion from Florida started the scoring with an unusual manufactured run in the top of the first. Matthew Myer singled to right, moved to second after surviving a rundown, took third base – which was uncovered while the ball was still in play after the rundown – and scored on a wild pitch.

That was the end of the scoring for Palm Bay East, who committed four errors and left eight base runners.

Anthony Lombardo scored on Jackson Lipps’ fielder’s choice in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1. From there, the pitchers were in control.

Lombardo (five innings, six strikeouts, two hits) and Morgan Asher (two innings, no runs, three strikeouts) led Manhattan Beach, while Palm Bay East’s Myer struck out five and allowed just three hits in six innings of work before giving way to Matthew Rose, who worked the seventh inning.

Collins, Lombardo, Sam O’Melia and Clark each singled for Manhattan Beach, while Myer and Cameron Howard each singled for Palm Bay East.

Defending World Series champ Texas upends Italy 3-1

In the third game, defending World Series champion West University L.L. (Houston, Texas) took advantage of a fourth inning break to score three runs in a 3-1 win over Lazio, Italy.

With one out, Hugh Echols reached reached on a line drive that the Lazio second baseman Fabrizio Brignone lost in the sun. After a fielder’s choice forced out Davis Atkins at third, Andrew Dunlap followed with a single to score pinch runner John Streitmann (who ran for Echols) to give West University a 1-0 lead. Chris Lanham followed with a two-run double to left, scoring Sam Reid and Dunlap, to pad the lead to 3-0.

West University pitcher Chris Lanham struck out nine batters and walked just one in six and two-third innings of work, scattering four hits in the process.

Italy starting pitcher Edwardo Ferranti struck out seven of the first nine batters and allowed all three runs (on just four hits) in four-and-a-third innings of work. The Lazio squad broke the shutout in the sixth when Fabizio Brignani reached on an infield single, stole second base, moved to third on a wild pitch and touched home on Allesandro Grimaldo’s run-scoring groundout. Grimaldo also doubled for Lazio.

Aruba holds off late rallying CNMI

In the finale, Aruba South L.L. of San Nicolas, Aruba, stole 10 bases, a record for a Bangor Senior League World Series game, to power an 8-4 win over Saipan L.L., the Asia-Pacific champion.

Aruba South was led by Shawn Duinkerk, who singled twice, scored three runs, drove in two runs and stole three bases, while Mitchell Martes and Milton Croes each stole two bases.

Duinkerk (two-run single) and Juan Carlos Mancoin (run-scoring single) highlighted a four-run first inning rally that gave Aruba South the cushion it needed.

Richard Dela Cruz singled twice for Saipan, while Jesse Yamagishi and Carl Camacho hit RBI singles in the seventh.

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