The team from Washington scored in each of its first six turns at bat against Nogales on Wednesday, piling up a dozen runs to win the opening game of the 2022 Little League Intermediate 50/70Â Division West Regional tournament, 12-6.
As the Redmond (Wash.) North Little League All-Stars built their lead, the host squad from Nogales couldn’t get its offense going until the fourth inning.
Finally, the Nogalians got on the board thanks to an RBI single by Marco Serrano and a bases-loaded walk to Diego Peral. But they left three runners on base and trailed 7-2 after four innings.
Washington answered in the top of the fifth, scoring three times on a hit batter, two walks and consecutive singles by Brendan Winkler, Trent Lim and Ben Byeman.
Nogales came back with a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10-5. But Washington kept scoring, adding two more in the top of the sixth on back-to-back triples by David Weintraub and Hudson Schock.
Nogales plated one more run in their final at bat, when Andres Lopez led off with a triple and came home on a single by Cael Clark.
Clark finished the game 3-for-4 for Nogales with two runs scored. Serrano was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Schock was 2-for-3 for Washington, with two triples two walks, two runs and two RBIs. Byeman had two hits and two RBIs, and Ben Schenone had multiple hits.
Winkler was the pitching standout of the game, throwing three shutout innings for Washington.
Wednesday’s game was the inaugural contest in the nine-day regional tournament. In addition to Nogales and Washington, the eight-team field includes Alaska, Arizona (Sunnyside Little League from Tucson), Northern California, Southern California, Hawaii and Oregon.
Three more games were played on Thursday. Arizona beat Northern California 5-3, Hawaii topped Southern California 14-4, and Alaska defeated Oregon 32-0.
On Friday, two games are scheduled at 5 p.m. (including Nogales vs. Alaska) and two more at 8 p.m.
The schedule on Saturday and Sunday includes two games at 10 a.m. and two at 1 p.m., both days. Monday is a rest day that can also be used to make up any rainouts before the tournament continues on Tuesday, July 26.
All games are played at the two fields at Fleischer Park on Hohokam Drive. Admission is free.
The Intermediate Division is for youth ages 11-13. It uses a field in which the pitching rubber is 50 feet from home plate and the bases are 70 feet apart – dimensions that fall between the sizes of typical Little League and adult fields.
The West Regional winner will advance to the Intermediate 50/70 World Series, set for July 31-Aug. 7 in Livermore, Calif.
