Strong start carries U.S. East to win

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BANGOR – Taking an early lead on the first day of the Senior League World Series is always a good thing.

Five runs in the first inning proved to be more than enough as the U.S. East representative Bloomfield Little League from Bloomfield, N.J., started play in Pool B Sunday evening with a 10-2 victory over Waterloo Little League of Brussels, Belgium, which is representing the Europe-Middle East-Africa region.

“This feels good. It’s important to get that first win because it keeps you going,” said Kevin Miller, who tripled and scored three runs for the East. “With a loss we might be in bad shape.”

East pitchers Richard Monroig and Chris Delli Paoli combined to limit EMEA to one hit.

Stingy pitching, combined with six hits and five EMEA errors, helped the East build an 8-2 lead through three innings.

Jason Chesterman’s two-run double in the first and Miller’s triple in the second did the most damage. Miller eventually scored on an error.

“They were throwing decent but we just kept hitting hard, getting base hits,” Miller said.

Vinnie Del Vecchio, Mike Chiaravalloti and Monroig each hit two singles to help power the offense.

Starter Monroig earned the win thanks to the East’s first-inning offensive outburst, but reliever Delli Paoli had the more impressive statistical evening.

He allowed the only hit, a sixth-inning groundball single up the middle by Harold Gerard, but pitched four scoreless innings with two walks and four strikeouts.

EMEA scored both of its runs thanks to Monroig walks. Delli Paoli was well aware of that when he entered the game in the fourth.

He struck out the first batter he faced, then used his curveball to get a groundout and a flyout for a crucial 1-2-3 inning.

“The only two runs were on walks so I just tried to keep the ball down, get ground balls,” Delli Paoli said. “That inning was probably the best thing that could have happened.”

Delli Paoli issued a leadoff walk in the seventh but got two strikeouts and a flyout to end the game.

“They were very good pitchers,” said EMEA manager Michael Steege. “They were changing speeds, the first pitcher had a very good curveball, so did the second one, and our guys probably aren’t used to seeing that kind of pitching and we had a hard time hitting it.”

Gerard gave up five hits and seven runs (three unearned) in 1 1/3 innings to pick up the loss.

EMEA relievers Vincent King and Raphael Steege were able to limit the East to five hits and three runs with no walks the rest of the way.

Masanori Nagashima scored both EMEA runs.

“They played very well, and they hit the ball very hard and you can’t beat that,” Michael Steege said. “We beat ourselves a little bit with the errors.”

U.S. EAST 10, EMEA 2

EMEA (0-1) US EAST (1-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Nagashima, cf 1 2 0 0 V. Del Vecchio, ss 0

King, 3b/p 2 0 0 0 Miller, 3b 4 3 0

Steege, ss/p 3 0 0 1 Chiaravalloti, 1b 2 1

Gerard, p/1b 3 0 1 0 Monroig, p/rf 4 0 1

R. Conway, c 2 0 0 0 Delli Paoli lf/p 1 0

Lyke, 2b 2 0 0 0 Chesterman, lf 2 1 2

C. Conway, rf/3b 2 0 0 0 Bataille, cf 2 1

Desmedt, 1b/rf 1 0 0 0 Penberthy, cf 1 0

Gerard, rf 1 0 0 0 Andrade, c 2 0 0

Miller, lf 1 0 0 0 Mazzolla, c 1 0 0

Oppenheim, lf 2 0 0 0 Petrillo, 2b 2 J. Del Vecchio, 2b 1 0 0 0

Skidmore, rf 1 0 0 0

Szuhany, rf/lf 1 0 0 1

Totals 20 2 1 1 Totals 28 10 10 6

EMEA 101 000 0 – 2

US EAST 521 101 x – 10

E-King 2, Steege 3, Gerard; Monroig; LOB-EMEA 4; East 3; 2B-Chesterman; 3B-K. Miller; DP-V. Del Vecchio-J. Del Veccho-Chiaravalloti; SB-Nagashima; K. Miller, Bataille

EMEA IP H R ER BB SO

Gerard (L, 0-1) 1 1/3 5 7 4 2 1

King 3 2/3 3 2 1 0 1

Steege 1 2 1 1 0 2

US EAST IP H R ER BB SO

Monroig (W, 1-0) 3 0 2 1 5 2

Delli Paoli 4 1 0 0 2 4

WP-King 2, Gerard; PB-Mazzolla; T-1:53; ATT-300 (est.)