U.S. Southwest debuts with victory

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BANGOR – The U.S. Southwest team from Marksville, La. took advantage of errors by the opposing team, created offense on its own, and got a solid starting pitching performance from Seth Webster for a 10-2 Senior League World Series victory over a team from the former Soviet republic of Georgia Monday evening.

It was essentially the opening game for both teams. The Southwest’s Marksville Little League had the day off Sunday, while Georgia YMCA Little League of Tbilisi, Georgia, which is representing the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) region, had its Sunday night game against the U.S. East suspended after the first inning because of rain.

Both squads resume play in Pool B today. EMEA faces U.S. Central at 10 a.m., while the Southwest team plays Latin America at 8 p.m.

EMEA committed four errors while the Southwest played errorless defense. Three Southwest runs were unearned.

“We had big errors and they scored,” EMEA manager Nick Kapanadze said through an interpreter. “They had eight hits, we had nine hits. So [the errors were] why they scored.”

The Southwest had six stolen bases, and used a delayed double steal in the fifth to get into position for a three-run inning.

The inning started with Zach Roszell’s single to left. He advanced to third when Webster followed with another single. With Lane Normand up, the two executed their steal, with Roszell stealing home for a 5-2 lead and Webster going to second.

Not only did Webster move into scoring position, but he got to third when the EMEA catcher overthrew to second during the steal. Webster scored when Normand grounded out.

“We’ve done that five times since we started districts and it’s worked every time,” Webster said of the double steal. “Take three hops, run to second, and the catcher wasn’t ready for it. He threw it into the outfield. … We didn’t hit the ball very well but we manufactured a lot of runs.”

All 17 hits in the game were singles.

Not only did the runs help stretch the lead to 7-2, but it also gave Webster some much-needed breathing room.

“Once we got momentum I felt a lot more comfortable,” he admitted.

It took Webster a while to get used to the mound at Mansfield Stadium. And while he never felt 100 percent comfortable, he used a fastball and a curve to limit EMEA to five hits while striking out 11 in five innings.

Webster also walked five, threw three wild pitches, and had a balk.

The Southwest scored four runs in the first. Alex Brouillette drove in two runs on a two-out single and then scored on Thomas Dunn’s single to center. The other run scored on a throwing error earlier in the inning.

Three EMEA players had two singles and Levan Telia had an RBI on a fielder’s choice.

U.S. SOUTHWEST 10, EMEA 2

Marksville, La. (1-0) Tbilisi, Georgia (0-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

K. Moss, 3b-p 3 1 1 0 Tavadze, ss 3 0

Borrel, cf 3 2 0 0 Nikolashvili, cf-p 3 0

Roszell, ss 4 2 1 0 Chitishvili, c 3 0 0

Webster, p-3b 3 3 1 0 Minesashvili, 3b-p 0

Jeansonne, c 1 0 0 0 Telia, rf 2 0 1

Normand, c 3 0 0 1 Metrevili, lf 1 0 0

Brouillette, 2b 2 2 1 2 Ambokadze, lf 1 0

Dunn, rf-p 4 0 1 1 Mukhadze, lf-rf 3 1 0

Lemoine, lf 3 0 1 1 Letodiani, 2b 4 0 0

B. Moss, lf 1 0 0 0 Razmadze, 1b 2 0 0

Maddox, 1b 4 0 2 0 Gobajishvili, 1b 1 0

Gakhokidze, p 2 0 0 0

Gvalia, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 10 8 5 Totals 29 2 9 1

U.S. Southwest 400 033 0 – 10

EMEA 011 000 0 – 2

E-Nikolashvili, Chitishvili, Gobajishvili, Gakhokidze; LOB-Southwest 7, EMEA 11; SB-K. Moss, Borrel, Webster 2, Lemoine; Tavadze 2, Nikolashvili

U.S. Southwest IP H R ER BB SO

Webster (W,1-0) 5 5 2 2 5 11

K. Moss 1 2 0 0 0 1

Dunn 1 2 0 0 0 0

EMEA IP H R ER BB SO

Gakhokidze (L,0-1) 5 7 7 7 2 7

Nikolashvili 1 0 3 0 3 1

Minesashvili 1 1 0 0 1 2

HBP-Brouillette by Gakhokidze; WP-Webster 3; Nikolashvili 2, Gakhokidze; BK-Webster; PB-Jeansonne; Chitishvili; T-2:43; ATT-500 (est.)