My poor  favorite Pool B team from the Midwest, South    Dakota has only one more shot at winning a game at  the Little League World Series. They need to win to have any chance to advance with the possibility of a three way tie with New England (Sheldon, CT) and West (Waipahu, HI). A little luck couldn't hurt either. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, Shelton, Conn., scored  two runs in the second inning to take the lead, then broke the game open with  seven more in the fourth inning for a 9-4 win over the Chrystal Lake Little  League team from Rapid City,   S.D. on Saturday.

Rapid City’s Matt Minnick continued his hot hitting – now 17-for-22 since the Midwest Region began – when he tripled in the first inning. He later scored on a wild !http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-20457/Get-the-ball-in.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9625|height=313|style=padding:8px;|align=left|width=333|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-20457/Get-the-ball-in.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9625!pitch and the South Dakota champions had their first run and their first lead of the World Series. After being shut down by Cale Fierro in the first inning, Shelton took the lead with a two-out rally in the second, thanks to three singles and two Rapid City errors.

Eddie Kochiss, Jason Hafele and Matt Stoll all singled, but none of the Shelton runs were earned since all three eventually scored on Rapid City errors. In the fourth inning, Shelton also benefited from Rapid City errors. Shelton scored seven times on just three hits. Pat Murphy singled to get the rally started and Tyler Tice had a two-out RBI single to make the score 6-1. "It was kind of hard but we got through it and came back today and did our best," said Tyler Tice, who scored in a seven-run fourth inning. After another Rapid City error allowed two more Shelton runs to score, Marcello Ursini had the big blow – a home run to left field to give Shelton a 9-1 lead.

"You win 18 or 19 in a row to get here, and then you lose one and the shoulders drop," said Shelton manager Ed Szymansky, whose team lost 3-1 to Waipahu (Hawaii) Friday night in a game delayed 1 hour, 25 minutes by rain. "We had a talk in the room after last night. Don't look behind you, look ahead."

Rapid City fought back to score three times in the bottom of the sixth – thanks to an RBI double by Minnick and a two-RBI single by Jesse Riddle – but it wasn’t enough to keep from falling to 0-2 in Pool B. Shelton plays a final crucial Pool B game Monday at 6 p.m. against Tampa, Fla. Tampa is unbeaten in the pool after a 10-0 win over Rapid City.

Rapid City (0-2) closes out its World Series run at 3 p.m. on Monday against Waipahu, Hawaii. I’m afraid this will be the last game for Chrystal Lake but it will be a big one. The game will be televised on ABC rather than ESPN. Not the boys will really have something to talk about when the get home

BOX SCORE

    Rapid City, S.D.                        100 003 – 4 5 5

    Shelton, Conn.* 020 70x – 9 6 0*

    W – Bobby Moretti (1-0). L – Cale Fierro (0-1). 2B – Alec Winter (RC), Matt Minnick (RC). 3B – Matt Minnick (RC). HR – Marcello  Ursina (S).

Pool B  Records – Rapid City 0-2, Shelton 1-1.