SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Quite a day Wednesday at the boys Little League Baseball World Series openers.
Temperatures at Williamsport, Pa., was in a comfortable low 70s, the usual good crowd was present, and some interesting games were played.
The four contests began with Santiago Panama blanking Europe-Africa Czech Republic, 4-0, powered by Omar Vargas’ third inning grand slam home run.
And it also brought the first of no-hitters when Panama righthander Justin Rojas went the full six innings with 13 strikeouts and a pair of walks.
Then came an epic battle, five-time WS champion Japan against the first time appearance of Bayona, Cuba, and it wound down with a no-hit, 1-0 win for the Toyko representative behind righthander Chad Niuda, who whiffed 13 and issued two passes.
Japan tallied the lone run in the first inning off of bespeckled righty Uchieaki Hinata, and it also brought the lone hit of the tight clash.
With one out, Dekae Juko drew a full count walk, sped to second on a passed ball, and tallied on Chad Bailei’s bouncer up the middle.
It stayed that way in front of a tense crowd, far more from Japan because of difficulty arranging admittance for Cubans to the United States. Others attending were treated to a first-ever meeting of the two, with Bayona as Cuba’s oldest city.
For the Cubans, it was truly something new for a nation that had been a world-wide power for ages, and was well represented against the skilled, talented Japanese.
In the USA game pairing Metro champion Smithtown, Rhode Island with Mountain winner Henderson, Navada, it was another stellar pitching dual as Rhode Island southpaw Connor Curtis went 5 and 1/3 innings of one-hit ball in the 3-1 triumph.
Nevada had its lone hit in the top of the sixth frame, and one batter later Curtis reached the pitching count requirement. He whiffed 15 and walked one, and Smithtown came up with three hits.
In the other U.S. contest, Needville, Texas represented the Southwest in its first-time in the World Series and got past Media, Pennsylvania of the Mid-Atlantic, 2-1.
The star for Texas East was 5-foot-3 crafty southpaw D.J. Jablonski. The little guy fanned 13 that included his final batter in the last of the sixth inning via the pitch count.
He was relieved with two out by fellow lefthander Liam Wells, who walked his first hitter on four consecutive pitches. But he then settled down and got the final batter on a ground ball to shortstop.
In defeat, Austin Crowley hurled real well for the Pennsylvania team, striking out 11 in five and one-third innings, walking one, and being reached for three hits.
Thursday’s schedule also includes four games, leading off with Sydney, Australia, against Willemstad, Curacao, followed by Seattle, Washington, versus Gray, Maine, in the USA game.
Then comes Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei, facing Regina, Saskatchewan, and winding up in the other U.S. game with New Albany, Ohio, going against El Segundo, California.
