Kelly sparks Florida victory Hawaii suffers its first loss

loading...

BANGOR – Before Boynton Beach, Fla., ace Michael Kelly even threw a pitch, his teammates staked him to a quick two-run lead.

Kelly made that stand up and his offense backed him up even more, as he fired a 97-pitch complete-game as the U.S. South representatives won their Senior League World Series Pool A opener 5-2 over U.S. West champ Pearl City, Hawaii, at Mansfield Stadium Monday night.

Boynton Beach is 1-0 while Pearl City slips to 1-1 in pool play.

Kelly was in control from the start, painting the corners with a blazing fastball that topped at 85 miles per hour on the radar gun and keeping the ball in the infield. The Hawaiians hit just two balls out of the infield on the night.

“I felt pretty good, I felt like I had all my stuff working today,” said Kelly. “When I’ve got everything working I usually throw pretty good.”

Boynton Beach jumped on Pearl City starter Edwin Izumigawa right off the bat. Dylan Massey singled on the game’s fourth pitch, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error.

Massey was on second when Willie Bonilla struck out swinging for the second out after Alex Bonilla lined to first, but the ball squirted to the backstop on the strikeout, and Massey broke for third as Bonilla was gunned down at first. The throw from first to third then got away from Hawaii third baseman Keanu Sato and Massey scored.

Kelly then singled and scored on Nick Worrall’s deep RBI double to left.

“When you jump on them it sets the tone for the whole game and everything,” said Worrall.

Boynton Beach padded its lead with a single run in the third, as Willie Bonilla led off with a single, took third on Kelly’s double and scored on Ryan Pistey’s fielders choice RBI.

That was all that Kelly would need, as he would only allow two unearned runs in the bottom in the third.

“Michael’s the guy,” said Boynton Beach manager Joe Irene. “I think today his location was good, he was throwing a lot of strikes, he was getting ahead in the count. That’s the key.”

Kelly walked just one batter, had only two three-ball counts while striking out five.

He entered the last half of the seventh with a pitch count of 85 – the limit in Senior League is 95 – but needed only 12 to get through the last inning.

“I had an idea what it was but I wasn’t exactly sure,” said Kelly.

Boynton Beach gave Kelly some breathing room with single runs in the fifth and sixth. Aran Faland hit a bases-loaded grounder to third in the fifth, scoring Worrall, who had singled, while Worrall knocked in his second run of the night with a sac fly to right in the sixth.

“It really helped a lot, just knowing you have run support it makes things so much easier,” Kelly said.

Kelly aided his cause with a 3-for-5 night with a run scored while Alex Bonilla had a pair of hits and a run scored.

Kala Neal, Christian Perkins and Keanu Sato singled for Hawaii’s only hits.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

U.S. SOUTH 5, U.S. WEST 2

U.S. South (1-0) U.S. West (1-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Massey, ss 5 1 2 0 Oshiro, cf 4 1 0

A. Bonilla, c 5 1 2 0 Ramos, 2b 3 0

W. Bonilla, 1b 4 1 1 0 Kah. Neal, ss 3 1

Kelly, p 5 1 3 0 Kal. Neal, 1b 3 0 0

Cole, pr 0 0 0 0 Perkins, lf 3 0 0

Worrall, 3b 2 1 2 2 Sato, 3b 3 0 0

Durgan, rf 3 0 1 1 Shim, rf 2 0 0

Pistey, lf 3 0 1 1 Milan, rf 1 0 0

Faland, cf 3 0 0 1 Izumigawa, p 2 0 0

Mazzacari, 2b 3 0 2 0 Nakata, p 1 0

Murai, c 2 0 0 0

Totals 33 5 14 5 Totals 27 2 3 1

U.S. South 201 011 0 – 5

U.S. West 002 000 0 – 2

E-Massey, A. Bonilla, W. Bonilla, Kelly; Ramos, Kal. Neal; LOB-U.S. West 6; U.S. South 14; 2B-Kelly, Worrall; DP-U.S. West; SF-Worrall; SB-Massey, Faland

U.S. South IP H R ER BB SO

Kelly (W) 7 3 2 0 1 5

U.S. West IP H R ER BB SO

Izumigawa (L) 4 2/3 10 4 4 3 2

Nakata 2 1/3 4 1 1 1 3

HBP-Murai by Kelly; Mazzacari by Nakata; WP-Kelly 3; Izumigawa 2; PB-Murai 2; T-2:21; ATT-800