Section1Guy: Game 1--Walpole, Mass. vs Hamilton Westside, Ohio

Luke_Active — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:38:00 GMT

From Section1Guy:

What a great opening game for the Little League World Series in 2007. I saw Massachusetts play all week long in Bristol during the regionals and they simply win ball games. They're one of the smallest teams I've seen at this level. They don't have a dominant pitcher or a dominant bat. They look like interchangeable units throughout the lineup. Westside American from Hamilton, Ohio, is one of the powerhouses of the Central Region in Little League. This is their third trip to Williamsport. A very impressive went feat.

Ohio's Kyle Cotcamp gave up only three runs in 16 2/3 innings during their regional run and he continued to pitch well by keeping Massachusetts scoreless through five innings. His counterpart, Sam Faulkson, was just as impressive keeping the Ohio hitters off balance and giving up one lone run from a passed ball. Massachusetts' bats came alive in the sixth inning, though, with a big double in the gap for John White that plated two runs to take the lead. Massachusetts added another insurance run which would become very important.

In the bottom of the inning, Faulkson lost some of his location. He hit the first batter and walked the second of the inning. A sacrifice bunt left Ohio with runners on 2nd and 3rd. A passed ball plated Ohio's second run, but with two outs and a runner on third, John Cornette came to the plate Cornette had three home runs in the regional and with an 0-2 count drove a fastball to deep center field. Massachusetts' Mike Rando went back to the wall, steadied himself, timed his jump, and...came down with an amazing catch leaning over the wall. He brought back a potential walk-off home run and Massachusetts left Game 1 of the LLWS with a 3-2 victory to move to 1-0 in Pool Play. Ohio falls to 0-1.

The catch was one of the best warning track/wall catches I've seen in Williamsport. The first was definitely the full-speed leap into the wall a few years ago by a player from the Midwest. This catch by Rando may be second due to the magnitude of the play. Massachusetts continued to get great pitching from Faulkson who finds ways to get people out. John Adams picked up the one-out save.

I'll have another blog later on tonight about the other U.S. game. Thoughts on Japan/Curacao and Maracaibo/Taiwan will come with it.

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Section1Guy: Game 1--Walpole, Mass. vs Hamilton Westside, Ohio