Boerne is fourth-best Little League team in the world amongst 7,000 teams
The Boerne Little League’s historic and record-setting season didn’t have the story-book ending they were hoping for but they still finished as the second- best team in the nation and fourth best team in the world.
Florida (Southeast) put together a stunning comeback in Saturday’s U.S. championship game to take the U.S. title over Boerne (Southwest), 10-7.
Boerne coach Justin Newson spoke with the team after Saturday’s loss.
“Hold your head high, this was the best summer of my life coaching y’all. Don’t let this one game define everything that we accomplished all summer,” he said. “I know some of you didn’t have your best tournament and best game, but guys, y’all are somewhere that hardly anybody ever gets to play.”
Saturday’s loss moved Boerne to Sunday’s third-place game against Venezuela where the international team won, 4-3.
Boerne rolled into the weekend undefeated and held leads in both of last weekend’s games but the other teams, Florida and Venezuela, managed to rally late and get the wins.
Boerne was trying to be the first Texas team to win a U.S. World Series title since 1966.
Boerne vs. Lake Mary, Florida
Boerne was cruising early in Saturday’s U.S. championship game and held a 4-0 lead halfway through the contest that was played before an announced crowd of almost 28,000 fans.
Boerne’s chances were derailed after three players suffered injuries in Saturday’s seesaw contest that featured seven ties or lead changes in the final three frames.
Jett Matthews and Aiden Munoz reached and scored in the first frame and then Julian Hurst and Gray Collins singled and walked in the second.
Doc Mogford came up and hit a 2-RBI double to score Collins and Hurst and Boerne bumped its advantage to 4-0.
Boerne seemed to be in control and on their way to the title but their command of the game started to slip in the fourth when Florida scratched for a run to make it 4-1.
Before that, Florida had been held hitless by Boerne’s Julian Hurst, who pitched in a few different games at the Little League World Series.
In the fifth, Hurst surrendered a double and single and appeared uncomfortable. Head coach Justin Newson came out and talked to Hurst, who said his shoulder was bothering him.
They agreed to keep an eye on it and Hurst stayed in the game, however he gave up an RBI grounder and a walk and was pulled after that with Boerne clinging to a 4-2 lead.
Mogford entered in relief and yielded a double and a single. Both hits were bad news for Boerne because the double drove in two runs and tied it at 4-4. The single bounced off Mogford’s leg and he left after that, although he was able to return for Sunday’s game.
From there, Florida’s Teraj Alexander, who was at third, broke for the plate, after the Boerne defense let their guard down, and scored to give Florida the 5-4 edge with a steal of home.
Kole Newson, Boerne’s third pitcher in the inning, was on the bump and got Boerne out of the frame with two strikeouts. Newson was later removed with an injury and Kaleb Christ closed it out on the hill.
Boerne came up to bat in the bottom of the fifth and went to work right away.
Gage Steubing singled and scored on a Gray Collins RBI to tie it up. After that, Boerne took advantage of a couple of Florida mistakes to tally two more runs.
Dylan Burke, who had singled, scored on a wild pitch and then Hurst, who had walked, came home after Cooper Hastings struck out but made it safely to first on a dropped third strike.
The drop third strike allowed Hurst to score from third and it was 7-5 in favor of Boerne, but the lead didn’t hold.
Florida came up in the sixth and scored five runs to get the final momentum swing. A double, two singles and two walks pushed in five runs and Florida was back on top 10-7 before Boerne could get out of the inning.
Boerne still had last bats in the bottom of the sixth, but a strikeout and a double play ended it to give Florida the title.
The Florida squad played for the World Series title Sunday and edged Chinese Taipei in eight innings, 2-1. Florida’s only loss at the series came to Boerne and Boerne’s only loss on the U.S. side came to Florida.
Boerne vs. Venezuela
Boerne and Venezuela both dropped their games on Saturday, which put them in Sunday’s thirdplace international contest.
Boerne had a fast start and scored all three of its runs in the first inning. Gray Collins and Cooper Hastings reached with one out.
Doc Mogford hit a grounder that the Venezuela pitcher fielded. He threw to third but the ball sailed into right field, allowing Collins and Hastings to score and it also allowed Mogford to make it to third.
Mogford later came home on a passed ball and Boerne was up 3-0, but they were kept off the board the rest of the game.
In the second, Venezuela used a walk and three hits, one of them a double, to cut into the lead at 3-2.
In the third, the bottom of Venezuela’s lineup came through with a couple more runs.
After Venezuela tallied a run and with the score tied at 3-3, a bases-loaded walk pushed in the go-ahead run to make it 4-3 after three innings.
Boerne still had three more at bats and put runners on but couldn’t bring any of them home. Boerne had runners at second and third in the fifth and then loaded the bases in the sixth with two outs. A sharply hit line drive by Gray Collins was caught by the Venezuelan second baseman to end it.
Newson said this is just the start for his players.
“It’s the beginning for a lot of them, it’s not the end,” he said. “They’re going to play a lot of baseball. They’re going to play a lot of other sports, they have so much life ahead of them.”
Comment
Comments