Maryland Blows Open Pitchers' Duel to Advance

LLWS_Active — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:35:00 GMT

Like two evenly matched boxers, Craig East and Jeffery Miller stood toe-to-toe and traded punches. For five innings, the two pitchers for West Salisbury, Maryland, and Northhampton, Pennsylvania, respectively, stared each other's batters down, creating a scoreless pitchers' duel.

And then one of them blinked.

Maryland got to Miller and scored four runs in the top of the final inning to win, 4-0, and will represent the Mid-Atlantic Region at the Little League World Series next week in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Miller, who'd faced just 18 batters and allowed only two hits over five innings, gave up a bloop hit Maryland's leadoff hitter in the sixth, Seth Windmuller. An intentional walk to Connor Shockley put runners on first and second, setting the stage for a showdown with Maryland third baseman, Canaan Cropper.

Cropper worked Miller to a 3-2 count, and then lined a grounder through the gap between first and second. Two runs scored on the play, and though he struck out the next two batters, Miller's spell was broken.

And then East helped his own cause in a big way. With two outs and a man on, East launched Miller's first pitch (photo above) into the bleachers in left-center, adding two more runs and sealing the win for Maryland.

In the bottom half of the frame, East walked Miller before getting a fielder's choice and two strikeouts--his 10th and 11th of the game--to put Maryland through to Williamsport.

East, who according to his coaches was the No. 3 pitcher for West Salisbury just a few weeks ago, allowed just two hits in the complete-game win. After the game, East said that "hitting spots on first pitches" was the key to his success. East added in a steady diet of curve balls to "cross them up," as well as a sidearm delivery "every once in a while" that befuddled the Pennsylvania bats.

Miller, to his credit, mixed up a 70-mph fast ball with a big curve ball to be equally devastating for five innings. In fact, over the first five innings, both hurlers threw 64 pitches. Miller had faced just 18 batters and struck out seven, while East had faced 23 and struck out nine. Miller finished with nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. "Miller pitched a great game," said Maryland coach Bill Crooper. "It took us six innings to get to him."

Maryland came into the regional playoffs seeded third, and came from five runs down to New York just a day earlier before winning, 11-10, to make the final against Pennsylvania. "We showed last night that we can come back," said East. Now the team takes that tenacity to Pennsylvania, where they'll open on Saturday against West Region champion, Chandler, Arizona.

2007 Little League World Series: Mid Atlantic

Maryland Blows Open Pitchers' Duel to Advance