The Encinitas Little League All-Stars team took revenge against the Wylie Little League All-Stars team Wednesday when it eliminated Texas from the Junior Little League World Series in Taylor, Michigan.
In the World Series opener Sunday, Wylie defeated Encinitas 12-8. On Wednesday, it was a different story. The West Region champs defeated their Texan foes 11-3.
Coming into Wednesday’s morning game, Encinitas Little League president Robert Wade said the team had analyzed what cost it the win Sunday — walks. The team that walks more batters in the game typically loses, he said.
“We want to make sure that we focus on throwing strikes, letting them put the ball in play and letting our defense work for us.”
The Southwest Region champs from Abilene, Texas took an early lead in the first inning. Riley Hood doubled on a fly ball bringing in Reed Hills and Balin Valentine. Sean Alvarez answered back with a single, driving in one run.
That lead was short-lived. Encinitas took the lead for good in the second inning with four runs. Julian Nunez started the streak with a single for one run. Noah Simon then scored off an error by right fielder Walker Piland. Alvarez drove in one run with a single and an error by Valentine off a Jack Maes’ grounder allowed Nunez to score.
After Cooper Cothran’s score off Valentine’s double line drive, Encinitas had six unanswered points for the win.
“We gave up two runs in the first, came back and just kept putting hits on the board and moving runners around and had a couple clutch at-bat by several people,” Encinitas manager Danny Muckley said. “Our starting pitcher (Brady Burger) who pitched 6 1/3 innings not only did a great job setting on their team but he also was 3-for-3 today with very hard, well-hit balls.”
The West Region champs will face the winner of the Southeast-East game at 4 p.m. Pacific Time Thursday. Encinitas is one game away from playing for the US championship but the team said it is not looking that far ahead and only taking it one game at a time.
“All the teams at this level are really, really good teams,” Muckley said. “If we continue to pull strikes and the play the kind of games we’ve been playing all summer, I think we have a really good chance of coming out with another W or two.”
