Moving On

 Facing elimination, the Williamsburg Little League All-Stars came from a 2-0 deficit to beat Middlesboro Monday night in Middlesboro, 5-2 and will advance out of the losers’ bracket to the District Four Tournament.

Middlesboro scored two runs off Williamsburg pitcher James Sasko in the bottom of the second inning.

However, Williamsburg got on the scoreboard in the top of the third when Jon Sasko reached base. Sasko scored on a hit by Alex Patterson to pull Williamsburg within a run.

In the top of the fourth Williamsburg struck for four runs, taking a 5-2 lead in the game.

With Dalton Peace and James Sasko on base, Corey Shelton hit a three run homer to put Williamsburg ahead 4-2. Jon Sasko added an insurance run later in the inning.

“We were behind to the host team 2-0 and made a great comeback,” said Manager Jerry Croley. “Skyler Griffith, Chase Lowrie and Jon Sasko made some great defensive plays,” Croley said.

“We wanted to get the momentum back up after the loss to Knox County,” said Croley. “We were down after that game, but they made a great effort in coming back against Middlesboro.”

“It was a great win, a good comeback,” he added. “I told them to forget the past and look to the future.”

“Our kids hit the ball, but the key to the win was our defense,” said Croley.

“I am just tickled, we do the best we can with what we’ve got,” added Croley.

Knox County 12, Williamsburg 2: Walks and errors marred the winners’ bracket final as Williamsburg lost to Knox County, 12-2. Williamsburg, who out-hit Knox County, walked nine batters and committed five errors in the five-inning loss.

Williamsburg missed on a chance to score in the top of the first.

Alex Patterson opened the game with a single up the middle but Andrew Griffith hit into a double play at short to eliminate the runners. Michael Harris followed with a double down the third base live only to see Chase Lowrie ground the ball back to the Knox County pitcher, Evan Lay, for the routine out.

Williamsburg pitcher, Chase Lowrie, looked strong in the bottom of the first. After a walk to Trevor Sanborn, he struck out the side.

Williamsburg failed to push a run across the plate in the top of the second. Skyler Griffith led off with a grounder that was booted by the Knox County third baseman but, Dalton Peace flew out to center field and James Sasko hit into a fielder’s choice. Lay struck out Corey Shelton to get out of the inning.

Lowrie ran into trouble in the bottom of the second when he walked the first two batters. Lay followed with the first base hit of the game for Knox County, driving in Colin Grubb for a 1-0 lead.

An error loaded the bases before Lowrie walked in a run by tossing four balls to Trevor Sanborn. Casey Patterson drove in three runs off a base hit and two throwing errors and Knox County had a 5-0 lead.

Williamsburg refused to quit and battled back for two runs in the top of the fifth, cutting the lead to 5-2. It was a two-out rally by Jerry Croley’s team. Andrew Griffith hit a single past the Knox County second baseman to get the rally started. Harris followed with a run-scoring double to left field. Harris scored on a pair of Knox County errors after Lowrie hit the ball to second base.

Errors hurt Williamsburg in the bottom of the inning as Knox County scored four runs to stretch the lead to 9-2.

They were able to put the game away in the fifth when Griffith walked the first batter of the inning. Corey Shelton came in to replace Griffith, but walked Lay and hit Stewart with a pitch. An error allowed all three runners to score on a Tye hit to end the game.

Williamsburg 15, Middlesboro 4: Williamsburg didn’t waste any time putting away Middlesboro in Saturday’s first-round game.

The first four batters scored for Williamsburg. Patterson hit a double to lead off the game. Faulkner hit into an error and Skyler Griffith walked to load the bases. Lowrie followed with hit up the middle as Patterson and Faulkner scored for a 2-0 lead.

Two outs later, Shelton hit a triple to score two more runs. Before the inning was over Purdie hit a line drive and ended up scoring. Williamsburg had platted six runs in the top of the first.

Lowrie, Peace, Sasko and Shelton all rounded the bases in the top of the second for a 10-0 lead. Shelton hit a three run homer to center field driving in three of those runs.

Williamsburg added four more runs in the top of third for a 14-0 margin before pulling away with a 15-4 win.

Williamsburg 5, Middlesboro 2

Williamsburg   001  400- 5  7  0

Middlesboro    020  000- 2  4  1

  Sasko and Lowrie. Mike, Robbins and Evans. W-Sasko, L-Robbins. HR-Shelton (W).

Knox County 12, Williamsburg 2

Williamsburg   000  020-   0  6  5

Knox Co.        050  043- 12  4  2

  Lay and Patterson. Lowrie, Griffith (4), Shelton (5) and Harris. W-Lay, L-Lowrie. 2B-Harris (W).

Williamsburg 15, Middlesboro 4

Williamsburg   644  1- 15 12  1

Middlesboro    002  2-   4   4  4

  Sasko and Lowrie. Ball, Mike (2) and Evans. W-Sasko, L-Ball. 2B-Patterson (W), Harris (W), Peace (W), Schneider (PB), Robbins (PB). 3B-Shelton (W). HR-Shelton (PB).