All-Stars Rout Saipan At Senior League Series

BANGOR, Maine — This time around, the Manhattan Beach All-Stars got a chance to show off their bench and depth.

The U.S. West region champs got at least one hit from every spot in the batting order and a solid outing on the mound from No. 3 starter Carter Casady on Tuesday to improve to 3-0 in pool play at the Senior League World Series.

Manhattan Beach scored twice in the second inning and then broke its game against Asia-Pacific champion Saipan wide open with nine runs in the fourth for an 11-0, mercy-rule shortened victory at Mansfield Stadium.

The way Casady was throwing, the nine-run outburst was a luxury, but he was glad for the support just the same.

"Our hitting coach [Dean Jelmini] has helped us progress through this entire week and now everybody in our lineup is hitting and producing," Casady said.

Casady allowed only two hits, no runs and no walks over four innings. He threw 27 of a miniscule 39 pitches for strikes on the way to four strikeouts.

"He was throwing his first pitch in for strikes and it was usually a fastball," said Saipan manager Jonathan Tenorio. "Then he'd go with a curve or whatever when he wanted to."

Casady said it was location and tempo, getting quick outs and keeping his pitch count down.

"I was happy with my fastball today, that I could get it over for a first-pitch strike," Casady said. "My pitches weren't centering in the middle of the plate. It was more just keeping it on the corners so they'd have to reach out for it."

Manhattan Beach is now unbeaten in the tournament with a day off Wednesday. The Asia-Pacific champions are now 0-2.

Trent Hammond led a 12-hit Manhattan Beach attack with two singles, two runs and an RBI.

"We gained a lot of confidence off our win... and found our hitting in that lineup," Hammond said. "Everybody was contributing. The hits just kept coming. This was big for us after all the hype."

That would have been a 5-3, extra-inning win over Aruba.

There would be no letdown against Saipan as the Mustangs got hits up and down the lineup.

"One of the things we take pride in is the job our bench does. These two guys [Casady and Hammond] don't get a lot of playing time, but both came through today," Manhattan Beach manager Carlos Rojas said.

The West champs scored first with Ian McLoughlin's leadoff double in the second and a walk by Anthony Lombardo. McLoughlin advanced and scored on two wild pitches and Lombardo scored on a steal, a single and a fielder's choice grounder.

Manhattan Beach then sent 15 batters to the plate in the fourth, coming away with eight hits and nine runs aided by two more Saipan errors.

"Our starting pitcher threw all right, but we had a lot of errors and mistakes behind him," said Tenorio. "If not for them, he could have had a nice ballgame.

"Every time somebody made an error, we'd get down and we were playing tight," Tenorio added.

The biggest hits for the West team in the fourth were Sam O'Melia's pinch-hit, two-run single and Ryan Erickson's RBI triple.

While Monday night's stars like Erickson continued producing, Tuesday's effort was truly a team one.

"We're strong in all facets of the game and I think our team showed that," Casady said. "Overall, we just wanted to get the defense involved, get quick outs, and get back in the dugout."

The win puts Manhattan Beach in the driver's seat in Pool B, a perfect 3-0 going into a game on Thursday against Holmes County, Ohio, the U.S. Central champion.

"Carter's our number three guy, so we have our two (Turner Conrad) who hasn't pitched yet and our number one guy (Anthony Lombardo) wants to pitch any time he's eligible so I feel comfortable and very happy as to where we are," Rojas said.

–By Andrew Neff, Bangor Daily News