August 19, 2010

Bangor East/West stuns defending champ West University to advance to semifinals

2-run home run in 7th continues host’s magical run

By Chris DeBeck

Assistant Information Director

The semifinal matchups are set after a pair of dramatic wins during the final day of pool play of the 2010 Senior League World Series.

Aruba South (3-1 World Series record) will face South Vineland, N.J. (4-0) in the day’s first semifinal at 11:30 a.m., followed by a matchup between Bangor (3-1) and Manhattan Beach, Calif. (4-0) in the 2:30 p.m. contest. The semifinal winners will meet in the championship game on Saturday at noon.

Host Bangor clinched second place in Pool A with a 4-3 win over defending champion West University, of Houston, Texas, courtesy of Josiah Hartley’s two-run homer to center in the top of the seventh inning.

Hartley’s homer, which came on the second pitch off West University reliever Andrew Waters, gave Bangor its first lead of the day. From there, relief pitcher Curtis Worcester held the U.S. Southwest regional champions at bay, coaxing a groundout and strikeout to end the game.

West University scored the game’s first three runs, opening the scoring on Luke Cone’s single to right in the second. Cone also singled home a run in the fourth to increase West University’s lead to 2-0 and later scored on wild pitch to increase the lead to 3-0.

West University starting pitcher Stewart Cartwright had Bangor batters off balance, allowing just one hit in the first five innings and striking out seven. Cartwright earned the save in the 2009 championship game, in which West University defeated Niles-Centerville L.L., f Fremont, Calif., 9-7.

Bangor finally broke through in the sixth inning. Nic Cota singled and stole second to start the inning, then scored on Seth Freudenberger’s triple, then Freudenberger came home on Jesse Wood’s single to left.

Wood kept Bangor in the game, pitching out of several jams during his six innings of work. He walked one batter, hit another, and struck out four while scattering seven hits.

Bangor, the District 3 champion, made history again on Thursday by advancing out of pool play for the first time since the Senior League World Series came to Bangor in 2002.

Matt Luna singled three times for 2-2 West University, while Cone added two singles and two RBIs.

Manhattan Beach, Calif., secures top seed in Pool B,
6-3 over Holmes County, Ohio

Manhattan Beach, Calif. clinched the top spot in Pool B with a 6-3, 10-inning win over Holmes County, breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth courtesy of a Bret Collins RBI single.

Collins finished with three singles for the West regional champions, who won their 19th tournament game in a row and will face Maine District 3 host champion Bangor East/West L.L., of Bangor in Friday’s 2:30 p.m. semifinal.

Ian McLoughlin (two singles, two RBIs), Anthony Lombard (two singles, RBI) and Turner Conrad (double, single) provided offensive support for Manhattan Beach, who scored four runs in the ninth to secure a semifinal berth.

Winning pitcher Morgan Asher allowed just two hits and one earned run in 4 1/3 innings of relief, striking out five straight batters in the sixth and seventh innings.

Trent Hammond’s RBI single in the third scored Conrad (double) to give Manhattan Beach a 1-0 lead, and the California club doubled its advantage in the fourth on McLaughlin’s RBI single to right, which scored Ryan Erickson (double).

Richie Mast’s two-out single in the fourth scored Luke Bunch to allow Holmes County, Ohio, to cut the lead to 2-1. The U.S. Central regional champion tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth on Bunch’s RBI groundout, which allowed Ryan Troyer to cross home plate.

Holmes County scored once more in the bottom of the ninth on Grant Troyer’s run-scoring single to left.

Bunch singled three times for Holmes County, which finished at 2-2 after entering the day’s play mathematically alive for a semifinal berth.

South Vineland tunes up for semifinal with 11-6 win over Italy

U.S. East regional champion South Vineland (N.J.) capped pool play at 4-0 with an 11-6 win over Lazio, Italy, scoring nine runs in the fifth inning to break the game open.

Leading the South Vineland offense were Jerrod Corniell (three singles, RBI) and Chris Adorno (two singles, two RBIs), while Mike Beltran scattered 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings to earn the pitching win.

Valerio Lucini hit three singles and drove in a run to lead Lazio, the Europe-Middle East-Africa regional champion, to finish at 1-3. Allessandro Grimaudo added two singles and Roberto Colainni doubled and drove in three runs.

Palm Bay, Fla., comes back to beat Saipan, 6-5

Palm Bay East (Fla.) closed its World Series with a 6-5 come-from-behind win over Saipan L.L. of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to finish at 1-3 in Pool B play.

Gardner Knight’s RBI single to left scored Matt Rose with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, his second hit in as many innings.

Knight also singled home in the sixth as Palm Bay scored four runs to tie the game at 5-5, as did teammates Matt Romandetti, Andrew Guzman and Matt Myer.

Romandetti (three singles, two RBIs), Guzman (two singles) and Parker (two singles) paced the Palm Bay offense, while winning pitcher Jimmy Tolle retired all five batters he faced in 1 2/3 innings to pick up the victory.

Saipan – 0-4 in pool play – took a quick 5-0 lead in the top of the first, a rally highlighted by Jeremy Lizama’s two-run double and Ricardo Delacruz’s triple.

Harry Nakamura singled twice for the Asia-Pacific champions, while starting pitcher Gregorio Iskawa struck out 11 batters in five innings of work.

Printer friendly version