SOUTH BEACHES ADVANCES TO WORLD SERIES
By Derek Suomi // August 7, 2012
Rockledge Close To Title
[dopwgg id=”89″]
BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA – The South Beaches Little League All-Stars did it again Tuesday and in the process punched a ticket for the Senior League Baseball World Series in Bangor, Maine.
Facing Florida State champion Greater Largo in the Southeastern Regional championship game at Viera Regional Park, South Beaches used a 1-2 combination of strong pitching by Jake Walsh and timely hitting to win 10-0 and earn a berth in the world series championship tournament.
Walsh made little work of the Largo All-Stars in the top of the first, striking out the first two batters he faced and getting the easy ground out to end the inning.
South Beaches brought out the big bats right from the start, batting around in the first inning, as they posted four runs off of Largo pitcher Travis Carden. It was a trend that would see no end for Largo as South Beaches added another run in the second and two more in the 4th inning thanks to a two-run single off the bat of catcher Carson Jackson.
He would go on to seal the deal for South Beaches in the bottom of the 6th inning when he punched a two-run single into left field, bringing his RBI count to 5 on the day, evoking the mercy rule and lifting South Beaches to a 10-0 victory.
Jake Walsh was magnificent on the mound and absolutely overpowering, notching five strikeouts while shutting out Largo on just four hits over 6 innings of work.
South Beaches will play the winner of the winner of the U.S. West Region (Lemon Grove, Calif. or defending world series champion Hilo, Hawaii) at 5 p.m. Sunday at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.
On Aug. 14, South Beaches will face the U.S. Southwest Region champion West University Little League of Houston, Texas at 8 p.m., then meets the Asia-Pacific Region winner Bayside-Westhaven, New Zealand at 1 p.m. Aug. 15.
The final pool game for South Beaches will be at 10 a.m. Aug. 16 against European Region champ Emilia, Italy.
This is the third consecutive year that a team from Brevard County has appeared in the Senior League World Series. In 2010 and 2011, Palm Bay East Little League won the Southeastern Regional tournament and traveled to Maine for the competition.
Junior Baseball
Undefeated Rockledge continued its winning ways this morning by beating Dumfries, Va. 7-1 in a regional semifinal in Greenville, S.C.
For Rockledge, Drew Parrish was 2-for-4, with two runs scored and an RBI and Kevin Clanton was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Mason Studstill also homered.
The turning point of the game came in the fourth inning with Rockledge leading 3-1.
Dumfries loaded the bases with no outs and Kevin Clanton came on in relief and was able to work out of the jam without giving up a run.
That sets up a 6 p.m. showdown tonight between Tennessee state champion Greeneville and Rockledge for the Southeastern Junior Baseball Regional title.
At stake is a berth in the Junior League Baseball World Series in Taylor, Mich. starting Sunday.
