West Side breezes past Maumee, 4-1

Korren Thompson strikes out 13 batters in dominant performance.

West Side beat Maumee 4-1 to advance to the winners' bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: West Side Little League

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer Updated 11:00 AM Sunday, July 24, 2011

ENGLEWOOD — Korren Thompson’s Hamilton West Side teammates like to call the hard-throwing left-handed pitcher the “Mexican Missile,” but the players in the Maumee dugout probably had a few other nicknames for him following his most recent performance.

“Filthy.” “Nasty.” “Daddy.” Take your pick.

Thompson was as dominant as he’s ever been Saturday afternoon in West Side’s state tournament opener, throwing five no-hit innings with a career-high 13 strikeouts to lead his team to a 4-1 victory at Centennial Park.

“Everything he did was right,” West Side coach Josh Sams said. “His fastball was on, his offspeed was on, he hit his spots. Every pitch we called, he and I were in sync together. He just did an outstanding job.”

Thompson struck out the first eight batters he faced and nine of the first 10. Maumee, which featured three players at least 6 feet tall, only put two balls in play against him, a fly out to left and a groundout to second.

“My cutter was really throwing them off, and it made at least three or four of them look at third strikes,” Thompson said. “And against the big guys, my regular two-seam (fastball) was working for me. All I had to do was throw it high and they couldn’t touch it.”

Thompson finished the fifth inning with 82 pitches, three shy of the limit. Shaun Brandenburg struggled in relief, allowing a leadoff walk, a double and a hit batter, but Jake Pennington came in and retired the final two batters to preserve Thompson’s masterpiece.

“Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other pitcher,” Maumee coach L.J. Archambeau said. “Korren Thompson did a great job. He mixed pitches, mixed speeds, changed locations and never let our hitters get comfortable.”

Thompson also delivered a big, two-out single in the bottom of the first to score Pennington, who led off the game with a double on the way to a 3-for-3 afternoon.

It stayed 1-0 until the fourth, when West Side took advantage of a walk, infield single and error to put runners on second and third with one out. Zach Evans scored Vince Sanford with a sacrifice fly, and Pennington plated Cameron Stapleton, who was running for Alex Little, with a single.

West Side got its fourth run in surprising fashion when pinch-hitter Christian Acus hit his first career home run, a no-doubter to straight-away center field.

“He killed that ball,” Sams said. “(Scorekeeper) Brian Ruhl predicted it after seeing him hit one off the green monster Thursday night at West Side.”

The win moves West Side into the winners’ bracket semifinals. The team will play at 6 p.m. Monday against the winner of today’s Mount Vernon-Eaton game.

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