Ocean View dominates Little League World Series debut

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Ryan McCormick knocked down Braydon Salzman. But New England could do nothing to knock out Ocean View.

Salzman nearly took a wicked McCormick third-inning line drive in the face, but quickly recovered and ended Rhode Island’s most significant threat with a strikeout.

Salzman, Nick Pratto and Ryo Takada combined on a three-hit shutout and six different players drove in runs as Ocean View thumped New England, 11-0, in the team from Huntington Beach’s Little League World Series debut Friday at Lamade Stadium.

Ocean View, which delivered 11 hits, moves into the winner’s bracket and next plays Great Lakes, which beat Mid-Atlantic, on Sunday at 3 p.m. PDT. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

“We were having trouble hitting their pitcher at first and the guys a little tight,” Ocean View manager Jeff Pratto said. “But our pitching kept us in the game until we were able to settle down a little bit and get our bats going.

“I’ve seen this game played out several times during our run so I was confident.”

Salzman was floored by McCormick’s line drive and walked the next batter on four pitches as Rhode Island mounted its only significant rally. The ball hit the bill of his cap and pushed it in against his forehead, but the ball did not directly hit him.

“I didn’t know if I was going to come back and throw strikes,” said Salzman, who struck out five in three innings. “I was kind of nervous because I didn’t know if they were a good team or not so I just had to throw strikes and have my defense make the plays.”

Still, Ocean View already led 2-0 at that point, scoring two runs in the first two innings. After Salzman struck out No. 3 hitter Max Hanuschak on a well-spotted outside-corner pitch, Rhode Island never seemed the same.

Pratto and Takada allowed just one baserunner over the final three innings while being backed by excellent defense.

Ocean View added a run in the fourth and broke open the game in the fifth inning, scoring six runs on five hits while building a 9-0 lead. Jason Mayorga ignited the game-breaking rally with a leadoff double while Trevor Windisch highlighted it with a two-run, two-out single. Salzman, and Pratto also had RBI singles in the inning.

Windisch had a nice day at the plate, going 1 for 3 with three RBI. His fourth-inning sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

“I was sort of nervous because there were a lot of people in the outfield and I think I was thinking too much about what I was going to do with my at-bats,” a humble Windisch said.

Danner helped produce the game’s first run, leading off it with a triple to right-center field. Fresh off hitting the game-winning two-run home run in the West Region championship, Steven Kotkosky then continued delivering timely hits, belting a two-out RBI single into left field.

Kotkosky reached base all four times, walking in his final three at-bats.

“That first inning when we scored that run and he shut them down I felt like it was juts another West Region game,” Danner said.

Eric Anderson capped the Ocean View scoring, belting a two-run sixth-inning double.

Nine different players had hits for Ocean View; Danner and Christian Catano had two hits each.