Harksen to Evans to Schwartz.

It doesn't have the same ring as Tinkers to Evers to Chance, and it didn't even result in a double play. But in the Central Region tournament championship game, a relay executed by the three Davenport East (Iowa) Little League fielders was pitcher Nick Mirfield's best friend.

With a runner on first base and two outs in the top of the first inning, Chicago Westlawn Little League slugger Alex Robles drilled a laser into the right-centerfield gap. The runner on first tried to score on the play, but the relay from right fielder Nick Harksen to second baseman Justin Evans to catcher Michael Schwartz was in time to throw out the runner and end the inning. As innocuous as it seemed at the time -- Westlawn fails in the first, and Davenport is coming to bat -- it was the turning point in the game. Davenport East went on to defeat Westlawn 6-4 to win the Central Region tournament and qualify for the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The scoreless first inning left Iowa in a dramatically better position than when the teams first met. In pool competition, Robles -- a .684 hitter at the region tournament -- launched a first inning grand slam that gave Westlawn a 4-0 lead before Davenport managed to retire a batter. The homer carried Illinois to a 9-4 win that clinched first place in the American pool.

Robles' homer was also vintage Westlawn baseball. Westlawn, appearing in the Central Region title game for the second year in a row and for the fourth time in the league's history, scored in the first inning in five of its six games leading up to championship contest. Westlawn led by five or more runs after two innings in four of those games. Davenport, by contrast, never trailed in their five pre-title game victories, and used strong pitching and defense to shut down its opponents.

After the first inning relay, the title game was played Davenport style: the Iowa champs kept Westlawn off the scoreboard until the fourth, and built an early 5-0 lead that held up against a furious Illinois rally.

Davenport jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second, when a pair of errors brought home Shane White and Schwartz. Mirfield registered a 1-2-3 inning against the top of the Westlawn batting order in the third -- a rarity against the potent Chicago offense -- and Davenport extended the lead on homers by Michael Mitchell (solo shot) and Evans (two-run blast) in the bottom of the inning. Westlawn sliced the lead on back-to-back homers from Robles and Mark Evans in the fourth, and pulled to within 6-4 on Chris Chojnowski's two-run blow in the sixth. Later that inning, Mirfield stranded the tying run on base with a game-ending strikeout that sent Davenport East back to the Little League World Series for the second time in the league's history.

Westlawn scored 13 runs in its two meetings with Davenport East. By contrast, Iowa's other five opponents combined for only five runs. Staff workhorse Dan O'Donnell led the way, allowing only two runs (one earned) while pitching three complete games. O'Donnell's three-hitter led Davenport past Rapid City Canyon Lake (South Dakota) 5-1 on the tournament's first day. He returned to strike out eleven while beating Canfield (Ohio) 4-1 later in pool competition, and held Oak Creek American (Wisconsin) to two hits in a 13-0 four inning semifinal round blowout.

O'Donnell received plenty of help from his teammates. Mitchell hit .500 (11-for-22), scored ten runs, and led the tournament with four homers. He also made the 8-3 groundout relatively routine by throwing out a pair of baserunners from his perch in shallow center field. Julian Vander Velde was homerless -- his twelve round-trippers in the District 2 and Iowa state tournaments helped Davenport reach Indianapolis -- but still scored five times and drove in five runs. And Mirfield picked up victories in Iowa's two closest games, beating Westlawn in the title game and outdueling 6' ace Adam Weber in Davenport's 2-1 win over Minnesota's Little Lakes East in pool competition.

While Davenport and Westlawn were rolling through the American pool, Oak Creek American kept things exciting in the National pool. Oak Creek became the first region semifinalist from Wisconsin since 1990 by winning four games in its last at-bat. The defending Wisconsin champions were the victim of a one-hit, 24 strikeout performance by Brownsburg (Indiana) fireballer Zach Mills in the nightcap of the tournament's first day, but still managed a fourteen inning, 2-1 victory. Wisconsin ace Tony Butler (three tournament wins) matched Mills pitch-for-pitch, registering 20 strikeouts of his own, and keeping the game tied 1-1 through nine innings. Both pitchers were replaced after pitching the maximum allowable nine innings, and the game was suspended after thirteen full innings before Oak Creek squeaked out the win the next morning. Butler returned later in pool competition to strike out thirteen and throw a four-hitter as Oak Creek beat Owensboro Southern (Kentucky) 1-0 in seven innings, and he pitched a no-hitter (fourteen strikeouts) against Eastwood (Comstock, Michigan) in the final round of pool competition.

Oak Creek's luck ran out in the semifinal round. With Butler at shortstop but poised for a potential championship game pitching assignment, Davenport East batted around and scored seven runs in the top of the first inning before cruising to a 13-0 win. Harksen's bases-loaded triple extended the Iowa lead to 7-0 and effectively put the game out of reach. Twin Cities (Festus/Crystal City, Missouri) rebounded from a 1-2 start to claim the final semifinal round berth, but Robles and Evans both delivered two-run singles in the second inning as Westlawn notched a 7-1 semifinal round win.

Davenport held its own at the Little League World Series. The Central representative won two of its three games in the United States pool, and became the first Central Region team to reach the semifinal round since Southport (Indiana) in 1984. Davenport finished as the U.S. runner-up after dropping an 8-0 decision to Bellaire (Texas) in the U.S. championship game.

Linescores:

Semifinal	1	2	3	4	5	6		R	H	E
Davenport East	7	0	0	6				13	15	0
Oak Creek American	0	0	0	0				0	2	5
Semifinal
Chicago Westlawn	2	4	0	0	1	0		7	7	0
Twin City	0	0	0	0	0	1		1	5	3
Championship Game
Chicago Westlawn	0	0	0	2	0	2		4	8	3
Davenport East	0	0	2	3	1	x		6	9	1

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2001 Great Lakes Tourney

2001 Midwest Tourney

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