Cypress Takes a Step in the Right Direction
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — For the fifth straight game, the Cypress Federal Little League all-stars weren’t the overpowering, take-charge kind of team it has to be to win the 52nd Little League World Series.
But for the first time in a long while, it didn’t have to be. Cypress got a break in the schedule Tuesday night and that was what it needed to keep alive its hopes of advancing.
Nathan Lara had a two-run home run and pitcher Matt Swims gave up five hits as Cypress beat Jenison, Mich., 4-1, in front of an announced crowd of 11,100 at Lamade Stadium.
The victory sets up a game at 5 p.m. today with Greenville, N.C., which lost to Toms River, N.J., 5-3, earlier in the day. Toms River finished atop the United States division with a 3-0 record and will face the winner of the Cypress (19-1, 1-1)-Greenville (15-2, 1-1) game on Thursday in the U.S. final.
“At least, we’re back on track,” Cypress Manager Greg Novy said. “I felt very comfortable with Matt out there tonight. We got enough runs tonight, but there’s still room for improvement.”
The Central Region champion has never advanced to the U.S. final, and is 4-17 since pool play began in 1992.
That was fine with Swims, who is rarely overpowering, but nonetheless effective. He pitched out of jams in the third and sixth innings.
With two out in the third, Sean Markle, who reached first on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third after Swims threw two wild pitches.Tony Clausen walked and stole second base. But Swims got pitcher Derek Stempin, a left-handed batter, to fly out to deep left field, ending the inning. Jenison (16-6, 0-3) got three straight singles to open the sixth. After a double play, it scored its only run on a wild pitch by Swims.
Novy, concerned over the Orange County team’s hitting slump, shook up his lineup to get more punch out of the bottom half of the order. While that part of the lineup still wasn’t impressive, it did produce a little more, thanks to Lara, who batted sixth. He drove the ball over the center-field wall for his second home run of the season.
Novy also moved the No. 2 batter, Cory Campbell, into the leadoff spot and dropped Pat Cassa, a good contact hitter who has struggled at the plate, down a notch. Campbell responded, getting on base three times and scoring the first run of the game in the first inning on a single by Alex Alba, who eventually scored.
But Cypress likely will be done after today if it doesn’t produce more offensively with runners in scoring position, Novy said. He will choose among Alba, Bryan Pepperdine and Zach Wesley, who suffered a bee sting on his glove hand at practice Tuesday, to pitch today.
North Carolina also has a lot of pitching decisions to make. “We’re not sure who we are going to
pitch against them,” Greenville Coach Wayne Hardee said. “We have six pitchers on our team, so we’ll have to go back and see what our options are.”
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In other games, Sean Sargent hit two home runs, including a three-run shot to cap a five-run seventh inning, as Langley, Canada, beat Kashima, Japan, 10-5, and Sammy Al-Rajhi’s bloop single brought home the winning run as Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, beat Guadalupe, Mexico, 8-7.
