KMC All-Stars romp in LL Euro Regional opener
Published: July 20, 2012
The Kaiserslautern Military Community All-Stars opened their bid for a spot in this year’s Little League World Series with a 15-0 victory over Serbia in their opening game Friday at Little League Baseball’s European Regional Tournament at Kutno, Poland.
Tyler Woodberry, Jerry Van Sickle and Jared Mendiola combined to no-hit the Serbs in a game called by the 10-run-rule, KMC coach Eric Vincent reported by telephone on Friday afternoon. The trio allowed just two walks, and no Serbian runner got past first base, Vincent added.
As they had in the Germany tournament, the All-Stars rode their big bats to the victory. Woodberry, Justin Wilson and Nico DeCosta each homered on Friday, Vincent said.
Next up for the KMC 11-12-year-olds is the second of their five pool-play games, a 10:30 a.m. date Saturday against Ukraine. The Americans then are scheduled to face the U.K. at 10 a.m. Sunday, Italy at 10:30 a.m. Monday and Hungary at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The top four teams from each of the regional's two six-team pools begin knockout, crossover play with Thursday’s quarterfinals. The tournament’s semifinals are scheduled for Friday, July 26, and the title game, with a berth in the 66th Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., on the line, is to be played at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 27.
Teams from KMC represented Europe at Williamsport in 2009 and 2010; last year, Emilia, Italy, was the European champion at the World Series.
