Iowa Drops First Game To New York In Little League World Series

WILLIAMSPORT, PA — The Iowa Little Leaguers have dropped their first game 5-2 against New York in the Little League World Series. The 2018 tournament is officially got underway and the Grandview team from Des Moines, Iowa, played a tough Staten Island team that came into the contest off a perfect game in the regional championship.

Grandview, which went 4-1 in the regional tournament and won the Midwest regional championship Saturday, scored two runs on four hits, but nerves may have gotten a hold of the team, which committed three errors in Thursday's game. The game was played at the storied Howard J. Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Blake Larson, who was one of the Iowa's best players in the regional tournament, collected two hits on the afternoon, including a double, and knocked in a run. Maddox O'Connor reached base twice with a hit and a walk and also scored a run. But the team could never really get anything going against New York pitchers Steven Martinez and Gregory Bruno, collecting just four hits and three walks. Iowa struck out 13 times.

Iowa pitcher Brody Watson turned in a decent outing and kept his team in the game as best he could. Over four innings of work, Watson gave up four runs — just two earned — on four hits and a walk. He struck out five batters. Alex Stewart came on in relief and allowed one run in his one inning.

Staten Island only collected five hits total on the day, but took advantage of Iowa miscues to plate five runs and put the game out of reach. In the first inning, Chris Bedford went from first to 3rd on an error by the center fielder and then scored on a wild pitch. Two innings later, Bruno, who was on second base, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and then scored on an error by the catcher. A third error in the fourth inning allowed New York to plate two more runs. Logan Castellano scored on the right fielder's error and John Calabrese went from first base to third base on the same play. Calabrese later scored on a ground out.

New York advances to the second round of the winner's bracket and will play the winner between Texas and New England on Sunday. Iowa faces an elimination game and will play the loser of that game Saturday.

Rosters

Iowa

#1 Ayden Bennett 2B, OF

#2 Matthew Jr. McCrea 2B, OF

#4 Gage Schutjer OF

#5 Kobe Kunert C, 2B

#6 Brayden Shutt C, OF

#7 Connor Duong P, 2B

#12 Cade Byers OF

#18 Brody Watson P, 1B

#20 Jace Embry OF

#21 Trenton Tharp OF

#33 Maddox O'Conner P, SS

#40 Alex Stewart P, 3B

#42 De Shawn Childers P, 3B, OF

#77 Blake Larson P, 1B

New York

#2 Jayson Hannah

#3 Chris Cancel

#4 Logan Castellano

#5 John Calabrese

#10 Robert Cavalieri

#12 Chris Bedford

#13 Gregory Bruno

#14 Frank Scerra

#17 Thomas Puglisi

#19 Derek Mendez

#24 Steven Martinez

Photo courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball / Graphic by Kristin Borden