The USA Central team from South Bend, Ind., was right on track after Day 2, outscoring opponents 19-2. After a punishing 10-1 victory over Asia-Pacific on Sunday, they followed up Monday night with a 9-1 triumph over the West Mesa Little League team from Albuquerque, N.M., representing the Southwest. With both teams looking for their second win of the tournament, the girls took to the field.
Coastal Point • Ruslana Lambert
Kayla Noble slides into homeplate.
Consistency at the plate gave South Bend the check mark as they went scoreless in only two innings and shut out the Southwest team in the first six.
Two away in the top of the second inning, Kayla Noble doubled with a shot down the first-base line and was brought in by Beth Cossey to put Central ahead. Play stayed close until Central’s stolen bases and Southwest errors allowed the lead to spread in the fourth.
Four more runs came in the sixth, and one in the fifth. Ashleigh Bousquet finished 3-5 with two RBI’s. Alex Bousquet, Kayley Brewer, Beth Cossey, Angela Miller and starting pitcher Jenny Bals each registered an RBI. Southwest’s Crystal Perea sent Marie Aragon home on a double to left field, but to no avail, as the Albuquerque team ended up 1-1 on Day 2.
Bals recorded seven strikeouts in four innings.
“There’s some pressure coming in against a team that’s already registered a win,” she said, “but I have faith in my team and a great team behind me. We just want to play the same way we did tonight.”
Brittany Cossey finished on the mound with a strikeout to seal another win for Central.
Manager Andy Bozman knew the Southwest wasn’t going to come out unguarded.
“We heard they were tough,” he said, “and they proved that they were.”
Again, Bozman was pleased with his team’s performance, but there’s plenty to focus on as the World Series approaches the midpoint.
“We’re starting off slow, but we’re coming through,” he noted. “We’re doing a lot of batting practice. We’ve worked on our bunting a lot and that’s getting better. Even if they don’t get their bunts in, our girls get the hits in, so it’s all working well.”
Southwest manager Stan Aragon was impressed with Central’s execution.
“They have great pitching, defense and hitting. They’re strong, all-around.”
He, too, had his sights set on performance at the plate.
“We want to work a lot on our hitting,” he said. “We’re taking too long to come out and get hits, and we want to fix that so we’re hitting the ball in the early innings of the game.”