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August 18, 2011 Italy becomes first team from Europe to reach semis Friuli Venezia Giulia scores big and holds on over Canada, U.S. East champs
Europe-Middle East-Africa champ Friuli Venezia Giulia L.L., Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, defeated U.S. East’s Easton/Home Run Baker L.L., Talbot, Md., 9-8 in the last pool play game of the series, securing second place in Pool A and the last semifinal berth. Earlier in the day, defending World Series champ Aruba South, San Nicolas, Aruba, clinched second place in Pool B and U.S. West’s Hilo, Hawaii secured first place in Pool B when Hilo beat U.S. Central’s Northeast/Fraternal Northwest, Midland, Mich., 7-1. It wasn’t easy for Friuli Venezia Giulia, as the Italians had to defeat Canada’s Notre-Dame-de-Grace in a 9 a.m. game to have a chance to play for a semifinal berth in its 8 p.m. game against Easton/Home Run Baker. The EMEA champ did just that, 13-7, using a seven-run second inning against the Canadians to take a quick 7-0 lead. Eleven batters stepped up to the plate in the inning for EMEA, and six of them got hits, led by Alessandro Tonzar, who singled twice – once to lead off the inning and later to drive in the last run of the inning. Down to 10 players because two had to leave for a family emergency and with a depleted pitching corps, Notre-Dame-de-Grace had to leave starting pitcher Liam Wyatt on the mound as long as possible. Canada struck back with five runs in the bottom of the third to cut Italy’s lead to two, 7-5. Once again, Oliver Singson came through for the team from Montreal, striking a three-run double to left field. Singson had hit a two-run, game-tying double against Rose Capital East, Tyler, Texas, Wednesday night.
In the top of the fifth, however, Notre-Dame-de-Grace’s Wyatt tired as he reached the pitch-count limit. Friuli Venezia Giulia scored three runs off him and scored two more off relievers Trevor Lall and Eric Punski. The Italians batted around again with the five-run outburst, getting three hits, one a two-run triple to center field by Daniele Furlan. Enrico Varin led Friuli Venezia Giulia, going 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. Furlan was 2-for-4 with his triple and a double, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Marco Mari, batting lead-off, was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Tonzar was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. For Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Punski was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. After the 13-7 win over Canada, the Italians had to wait until 8:25 p.m. to play against Easton/Home Run Baker to see who would advance to Friday’s 1 p.m. semifinal game. As with Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Friuli Venezia Giulia used a big inning in scoring first, putting eight runs on the scoreboard in the top of the third for an 8-0 lead. This time, 13 batters went to the plate as the EMEA champs pounded out six hits – most of them hard-hit. The U.S. East champs committed two errors, making three of the eight runs unearned. But just as some in the sparse crowd – most of whom were vocal for the team from Maryland – wondered whether the Italians would go a step further in upsetting perennial contender U.S. East and do it in a 10-run rule shortened game, the U.S. East champs answered with five runs of their own, cutting the eight-run deficit to only three runs. Taylor Slaughenhoupt drove in three runs by himself with a 340-foot double to left field that the left fielder misjudged and ended up having to almost do a back-flip in a last second attempt to glove the ball.
The EMEA champs answered with a run in the top of the sixth, on a sacrifice fly from Enrico Varin. Down 9-7 entering the bottom of the seventh, Easton/Home Run Baker’s Dustin Jones led off with a tripled to left-center field and quickly scored on a single by Blake, making it 9-8 in the Italians’ favor. After Blake was forced out at second base, putting Slaughenhoupt on, Brian Delaney ran for Slaughenhoupt and stole second. But a popout to first and a flyout to the second baseman secured the victory and semifinal berth for Friuli Venezia Giulia. Friuli Venezia Giulia/Notre-Dame-de-Grace box and play-by-play Friuli Venezia Giulia/Easton-Home Run Baker box and play-by-play Post game audio: Friuli Venezia Giulia Hilo secures semifinal berth with 4-0 record in Pool B
Hilo pitchers Jarett Kitaoka (three innings pitched), Quintin Torres-Costa (one inning), and Keenan Nishioka (two innings) kept the Michigan lineup hitless through five innings until Thomas Smith hit a grounder that skipped off the chest of the charging shortstop. The shortstop couldn’t come up with the ball and official scorer Al Hackett awarded Smith a hit. Logan Madill followed up with a solid single to left to remove any controversy, however. In the 2003 World Series, five Hilo, Hawaii, pitchers combined to no-hit Europe-Middle East-Africa champ Moscow, Russia. That team from Hilo went on the win the series. An error that Hackett did charge to the shortstop on a grounder by Matt Somers loaded the bases for Northeast/Fraternal Northwest, but a third-to-home-to-first double play and a groundout after a walk ended U.S. Central’s threat. Hilo was already leading 7-0 at the time, scoring three runs in the third, single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and two more in the sixth. Michigan scored its lone run of the game on a fielder’s choice in the seventh after Rico Angel led off with a walk, went to second on a single by Jonathan Hentschel and advanced to third on an error by the center fielder. Michael Wright scored him with a grounder to the shortstop, which forced out Hentschel at second base. Chayce Kaaua led the Hilo hitters, going 2-for-4 with a double, two runs batted in, and a run scored. For Northeast/Fraternal Northwest, Madill went 2-for-4. Post game audio: Northeast/Fraternal Northwest Palm Bay East overcomes big deficit to defeat Tanauan, 15-7
After Tanauan scored three runs in the first and four more in the second to take a 7-1 lead, Palm Bay East came back slowly, scoring twice in the third inning. Leading off the inning, Matt Rose doubled. Jim Tolle followed with an RBI single. Tolle himself scored on a throwing error by the third baseman later in the inning. Another U.S. Southeast run in the fourth cut Asia-Pacific’s lead to 7-4. But then Palm Bay East erupted for a seven-run rally in the fifth, enabling the Floridians to take a 10-7 lead. Twelve Palm Bay East batters went to the plate in the inning, but only four got hits, as Tanauan fielders committed three errors. None of the seven runs Tanauan gave up in the inning was earned. C.J. Goldsmith had the big hit in the inning, a two-run single that scored Matthew Meyer (fielder’s choice) and Matt Rose (single). Palm Bay East tacked on four runs in the sixth on four hits, three errors, two wild pitches, and a passed ball. At the plate for Palm Bay East, Rose and Tolle each went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Goldsmith was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. On the mound, Meyer logged 5 1/3 innings in relief, shutting down the Filipino offense on three hits and four walks. He struck out seven. For Tanauan, Miguel Olmos was 2-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored; Melvin Rosita was 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored; Christian Mercado was 2-for-4 with an RBI; Jemmy Lavado was 2-for-3 with a walk; and Russell Jake Mendoza was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Post game audio: Palm Bay East Rose Capital East puts away host Brewer/Orrington, 10-0 in 5 innings
Brewer/Orrington mustered only two hits off three Rose Capital East pitchers and committed three more errors. Rose Capital East lead-off hitter Seth Gibson went 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles, a run batted in, and two runs scored. Jacob Wadle was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Cade Suggs was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Kyle Alexander and Jeff Weeks had the only hits for Brewer/Orrington Post game audio: Rose Capital East Post game audio: Brewer/Orrington |
It’s the 10th year of the Senior League Baseball World Series, and now all nine regions and host
Maine District 3 have reached the semifinal round at least once.
Canada tied the game 7-7 with two runs in the fifth, on an RBI groundout by Laurent
Dupuis-Solliec and a throwing error by the catcher when his throw went into left field as Alex
Carmel stole third base, enabling Carmel to score.
Easton/Home Run Baker cut Friuli Venezia Giulia’s lead to just one run with two more runs in
the fifth, with Tayvon Blake hitting an RBI single and Justus Mills reaching on a fielder’s choice.
U.S. West champ Hilo L.L., Hilo, Hawaii, clinched first place in Pool B with a 7-1 win over U.S.
Central champ Northeast/Fraternal Northwest L.L., Midland, Mich., in the day’s 11:30 a.m.
game. Entering the game at 2-1, the U.S. Central champ needed to beat Hilo to force a three-way
tie for first place, as Hilo entered the game 3-0 and Aruba South had finished pool play
Wednesday with a 3-1 record.
With nothing but pride on the line, U.S. Southeast champ Palm Bay East L.L., Palm Bay, Fla.,
came back from a 7-1 deficit to Asia-Pacific’s Tanauan L.L., Tanauan City, Philippines, to win
15-7. Both teams had entered Thursday’s 2 p.m. contest with 0-3 records in Pool B.
In a tuneup for Friday’s 10 a.m. semifinal, U.S. Southwest champ Rose Capital East, Tyler,
Texas, scored five runs in the second inning and five more in the fourth for a 10-0 win over a
downtrodden Maine District 3 champ Brewer/Orrington, Brewer.