Goodlettsville finds late magic, wins on walk-off double
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The dramatic 2012 U.S. championship game win left Goodlettsville manager Joey Hale with one reminder.
If a game is going to be decided in one final at-bat, it’s great to be at the top of the order.
The top two hitters, twins Tanner and Tyler Jones, got on base, then came in with the tying and winning runs on Robert Carroll’s two-out double to lift Goodlettsville to a 3-2 victory over Northwest Regional champion Bend North (Ore.) Thursday night in an opening round game at the Little League World Series.
Goodlettsville never led until Carroll’s drive skimmed off the top of the glove of the back-pedaling right fielder Caleb Carpenter. When the ball landed, there was no chance for a play on a hit that would have probably resulted in three runs if they were needed.
The win, before a crowd of 7,862 at Lamade Stadium and a national TV audience on ESPN, lifts Southeast Regional champion Goodlettsville into Sunday’s 2 p.m. U.S. winners’ bracket semifinal against Maine-Endwell, N.Y. The Mid-Atlantic Region champions defeated Warwick North (R.I.), 7-2, earlier Thursday.
Thursday’s win did not look much like Goodlettsville’s last victory in Williamsport, the 24-16, seven-inning win over Petaluma, Calif., for the national title, but Hale was encouraged by an important similarity.
“There’s a lot of similarities between that game and this game,” said Hale, who was also the manager of the team that gave up a 10-run lead and answered it with a winning, nine-run outburst. “When we came in from giving up 10 runs, the top of the lineup was batting.
“Top of the lineup was up again. The same scenario and we came through in that situation.”
It wasn’t easy.
Tanner Jones hit a solo homer to straightaway center field with two out in the third to cut Goodlettsville's deficit to 2-1.
After Tyler Jones followed with a single, Bend North starter Zack Reynolds retired seven straight, four by strikeout, before facing Tanner again.
Tanner Jones blooped a single to center field.
When Tyler Jones singled through the right side, it was time for the twins to show off their speed. Tanner raced to third, drawing a throw that moved Tyler to second, starting a series of moves between the two managers.
Bend manager Steve Mora started out trying to intentionally walk Zach McWilliams.
When Hale had McWilliams swing at a 2-0 pitch he could not reach to try to move Reynolds closer to exhausting his pitch limit, Mora went for the out and got it.
Carson Rucker, whose older brother Jake started the winning inning in the 2012 U.S. final, hit a groundball to shortstop. Tanner Jones broke toward home, drew a throw and retreated, leaving everyone safe, loading the bases.
Bowen Nelson replaced Reynolds and got a strikeout for the second out before Carroll's hit.
“It felt great,” Carroll said. “I was just glad I got the hit for my team.”
McWilliams threw a two-hitter with nine strikeouts. He walked one batter and hit three.
Reynolds had both Bend North hits, including a two-run triple on a misjudged flyball to deep right field with two out in the top of the third.
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