Summary:
Hamilton (Ohio) West Side Little League had scored seemingly at will as it marched toward the Little League World Series during the 2010 international tournament. The eleven-time Ohio champions opened tournament play with a football-like 37-0 scoreline in their District 9 tournament opener, began state tournament play with a 27-1 victory, and counted among its region tournament wins an 18-3 victory over the team it would eventually face again in the championship game. Overall, Hamilton outscored thirteen opponents by a 198-30 margin, and failed to score nine or more runs just once -- a 6-1 victory in the region semifinals where the Ohioans led from wire-to-wire and avenged their only loss to that point in the tournament.
But offense was a little harder to come by in the region championship game, when Moline National (Illinois) pitcher Mitchell Owens suffocated the Ohio offense for much of game. Hamilton's answer? Pitcher Cole Heflin, who provided his own offense, then made sure it would hold up.
Heflin drilled a one-out solo home run in the top of the first inning, then proceeded to retire the first thirteen hitters he faced against what was to that point the tournament's top-hitting team. Hamilton added three insurance runs in the sixth inning, and defeated Moline National, 4-0, at Stokely field in Indianapolis, Indiana. With the win, Hamilton returned to the Little League World Series for the second time in four years, and the fourth time in the league's history.
"It kind of sets in when you see the final out," said Hamilton manager Kenny Coomer, who was a coach on the league's most recent Little League World Series qualifier. "I'll just tell the kids to enjoy every second they're there. It's like Disney World for a twelve year old kid that plays baseball."
Heflin struck out eleven batters in an 82-pitch complete game effort. He didn't allow a baserunner until the fifth inning, when Ian McPherson reached on an error and Cacey O'Brien singled. Heflin ended the threat by inducing a popout and strikeout, then struck out the side in the sixth inning to seal the victory.
At the plate, the right-hander drilled a 1-1 pitch for a first inning home run, singled in the third, and then singled and scored in the sixth.
"He has the fight," said Coomer of his title game pitcher. "He wants to be the last guy standing out there. That's the kind of kid he is."
Heflin's effort came on the heels of Jarod Morrison's overpowering four-hitter in Hamilton's 6-1 semifinal round win over Terre Haute North (Indiana). The tall right-hander, considered Hamilton's ace throughout the international tournament, struck out 13 batters in 5-2/3 innings, walked just one, and silenced an Indiana team that had collected ten hits in the teams' earlier meeting. He also sparked the Ohio offense with a pair of home runs.
"I saw a little fear in their eyes when Jarod came out throwing today," noted Coomer after the win. "My only concern was that the game might get called and moved to tomorrow, and Jarod wouldn't have been able to come back."
The game started 45 minutes late after weather-related delays in the first semifinal round game, and then was delayed by an additional 1 hour and 47 minutes in the third inning due to lightning and rain.
Hamilton led 2-0 when the mid-game delay hit, courtesy of Morrison's two-out, two run homer in the first inning. When play resumed, Heflin drilled a two-run shot in the fourth, and Morrison led off the fifth with his second blast of the game and fourth of the tournament. Bryce Couch capped the scoring in the sixth, doubling with two outs and then scoring on a first-and-third baserunning sequence.
Brayton Hoppingarner supplied Terre Haute's run with a two-out, opposite field home run in the fifth.
"We just didn't hit today," said Terre Haute manager John Collett. "We've hit every kind of pitcher there is out there, but somehow the speed or the movement or something about his pitching has kept everybody in this tournament off-balance."
Hamilton started slowly in each of its first two matchups in Indianapolis, before finding their groove and rolling to wins over Owensboro Southern (Kentucky) and Moline National. Against Owensboro, 6-foot, 1-inch pitcher Aric Holman held the Ohio champions to just one run through four innings, but West Side broke through for eight runs against Holman and four Kentucky relievers in the final two innings of a 9-1 victory. Owensboro committed four errors in the game, including two early in the game that did not lead to runs but did help to drive up Holman's pitch count and lead to his early exit.
"Aric threw well enough to win," said Kentucky manager Vic Evans, Jr. "They're a great hitting team. They hit the ball with power up and down the lineup."
"This was not fun," Coomer remarked after his team finally subdued the Kentucky powerhouse. "I like the blowouts."
Before Hamilton pulled away, Owensboro threatened in each of the game's first three innings, getting two runners on base with one out in the first and second innings, and advancing a runner to second with one out in the third. In each case, Morrison registered a pair of strikeouts to elude danger. The right-hander struck out ten and allowed three hits while pitching into the sixth inning.
Shortstop Landon Stephens doubled and scored as part of Hamilton's three-run fifth inning rally, and then slammed a two-run homer as part of a five run flurry in the fifth. Heflin also homered, while Morrison doubled twice and Ryan Robinson collected a pair of hits and runs scored.
The next day, Hamilton broke the game open in the third, when a five-run rally gave West Side a 6-0 lead against Moline National. The teams traded runs over the next two innings before Hamilton buried Moline with a nine-run avalanche in the sixth.
"At state, we were jumping on people early," noted Coomer after the win. "But here it seems like we're feeling the pitcher out a little bit. It just takes one time through the lineup, and then we start settling down."
Sam Scott collected four hits to pace West Side's seventeen-hit attack, including a two-run homer in West Side's third inning rally. Heflin and Morrison each had three hits, while Couch contributed two hits, four runs scored, and four RBIs. Nine different Hamilton players hit safely in the game.
The final inning explosion was in part due to Illinois' decision to save some of its pitching for future games. The region tournament moved to a new schedule in 2010 in which each team played four pool games in four days rather than spreading out the schedule over six or more days. Many managers in both the Great Lakes and Midwest Region tournaments kept pitchers on shorter pitch counts to manage their eligibility from a day-to-day basis.
"We tried to throw (pitchers) in the last inning just to get by and save some kids for other days," said Moline manager Mike Owens, Jr. "It didn't work out real well. They're a strong hitting team."
The next day, both West Side and Terre Haute North had to reach deep into their pitching staffs, and the core of West Side's roster suffered the league's first loss in three years of tournament competition when the Indiana team held off Hamilton in an 11-9 contest. West Side had just five hits against four Indiana pitchers in the loss, but failed capitalize on ten walks and couldn't overcome a five-run fourth inning rally that snapped a 5-5 tie.
"I had three guys pitch tonight who hardly ever pitch, and they got the job done," said Collett, the Indiana manager. "We didn't have much pitching left tonight, and I don't think they did, either."
"We had our opportunities, but we didn't capitalize," said Coomer. "Of course, that's not what did it. Our defense is what got us."
West Side committed five errors in the game that led to six unearned Indiana runs. Two of the errors came in a three-run third inning rally that tied the score after Hamilton grabbed an early 5-2 advantage, and two more helped to fuel the five-run fourth that put Terre Haute in front for good.
The loss left four teams bunched at the top of the pool standings with 2-1 records entering the final day, and West Side secured the top seed entering the semifinal round with a 9-2 victory over Burlington (Wisconsin) Little League. Stephens opened the scoring by homering on the game's fourth pitch, and two batters later, Couch also homered. Heflin belted his first-ever grand slam in the second, putting Hamilton on-track for a sixth region semifinal round appearance in nine years.
"Any time you lead off a game with a home run, the kids' confidence just follows," noted Coomer of Stephens' opening salvo. "It was a great way to start the game."
The win set up a rematch with Terre Haute, and both managers knew that the dynamic would be different with Morrison and Terre Haute's T.J. Collett on the mound rather than other options from deeper in the team's rotation.
"We're playing the same team we played (earlier)," said John Collett. "But everyone knows this will be a different game. (Hamilton) will have their number one pitcher."
John Collett was prophetic, as both hurlers clamped down on the opposing offenses, and after West Side subdued Terre Haute to reach the title game, the Indiana manager offered another prediction.
"I think West Side is going to the World Series," John Collett predicted after the Ohio team ended his club's tournament season. "I think they'll go whether (Morrison) pitches or not."
Morrison was ineligible to throw in the title game, but Heflin was more than able to respond to the challenge and lead his team to South Williamsport with a stellar all-around effort against Moline National.
West Side opened play at the Little League World Series with a dream inning, scoring eight times in the top of the first and eventually toppling Toms River National (New Jersey) Little League by a 16-6 margin. Hamilton then fell, 6-0, to Columbus Northern (Georgia) Little League, and was eliminated after eventual U.S. champion Waipio Little League (Waipahu, Hawaii) rallied for a 6-4 victory in the pool's elimination bracket final.
Linescores:
| Pool Play Game 1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
R |
H |
E |
| Moline National (Illinois) |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
|
7 |
12 |
4 |
| Richmond (Michigan) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 2 |
| Hamilton West Side (Ohio) |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
|
9 |
8 |
0 |
| Owensboro Southern (Kentucky) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 3 |
| Terre Haute North (Indiana) |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
4 |
6 |
0 |
| Burlington (Wisconsin) |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
x |
|
5 |
5 |
0 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 4 |
| Hamilton West Side (Ohio) |
1 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
|
18 |
17 |
2 |
| Moline National (Illinois) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
3 |
7 |
4 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 5 |
| Terre Haute North (Indiana) |
0 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
12 |
12 |
2 |
| Owensboro Southern (Kentucky) |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
5 |
7 |
0 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 6 |
| Burlington (Wisconsin) |
4 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
|
|
|
13 |
11 |
3 |
| Richmond (Michigan) |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 7 |
| Burlington (Wisconsin) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Moline National (Illinois) |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
x |
|
7 |
8 |
0 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 8 |
| Richmond (Michigan) |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
|
8 |
12 |
0 |
| Owensboro Southern (Kentucky) |
2 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
9 |
11 |
4 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 9 |
| Terre Haute North (Indiana) |
0 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
|
11 |
10 |
1 |
| Hamilton West Side (Ohio) |
3 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
9 |
5 |
5 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 10 |
| Terre Haute North (Indiana) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Richmond (Michigan) |
3 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
x |
|
9 |
12 |
1 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 11 |
| Hamilton West Side (Ohio) |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
9 |
9 |
1 |
| Burlington (Wisconsin) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
2 |
6 |
2 |
|
|
| Pool Play Game 12 |
| Moline National (Illinois) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
|
7 |
10 |
1 |
| Owensboro Southern (Kentucky) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
3 |
4 |
2 |
|
|
| Semifinal Round |
| Burlington (Wisconsin) |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
5 |
7 |
1 |
| Moline National (Illinois) |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
x |
|
6 |
8 |
1 |
|
|
| Semifinal Round |
| Hamilton West Side (Ohio) |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
6 |
6 |
0 |
| Terre Haute North (Indiana) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
1 |
4 |
2 |
|
|
| Championship Game |
| Hamilton West Side (Ohio) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
4 |
7 |
1 |
| Moline National (Illinois) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
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Last revision: 06/12/2011
