Media looks to bounce back in LLWS with confidence in how far team has come

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Media manager Tom Bradley doesn’t need to be told that his team didn’t play to its standards Wednesday night in the Little League World Series.

But as he sat at the podium after a 2-1 loss to Needville, Texas, Bradley shed some light on what it took for the Delaware County team to get here.

“I’m so proud of them,” Bradley said. “We’ve been saying job’s not done and job’s not finished a lot all season long.

“We got here and we’re like, ‘All right, that job’s finished and let’s just go out play some baseball and start a new job and see if we can go out and see what we can do.’ … I definitely think we can compete on this field.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

» READ MORE: Media’s game in Little League World Series a dream come true for Austin Crowley.

Though it wasn’t Media’s best defensive night, the Delaware County team still made some big-time plays.

In the top of the first, second baseman AJ Domenico got Needville’s Jagger McRae out at first for an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

In the third with the bases loaded, catcher Nate Saleski kept Needville off the board when he tagged out Jakolby White at home on a steal attempt after Austin Crowley overthrew a pitch to the backstop.

“At first I thought the kid swung so it would be a drop third, but then I realized after my coaches were screaming, ‘He’s going’ or something that I had to tag him out at home,” Saleski told The Inquirer on Thursday.

But perhaps Media’s biggest defensive play came in the sixth inning when Patrick Diedrich turned a double play from his knees at third to end the inning and keep the score at 2-1.

Christian Nunez delivered in multiple ways for Media.

The right fielder went 2-for-2 and scored a run. Of his two hits, the biggest came in the bottom of the fifth when he ripped a triple down the left-field line to put him in scoring position with one out. Nunez scored on Rhys Muessig’s groundout.

“Christian’s got the hardest swing on the team. We’ve been working with him in the cages to square the ball up a little more, especially on two strikes,” Bradley said. “He had a great game.”

» READ MORE: Media manager Tom Bradley’s message for the Little League World Series: ‘We’re out there to have fun’

It was a bit of a frustrating night offensively for the Delco team as it managed just two hits against 10 strikeouts.

“We were really nervous at the plate,” Bradley said. “Once you get a strike on you, you want to be ready to swing and I didn’t think we were ready to swing on that second strike.”

Media’s quiet offense comes two games after its 16-3 blowout in the Mid-Atlantic Regional semifinals Aug. 9.

In the last two games, Media has scored a combined three runs. It was 1-for-5 with runners on base Wednesday. But Bradley doesn’t seem too worried about it heading into Saturday’s 2 p.m. game against Gray, Maine.

“We go through these highs and lows where we hit a lot and get a lot of runs and then all of a sudden we’re in some tight games and then we go again,” Bradley said. “I’m hoping that the kids relax, get out there, and just hit the ball like we know how [to].”