East Greenwich steals victory from Nutley East in the Sixth

Written by Kyle Stackpole, contributing writer

After a wild extra inning contest between Wayne National and Toms River East American in the first game, Nutley East and East Greenwich finished off the night. Going into the game, not many knew what to expect. What started as a boring game turned into a finish I have personally never seen before.

East Greenwich 4, Nutley East 3

As with any tournament, it is imperative to start on the right foot. With that being said, both squads had their aces on the mound. Josh O’Neill pitched for Nutley East and Josh Crowding took the mound for East Greenwich.

Through the first three innings, neither team could put a run across. East Greenwich flirted with one in the third, but Josh O’Neil was able to sneak out of a no-out bases loaded jam.

Nutley East finally struck first in the top of the fourth. Louis Conca drew a bases loaded walk to score Jeremy Kraft and give his team a 1-0 lead. Nutley added another run in the inning on an RBI single by leadoff hitter Peter Lopez.

With a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, Nutley East decided to pull Josh O’Neil after 66 pitches. Danny Caraballo came in to throw a scoreless inning and keep the Nutley East lead at 2-0.

Nutley East added an insurance run in the fifth when Louis Conca came up big again with a single and a run batted in. Instead of facing a two-run deficit, East Greenwich was now in a three-run hole.

However, East Greenwich was able to get that run back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by starting pitcher Josh Crowding. Heading into the sixth, Nutley East still held a 3-1 lead.

After a scoreless top of the sixth, East Greenwich had their last licks. Facing Peter Lopez, East Greenwich received back-to-back singles by Michael Mackey and Ethan Gill. The edge shifted back to Nutley East after getting two quick outs via a fielder’s choice and a pop up to first. At this point, Nutley East brought in their fourth pitcher of the day: AJ Lotito.

Lotito walked his first two batters, the second of which forced a runner home. With the score now 3-2, Ryan Mihlebach came to the plate with the bases still loaded. After a fantastic battle, Mihlebach hit a hard ground ball to second base. The combination of a bad hop and a misjudge sent the ball past the second basemen and into right-center field tying the game 3-3.

Next to the plate came Josh Crowding. With a 1-2 count, Crowding popped one up to second base. The second basemen got under it but closed his glove too early, causing the ball to pop out and fall onto the grass. A run came home and in the blink of an eye, East Greenwich stole the game along with the hearts of the players from Nutley East.

East Greenwich now faces Toms River East American in the winners bracket final on Friday night. Nutley East must regroup to face a tough Wayne National side.

Join the Little League World Series discussion on Facebook with some of the best baseball minds around right here: Little League World Series Discussion

Like our Facebook page: Little League Insider

Follow along on Twitter: @LittleLeaguePro and @LLWSAllthetime

Please spread the word about the blog to anyone who loves the Little League World Series. To support all the hard work on this blog, Please...