Mid-Atlantic Delivers Win Over Midwest

By Justin Hawkins
justin@talkwilliamsport.com

The 2018 Little League World Series opened up Howard J. Lamade Stadium for the first time as the Mid-Atlantic Region; Mid Island Little League of Staten Island, New York; defeated the Midwest Region; Grandview Little League of Des Moines, Iowa; by a final score of 5-2.

After turning a 1-6-3 Double Play to face the minimum in the Top of the 1st, the Mid-Atlantic quickly answered in the bottom of the frame with lead-off man Chris Bedford reaching on a single and quickly going 1st to 3rd thanks to an E8. On the very next pitch, Bedford would score on a Wild Pitch to give the Mid-Atlantic the 1-0 lead through one inning.

The Midwest would respond in the Top of the 3rd inning with an RBI Single from Blake Larson, scoring Connor Duong, followed two batters later by an RBI Walk worked by Alex Stewart, scoring Maddox O’Connor and giving the Midwest a 2-1 lead in the Middle of the 3rd.

Wasting little time, the Mid-Atlantic offense would tie the game back up in the Bottom of the 3rd inning, again capitalizing on Midwest errors. This time, it would be Gregory Bruno with a one-out double, advancing to third on a Wild Pitch, and scoring on a throwing error from Midwest catcher Brayden Shutt.

At this point, the momentum was firmly behind the boys of Staten Island, as they struck out the side in the Top of the 4th inning, then would score two runs in the Bottom of the 4th. Logan Castellano would cross the plate first on a throwing error by Midwest right fielder Jace Embry, then John Calabrese would score on an RBI groundout hit by Jayson Hannah to push the Mid-Atlantic lead to 4-2.

The Mid-Atlantic would score an insurance run in the Bottom of the 5th Inning when the Midwest chose to intentionally walk Steven Martinez to get to Derek Mendez, and Mendez drilled an RBI Double to the wall. The Midwest would go in order in the Top of the 6th, allowing the Mid-Atlantic to come away with the 5-2 victory in the United States bracket opener.

With the win, the Mid-Atlantic moves on to the Winner’s Bracket and awaits the winner of the Southwest and New England for a meting on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

After suffering the loss, the Midwest now falls into the Loser’s Bracket and awaits the loser of the Southwest and New England for an elimination game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.