Barrington Edged Out In Little League World Series Opener

BARRINGTON, RI – For five innings on national television the Barrington Little League All-Star team match zeros against Virginia in the opening game of the Little League World Series on Friday. The test of wills was broken in the fifth inning on ESPN when Virginia’s Brady Yates cracked a two-run home run that turned out to be the decisive runs in a 3-0 victory.

Barrington, which did not get a hit in the game, drops to the loser's bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will need to win Saturday at 3 p.m. against Kentucky — which dropped a 2-1 game to Minnesota on Friday — to stay alive in the Little League World Series.

Brady Yates breaks it open! #LLWS pic.twitter.com/9hQkCLCJ48
— Little League (@LittleLeague) August 16, 2019

Barrington advanced to the Little League World Series by winning the Rhode Island state championship and the New England championship Saturday in Bristol, Connecticut. Team New England then waded through an eventful week in Williamsport after the manager of the Goffstown, New Hampshire team that Barrington beat in the New England final accused the team of sign stealing, and Thursday's scheduled opener against Virginia delayed for two hours due to rain before being postponed.

But the team looked sharp — especially defensively — from the outset on Friday and Alex Anderson kept the game locked at 0-0 with the help of a nifty double play from third baseman James Caldarella to first baseman Lucas Tanous to end the fourth inning. Anderson wound up pitching into the sixth inning before manager Chris Promades lifted him for a relief pitcher.