Warner Robins Rallies in Sixth
Source: South Williamsport, Pa.
Date/Time: Monday, August 24, 2009, 4:00pm ET
In 2007, Little League Baseball instituted a new Pitch Count Rule
stipulating that a pitcher may pitch the next day, or in the next game, if he
throws 20 or less pitches, and that a pitcher may pitch no more than 85 pitches
in a game.
The rule figured prominently into the play of both sides in Monday’s game
pitting the Southeast champs from Warner Robins (Ga.) against the Northwest
champs from Mercer Island (Wash.).
Having already clinched the top seed in Pool A with a 2-0 record, Warner Robins
called on five pitchers, limiting four of them to 20 pitches, to complete the
3-2 victory at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Cortez Broughton earned the save on a
strikeout to end the game.
“They were every bit as strong as we expected,” Mercer Island manager Steve
Stenberg said. “We thought they would take a 20, 20, 20, 20 approach with their
pitching, and it kept getting better as the game went.”
Mercer Island ace William Mansfield had the Warner Robins batters fooled all
day. Relying on a strong curveball, Mansfield threw five innings and allowed two
runs (one earned), taking his team into the sixth with a 2-1 lead.
“We think they’re a little bit weak on the curveball,” Stenberg said. “All in
all we felt that we kept them about as in check as we hoped for.”
Mansfield topped out at 85 pitches in the top of the sixth, and his replacement
Brandon Lawler threw three wild pitches and put the tying run on base when he
hit Warner Robins centerfielder Kyle King. Two batters later, second baseman Kal
Dempsey drew a walk, and both then scored on passed balls to lead their team to
the 3-2 win.
“It’s pretty cool because I made up for my strikeout with that run,” said King,
who whiffed in his first at-bat.
The runs validated the efforts of a team that started the day with only one run
to show for its first six hits through the first five innings. Warner Robins had
made it 1-0 in the second inning when Dempsey scored on Jeremiah Stephens’s
sacrifice.
Mercer Island fired back in the bottom of the second, as Max Hibbert knocked in
Keenan Ogard with an RBI groundout to make it 1-1. Brandon Lawler later doubled,
and Sam Pugel drove him home with a run-scoring single off Sato Spencer to make
it 2-1.
Conner Smith also put in 1.1 innings of work for the Warner Robins side, and
Hunter Phillips struck out four of the six batters he faced, earning the win
with two innings of shutout ball.
“The best teams have incredibly deep pitching staffs, it's not just having that
one guy that can throw 75-plus,” Mercer Island coach Brock Mansfield said. “What
you saw today was a great example of that.”
Mansfield and Stenberg were simply impressed to see their teams put forth such a
strong effort after they entered the game knowing they were eliminated from Pool
A play. Mercer Island Little League formed only four years ago.
“Did any of us expect to be here? No chance,” Stenberg said. “I didn’t expect to
be in Williamsport the last week of August, so it’s been a great ride.”
Warner Robins has two days off before its Thursday United States semifinal
matchup against the loser of Tuesday’s contest between West Region Champion
Chula Vista (Calif.) Little League and Southwest Region Champion McAllister Park
American (Texas) Little League.