43
Poland loses pitchers’ duel
By Mike Weber
PORTLAND, Ore.
In a key Little League Softball World Series contest, the Poland Community Little League team outplayed West Regional Champion Burbank (3-1) in nearly every aspect of the game but came up short on the scoreboard in a 1-0 loss Sunday at the Alpenrose Dairy sports facility in Portland.
The Central Region Little League Champions, guided by manager Chuck Masluk, simply need to win today’s 8 p.m. contest against a winless Canada LL squad (0-3) to achieve their goal of reaching the nationally televised semifinals on Tuesday. If Poland (2-1) wins, it will advance to play in a 9:30 p.m. contest that will be broadcast on ESPN2.
“I was pretty pleased with the way our team played, even though it was less than perfect, but it was a very good game,” said Masluk. “All we need to do now is play up to our potential and we should be able to get a win against Canada. It would be nice to win [today] to reach the semis so that we can play on TV.”
Poland’s Aleah Hughes pitched well in a complete game effort while throwing a two-hitter, with two strikeouts and a walk. The pitching duel between Hughes and Burbank’s Jade Teetsel was scoreless for the first two innings.
“I think we should’ve won today, but we just had some trouble out on the field and we made some costly errors,” said Hughes. “If we just continue playing as well as we have been, then we’ll bounce back and get a win [today].”
Poland had a golden opportunity to score in the third. Third baseman Maddie Rowe singled to left and center fielder Abby Masluk (2 for 3, single, double) added a two-out single up the middle. The next batter, Claire Testa drew a walk, loading the bases, but Burbank got a putout to end the threat.
“When you hit the ball at the wrong time and leave runners on base, then that’s what can contribute to losing a softball game,” said Abby’s dad, Chuck Masluk. “I knew it was going to be a close game, but things just didn’t go our way today. You can’t win without getting any runs. We also had some baserunning mistakes and some fielding errors that hurt too.”
In the bottom half of the third, Burbank capitalized on a Poland error and a runner scored from third base on a passed ball as it took a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth, missed scoring chances again hurt Poland when it had two baserunners. Alia Duarte drew a two-out walk, followed by a Rutana single. Burbank catcher Michelle Santiago made a key defensive play in throwing a ball to first baseman Kaitlin Okimoto to get the third putout.
In the bottom of the fourth, a nice defensive play by Poland shortstop Kat Wilson helped prevent Burbank runners from scoring. Wilson assisted on all three putouts, including tagging a runner out on a rundown between second and third base. Wilson caught an infield popup then tagged a runner out at second after getting a throw from Rutana.
“I thought we played pretty good defensively, but we just needed to hit a little better,” said Wilson. “I thought that we were the better team today, but we just didn’t come through with timely hits when we needed to.”
Abby Masluk had the only extra base hit in the fifth as she belted a line drive down the first base line for a double. She was thrown out at second when she tried to stretch the hit into a triple.
Poland had a final scoring opportunity in the sixth when first baseman Ally Deemer hit a grounder to left field but the threat stalled.
It was the lowest-scoring game of the series. Poland should be favored beat a Canada team that has been outscored 29-6.