Four quiet innings, then everything at once
Two bunt singles started it. Logan Edwards and Michael Kleiner both beat the ball back to pitcher Kasen Workman, and Tacoma, Wash., suddenly had a problem with no obvious answer. A wild pitch moved both runners up. An error on the same play let Edwards scamper home. Four scoreless innings undone inside a minute of baseball.
Henderson, Nev., turned that opening into a 5-0 win over Tacoma on Sunday morning at the Little League Baseball World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
James Esber singled Kleiner to third. Adrian Cruz brought him in with a sacrifice fly to centre field. From 2-0, Henderson kept the line moving with four more singles and three more runs, all in the same fifth inning.
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McFarland holds the other end
Brooks McFarland gave Nevada five innings of two-hit ball. He walked four and struck out five, and Tacoma never got a runner across against him. Edwards, who had scored the run that cracked the game open, came in to close it out on the mound.
That is the sort of afternoon that decides these tournaments. Henderson did not out-hit Tacoma for four innings. It simply took the one inning where the defence blinked and refused to give it back.
Where both teams stand now
Henderson move to 2-0. Tacoma slip to 2-1 and drop into the lower bracket of the double-elimination format, where the next defeat ends the run entirely.
South Williamsport has already produced a walk-off, a pair of no-hitters and a weather-hit schedule this year. Sunday added a shutout built almost entirely on bunts, wild pitches and one bad throw.
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