Sweetwater Valley Little League was sent to the losers’ bracket at the Little League World Series Sunday when the team from Bonita was defeated by a Texas team.
For its first 17 games, Sweetwater Valley Little League’s bats were unstoppable, that is, until the Bonita all-stars faced West Pearland Little League‘s starting pitcher Ben Gottfried on Sunday.
In 4-2/3 innings, Gottfried limited Sweetwater Valley’s high-powered offense to one run on seven strikeouts, and just three hits. Texas went on to defeat the Sweetwater Valley team 8-4 in the nationally-telecast game.
Not only was it the team’s first loss, it was also the first time their offense scored less than six runs. The struggles were also present on defense as Sweetwater Valley committed 5 errors, made mostly in a rough third inning where West Pearland plated five runners.
The bats did not wake up until the bottom half of the sixth, when a three-run homer by outfielder Dante Schmid made a small dent in the deficit.
Bonita’s starting pitcher, Antonio Andrade, went 2-2/3 innings and gave up five runs on five hits. He also scored the team’s first run on a double hit by shortstop Levi Mendez in the third inning. Andrade reached first on a dropped third strike.
Sweetwater Valley will play Cranston Western, from Rhode Island, at 5 p.m. Monday.
The Bonita team opened play in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA, by defeating the team representing Kentucky’s Bowling Green Eastern Little League, the Great Lakes Region champion, 14-2, on Friday in a game called in the top of the fourth inning because of the 10-run rule.
Sweetwater Valley tied a Little League World Series record by hitting five home runs in the third inning in that game.
— City News Service
Updated at 5:45 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23
