June 27, 2019

The Royals from Abbott O Rabbit (AOR) won the Little LeagueCitywide Tournament tonight, defeating the Green Hornets from Anchorage West (AW) in an exciting game decided by one run in extra innings.  With the AOR Royals trailing in the bottom of the 7th inning, Bryson Jayne hit a bases-loaded double deep into the gap in left-center field, scoring Nathan Bailly and then Jack Whittingham with the tying and winning runs.  The game marks the end of the season for Majors (Ages 9-12) teams from around Anchorage, with 20 teams entering the double-elimination tournament that lasted eight days.  

A large, vocal crowd turned out to cheer on an exciting back-and-forth Championship game.  Down 6-3 in the 2nd inning, the Royals tied the game in the 3rd, took a 12-8 lead in the 5th, and were poised to win in the top of the 6th.  With two outs and nobody on, however, the Green Hornets rallied and scored four runs to tie, then held the Royals scoreless in the bottom of the 6thto force extra innings as the Royals stranded the winning run on 3rd base. The Green Hornets then scored a single run in the top of the 7th with two outs to go up 13-12. Now trailing for the 3rd time on the night, the Royals rallied to put their first three batters on base in the bottom of the 7th to set up Jayne’s walk-off blast.  

For the Green Hornets, Jacob Wesselman pitched his team into the fourth inning before yielding to Noah Wesselman to finish the game.  The Green Hornets, led by Manager Jamie Dittrich,got sparkling play from their infield, with multiple forceouts at 2nd base, a nifty double play from 1st to 3rd, and an over-the-shoulder grab in shallow right field.  Jack Boots and Joey Dittrich led the offense, each having multiple hits and scoring four runs.  

For the Royals, Ryker Shreck threw three solid innings to start the game, calmly working around several miscues by a shaky defense to keep the score close.  Alex Nemeth relieved and threw four strong innings to get the win, striking out five Green Hornets while issuing no walks and one earned run.  The offense was led by Ty Whittingham, Bryson Jayne, Logan Geuss, and Jayani Benson, who each clubbed run-scoring, extra-base hitsfor Manager Matt Nemeth’s team.  

With the regular season now wrapped up, Majors baseball teams from the various Anchorage Little Leagues head into District 1 All-Star tournaments hosted at Dimond West (July 6-13) and Abbott O Rabbit (July 6 – 21).  https://www.akd1littleleague.org/