The Little League World Series US First Round games continued this afternoon as the Northwest, represented by the Walla Walla Valley Little League from Walla Walla, Washington tooks on the West, represented by the Santa Margarita Little League from Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
For the Northwest, they tried to find some early momentum as Andrew Hall worked a one-out walk in the Top of the 1st inning, but was left stranded at 2nd as the next two batters were retired in order.
The West started things off in the same way, this time as a lead-off walk by Tyler Ankrum. Two batters later, Drew Rutter would give the West a chance to score an early run with a double, however a baserunning mistake by Ankrum held the run off the board. The good news for the West is that they still had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. The situation would be made even better as Mason Kellerman would work a walk to load-up the bases for third baseman Joey Gray. Gray would not disappoint, as he got a payoff pitch to his liking, and took it over the right field wall for the West’s first home run of the Series, the second grand slam of the 2017 Little League World Series, and most importantly a 4-0 lead for the West.
Things would quiet down in the second inning, as both teams would be retired in order as Northwest pitcher Caiden Thomsen and West pitcher Bobby Gray settled in on the hill.
The third inning would see the Northwest go down in order once again by the hand of Bobby Gray, and in the bottom of the frame, Bobby’s brother Joey would line an RBI single through the gap to extend the west lead to 5-0. Joey West also accounted for all five RBIs for the West at that point.
Things would go quiet in the ballgame again until the Bottom of the 5th inning, which saw the West capitalize on walks, past balls, and two Northwest errors. The only RBI in the frame would come from Mason Kellerman as his single brought around Bobby Gray to make it 6-0 in favor of the West. The West would send 10 men to the plate, bringing around Bobby Gray, Drew Rutter, Mason Kellerman, and Joey Gray to make it a 9-0 ballgame. Unfortunately, Bobby Gray would strike out with the bases loaded during his second at-bat of the inning to end the threat.
Things would not go better for Bobby Gray in the Top of the 6th inning, as he got a 4-3 groundout from Drew Coleman but that was followed up with a single from Andrew Hall, ending Gray’s no-hit bid on the final batter he would face on the day.
Bryan Ramirez would come on in relief for the West and get into further trouble, giving up a walk and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with two outs. He would induce a pop-up from Hayden Lomeli to complete a one-hit ballgame, and give the West the 9-0 victory over the Northwest.
For the West, they now advance in the Winner’s bracket to face the winner of the Midwest and the Southeast on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. For the Northwest, they fall into an elimination game on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. at Howard J. Lamade Stadium, where they will face the loser of the Midwest and the Southeast.
Don’t forget to stay tuned to Talk Williamsport to keep up with all the action happening at the Little League World Series with our In-Game Updates presented by UPMC Susquehanna, the official Sports Medicine provider of the Little League World Series; find out what you missed with our Post-Game recaps on talkwilliamsport.com; and you can pick up your official Talk Williamsport World Series pin at our studios, located at 460 Market Street Suite 310, during our normal business hours.
