Two pitchers from the Latin America team from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, combined to throw a one-hit shutout in a 4-0 victory over the Canadian team out of Vancouver at the Little League World Series on Friday in South Williamsport, Pa.
Andres Reyes Querales did the bulk of the work and recorded the win, allowing one hit over five innings of work with seven strikeouts to three walks. Sebastian Lopez replaced him and threw a perfect sixth inning with one strikeout to preserve the victory.
Santiago Martinez had the only extra-base hit of the game, a leadoff double in the bottom of the second inning, and later scored as part of a three-run inning for the Venezuelan team, which improved to 2-0 and will face the 1-0 team from Japan on Monday.
Tyson Grimsrud-Ronse broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the top of the fifth, but he never advanced as the next three batters struck out.
Nevada 5, Washington 3
Cache Malan homered and hit a double to lead Las Vegas Summerlin Little League, representing the Mountain Region, to a victory over Bonney Lake-Sumner Little League.
Batting third in the lineup, Malan hit a first-inning double and came around to score as the second run of the inning. He added a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to give Nevada some insurance, extending the lead to 4-1 before Mason Schutte singled another run home.
Washington plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth on Mason Woods’ sacrifice fly and Finn Harrington’s double, bringing the tying run to the plate before a strikeout by Andrew Madsen ended the game.
Aruba 8, Panama 2
Arnold Gismar Martha retired Panama’s first 13 batters and scored two runs as Aruba, representing the Caribbean region, won its LLWS opener while handing Panama (1-1) its first loss.
Shortstop Diliano Raven went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to highlight Aruba’s eight-hit attack. Josiah Koolman’s second-inning single drove in Jeter Filiciana to open the scoring. The Aruba Center Little League team from Santa Cruz, Aruba, pushed its lead to 4-0 with three runs in the fourth.
Gismar Martha struck out eight of the first 13 batters he faced. Josmar Planes broke up his perfect-game bid with a one-out single to center in the fifth. Planes scored on Emanuel Flores’ double down the left field line to cut the margin to 4-1, but Aruba broke it open with four in the sixth.
Flores gave up four hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings as the starting pitcher for Panama, represented by the Vacamonte Little League of Arraijan.
Connecticut 5, Hawaii 1
Luca Pellegrini’s two-out double capped a five-run, fifth-inning rally as Fairfield (Conn.) National Little League, representing the Metro Region, topped Honolulu Little League, representing the West Region.
Brian Palazzolo’s bases-loaded walk pulled Connecticut into a 1-1 tie in the fifth. A two-run error broke the tie before Pellegrini padded the margin. Reliever Tommy D’Amura got the win after throwing three scoreless innings.
Bronson Fermahin struck out eight in four scoreless innings for Hawaii. He allowed one hit and walked three. Josh Tanaka’s third-inning double drove in Hawaii’s lone run.
–Field Level Media
