With their 19-13 win over the Diamondbacks on Monday, the Red Sox have earned a berth in the Westside Little League championship. The Westside minor Sox will now take on the Yankees in a Little League version of the Big League, East Coast rivalry for the right to move onto the Tournament of Champions. Getting there wasn’t easy though as the Red Sox had to get by a scrappy D-backs club.
The D-backs won their first game all season against a league opponent with their playoff victory over the Mariners. They carried that confidence into Monday’s matchup with the Sox and took an early 1-0 lead. The first loud contact of the game came off the bat of Caleb Medina who smoked a line drive into right-center field.
Unfortunately for Diamondbacks supporters, the 1-0 lead would be a short-lived advantage. The Red Sox stormed back with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the first.
Kane Hill led off with a walk and would score on a ball hit to third by Carter Nabhan. An overthrow at first base saw Nabhan use his blazing speed to pick up two extra bases by getting around to third. A second overthrow at third base allowed Nabhan to get up and score.
“He is by far the fastest kid in the whole league, even the majors too, he’s the fastest,” remarked Red Sox Manager Kenny Dame on the speed Nabhan brings to the team. “He can turn a walk into a double if he really wants to, his speed does kill and the other teams know it.”
The other teams also have to look out for Lucas Diaz who had the loudest contact of the day for the Red Sox with a line drive triple down the left-field line.
“It was a little bit high and away,” chimed Diaz on the pitch that he was able to pull down the line.
“He’s really good. He hits a lot of triples,” praised Nabhan on Diaz. “He’s also a really good center fielder.”
The Red Sox showed off some really good talent all over the field in this one. Pitching wise, Lucas Maksim struck out the side in order in the second inning. On defense all three catchers in Blake Dame, Gavin Kramer, and Jude Mills, showed off great ball-blocking abilities for such a young age.
On the other side of the diamond, the Diamondbacks had numerous standouts including pitcher and catcher battery mates who are sisters. Olivia and Sofia Luera were together as pitcher and catcher in the middle innings. Younger sister Olivia also notched an RBI single up the middle with the bases loaded in the fourth. That same inning saw Mateo Solorio launch a triple into right-center field that knocked home a pair of runs.
“It was right down the middle,” beamed Solorio with a big smile when asked to describe the pitch he drove. “I just saw it and I hit it.”
Just as impressive as Solorio’s booming hit into the gap were the back-to-back tremendous catches by third baseman Tyler Wood. The first was a soft liner just to the foul side of third base; Wood made a nice running catch to his right. The very next batter saw Wood catch a shallow pop up with an impressive sprint and lunge to his left.
I think you missed an article where the Yankees beat the Sox to force them into the game against the Dbacks. You might also want to fact check the fastest kid in the league…