European edition, Monday, July 30, 2007
KUTNO, Poland — Consolation was the name of the game Sunday for the Stuttgart-Wiesbaden Bulldogs and the Dubai Falcons, and for the Germany champs there was plenty of it with a 14-3, four-inning, run-rule victory at Little League Baseball’s Transatlantic Regional.
Tommy Cashman and Dylan Measells derived the most consolation from the final game of this five-team, six-day event taht determined which Europe- and Middle East-based team of expatriates advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., Aug. 17-26.
Cashman socked a grand slam in a game-breaking seven-run second inning, and Measells clubbed a three-run shot in the third, which got the margin above the total needed to end the game after four innings.
“We just came out of our little slump,” said Cashman, referring to his team’s 9-6 loss to London on Saturday that cost the Bulldogs a berth in Sunday’s championship game.
The Bulldogs managed just four hits until they mounted a five-run sixth against the England champions.
The Germany champs continued the scoring they began in the final stanza on Saturday to begin this game, opening with a four-run first.
Dubai countered with a three-run first of its own, but Joseph “Fish” Patrick came on in relief of Measells, the starter, to get the final out of the second inning and blank the Falcons the rest of the way. Measells and Patrick combined on a three-hitter.
Patrick joined the hitting parade with two doubles and a single in four at-bats, and Measells, Chris Byrd and C.J. Kellogg each had two hits.
The real consolation, however, came off the field as the unfailingly sportsmanlike Saudi champions greeted the Bulldogs outside the stadium to congratulate them on their performance here.
In addition to the greetings, the teams engaged in an impromptu exchange of game jerseys and caps.
“It just happened,” said Cashman, who was wearing the jersey of his Saudi opposite number, Ryan Al-Bawab about the exchange. “All those Saudi kids are very nice.”
