Friday at the Little League World Series was a day full of upsets, as the so-called underdogs won both of the first two games. There was no clear favorite in the final game of the night between Kentucky, representing the Great Lakes, and Texas, representing the Southwest, but it did end with an 11-1 score in favor of Kentucky.
Kentucky gets on the board first
Kentucky struck first immediately, as they put up three runs in the top of the first thanks to a walk to Spencer Newman, a Texas error that allowed John Guthrie to get on base, and a RBI single from Carson Myers that put them up 1-0. Guthrie scored on a wild pitch, while a single from Isaiah Head scored Myers to make it a quick 3-0 lead.
Texas did get their only run of the game in the bottom of the inning when Dominic Tellis hit a leadoff home run to cut the lead to 3-1. Kentucky responded in the second when Devin Obee led off with a walk and came all the way around to score on a wild pitch that also saw a throwing error. Newman also got a hit and scored on the same error to make it 5-1.
The only inning that Kentucky did not score any runs was the third when they were set down in order. They got one run in the fourth when Obee, who was also the pitcher, hit a solo home run to lead off the inning.
They tacked on five more in the fifth when Kyle Snyder reached after being hit by a pitch. Patrick Forbes followed with an error that moved Snyder up to second. Obee followed with a single that allowed him to advance to second and Forbes to score on yet another error.
Newman followed with a single, and he came around to score when Guthrie reached on an error. He scored a few batters later when Turner Nottmeier singled to make it 11-1 in favor of Kentucky. After Texas was unable to score in the bottom of the inning, the game was ended due to the ten-run rule that Little League has in place, which takes affect after five innings.
Obee went the distance for Kentucky, as he gave up just the one run on three hits while notching seven strikeouts and throwing just 76 pitches. Combining that with his 2-3 performance at the plate and he is the VAVEL USA Player of the game.
Kentucky now gets an off day before facing Iowa on Sunday night in a winners bracket game. Texas, meanwhile, plays on Saturday night against California in an elimination game.