New Albany's season ends with second loss in Little League World Series
New Albany's first trip to the Little League World Series ended with a 13-2, four-inning loss to Henderson (Nevada) on Saturday in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The 12U Eagles, who won the Great Lakes Region, went 0-2 in the double-elimination tournament to finish the season 12-3.
New Albany opened the World Series on Thursday, losing 4-3 to El Segundo (California) in a game shortened to four innings because of rain.
“They were a pretty resilient group,” New Albany manager Tim Bush said of his team. “This group has been through a lot together. They’ve won a lot of baseball games and came back. The team you saw the other day didn’t show up today and that’s just baseball.”
Henderson, the Mountain champion, advanced to an elimination game at 2 p.m. Sunday against Fargo (North Dakota), the Midwest champion.
Henderson struck quickly against New Albany, scoring four runs in the first inning and six in the second for a 10-0 lead. The second was highlighted by a three-run home run from Nolan Gifford, who also doubled and walked.
Winning pitcher David Edwards helped his cause with three singles and three runs scored.
“Mountain was great,” Bush said. “They hit the tar out of the ball. I don’t want to take anything away from those guys. They played a fantastic game. We just didn’t play a clean New Albany game. That’s something we couldn’t shake and it filtered into our hitting, too.”
New Albany scored twice in the fourth as Owen Nardell hit a one-out double and came home on Kevin Klingerman’s single, and Klingerman scored on Cole Mueller’s single. The Eagles loaded the bases with two outs but couldn’t extend the game.
Mueller had two singles, and Eddie Bloch also had a single.
“Our motto through this whole thing has been it’s a blessing, we’re grateful to be here, we’re playing with house money and we’re just happy,” Bush said. “We were just enjoying the moment and knowing this is a great ride, and we just wanted to continue as long as possible.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New Albany baseball eliminated from Little League World Series
