Media loses a close one in Little League World Series opener

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Sometimes one play decides the game.

That seemed to be the case for the Media Little League team who dropped its opening-round game in the Little League World Series 2-1 to Needville, Texas, at Howard J. Lamade Stadium Wednesday evening.

It’s the first loss in tournament play for Media, snapping a 14-game winning streak.

“It was a great game. Both pitchers really did well,” Media manager Tom Bradley said. “It came down to the errors, (which) were costly and that changed the game. … It is what it is. We just weren’t ready to play defensively.”

Austin Crowley took the loss, going four innings while giving up two runs, both of which were unearned, on four hits. He recorded eight strikeouts on the night.

Right fielder Christian Nunez led Media in the game with two of the team’s three hits.

“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 two strikes,” said Bradley of his right fielder. “But he had a great game, two hits and had a run. It was huge.”

Second baseman AJ Domenico had the other hit for the Delco team. Nolan Gratton was strong in relief, throwing two scoreless innings while striking out three.

Crowley and Needville starter DJ Jablonski lived up to the pitching matchup, as both teams’ aces went neck and neck for the first three innings, striking out a combined 13 hitters.

But the defense behind Crowley, which had been solid for most of the summer, cost him in the fourth inning.

Bradley said his team wasn’t as “defensively sound” as they normally were, as they did not get in their normal fielding practice ahead of the game due to the pregame schedule teams are given by Little League.

“[The schedule] was a little bit rushed,” Bradley said. “We wanted to get on the field [but] Southwest was coming off and we didn’t think there was enough time to get some fielding practice in there. Then get up to the start of the game, there’s a lot of downtime in these games.

“Our normal routine is to get a lot of batting practice and fielding practice in one hour before the game, but this is a little different. You have to be here an hour and 10 minutes before the game and we have to travel far for the fields and the batting cages. We’re just not used to all that, but it is what it’s, we’ll get to practice on Thursday and Friday.”

It became evident.

A Needville leadoff single was followed by an error by Gratton, who was then playing shortstop, putting Needville with two runners on base. Then a pitch bouncing off of catcher Nate Saleski’s glove advanced both runners 60 feet closer into scoring position.

Despite Crowley bouncing back with two strikeouts, Needville struck first as Cade Hammonds scored on a defensive miscue from first baseman Trevor Skowronek. Skowronek threw to second base which allowed Hammonds to steal home.

“Errors tend to magnify the situation,” Bradley said. “Kids get a little bit ramp ramped up, where they just want to hurry up, try and make a play. We didn’t relax enough.”

Then on the next play, first baseman Easton Ondruch expanded Needville’s lead to 2-0 with a single up the middle scoring Jagger McRae.

Media then found some late life in the bottom of the fifth when Nunez roped a one-out triple down the third base line for his second hit of the night. One batter later, Rhys Muessig brought Nunez home on an RBI groundout to cut the deficit to one.

However, that would be as far as the comeback went for the Delco team.

Jablonski, who had reached his 85-pitch limit two outs in the sixth, gave the ball to Colten Georgi for the final out. He got Saleski to ground out to shortstop for the final out.

Media was 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

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

With the loss, Media now drops into the elimination bracket. Its next game will be Saturday at Lamade Stadium (2 p.m., ESPN). Bradley’s squad will have to wait to learn its opponent as Northwest and New England haven’t played yet.