SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Tyler Grillo had an RBI single
and Michael Scuzzarella induced a game-ending double play as
Saugus, Mass., held on to beat Tallmadge, Ohio, 2-1 on Friday in
the opening game of the Little League World Series.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Tallmadge cut
the lead to 2-1 on Jake Jamieson's RBI single to center field.
However, with runners on first and second, Scuzzarella got Paul
Pakan to hit a grounder near second. Shortstop Craig Cole fielded
the ball for an easy out at second, and his throw just beat Pakan
to first base to end the game.
Scuzzarella allowed only one hit in the first five innings
before giving up three in the sixth.
"I knew they weren't going to score two runs because Scuz was
pitching the game,'' Saugus third baseman Sebastiano Petruzzelli
said. "He was pitching a gem for us.''
Also Friday, Tokyo beat Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands
Antilles 4-1, and Boynton Beach, Fla., routed Richland, Wash., 8-1.
Saugus took the lead in the top of the sixth, when Dario Pizzano
advanced on David Ferriera's single, then scored when the ball was
bobbled in the outfield. Grillo's RBI single scored 6-foot,
182-pound Matthew Muldoon, who was intentionally walked, making it
2-0.
Pizzano helped keep the game scoreless an inning earlier when,
with a runner on first, he made a nice running catch of a fly ball
by Jake Patrick on the warning track in right-center.
The loss was the first in the international tournament for
Tallmadge, the only U.S. team to arrive at the series undefeated.
But Tallmadge manager Randy Keen said he thought his team would
bounce back.
"I think they'll be fine,'' Keen said. "We're just happy to be
here _ there's a million Little Leaguers out there who'd love to be
in a 2-1 loss in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.''
Japan 4, Netherlands Antilles 1
Yuutaro Tanaka struck out 11 and allowed just four hits for
Tokyo. Tanaka also had two singles and scored two runs, including
the go-ahead run in the fourth.
Trailing 1-0, Tanaka came home on Jun Onozawa's RBI double.
Hirofumi Yamazaki's sacrifice bunt scored Onozawa to make it 3-1 at
the end of the fourth. Tanaka scored on a passed ball in the sixth
for the game's final run.
Curacao led 1-0 lead in the first when Jonathan Schoop doubled
to left and scored on Tharick Martines' RBI single.
Florida 8, Washington 1
Michael Broad and Jacob Irene each homered for Boynton Beach,
which never trailed.
Broad's two-run homer made it 2-0 in the first, and Irene made
it 5-1 in the second with a three-run shot that just cleared the
center-field wall. Two errors and a passed ball gave Florida its
final runs.
Richland's only score came in the second when Daniel Jacobs
scored on a passed ball.