West Side moves closer to semis; spot on ESPN

Squad can clinch spot in semifinals with win over Michigan today.

From left, Christian Halcomb, Jake Jones and Cole Heflin, members of the 2010 Hamilton West Side Little League World Series team cheer on Hamilton West Side during regional play against Burlington, Wisconsin Sunday night August 7, 2011, at Stokely Field at the Little League Central Region Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Staff photo by Nick Daggy

Staff photo by Nick Daggy From left, Christian Halcomb, Jake Jones and Cole Heflin, members of the 2010 Hamilton West Side Little League World Series team cheer on Hamilton West Side during regional play against Burlington, Wisconsin Sunday night August 7, 2011, at Stokely Field at the Little League Central Region Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Staff photo by Nick Daggy

ENLARGE PHOTO

Hamilton West Side's Trevor Detherage (left) and Zach Evans (right) celebrate with pitcher Austin Broshear after closing out a 9-7 victory over Burlington, Wisconsin Sunday night August 7, 2011, at Stokely Field at the Little League Central Region Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Staff photoS by Nick Daggy

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Hamilton West Side's Trevor Detherage (left) and Zach Evans (right) celebrate with pitcher Austin Broshear after closing out a 9-7 victory over Burlington, Wisconsin Sunday night August 7, 2011, at Stokely Field at the Little League Central Region Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Staff photoS by Nick Daggy

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer Updated 12:12 PM Monday, August 8, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS — They may not be signing up for Screen Actors Guild cards just yet, but the Hamilton West Side All-Stars are likely to make an appearance on national television later this week.

West Side survived a tense, bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning to hold off Wisconsin 9-7 Sunday night in Indianapolis, all but ensuring the team a berth in Wednesday’s single-elimination semifinals on ESPN2.

“I’ve literally had dreams about playing on ESPN and going to the (Little League) World Series,” said West Side’s Austin Broshear, who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and pitched two innings of relief to earn the save.

“It’s an unexplainable feeling,” added Cameron Stapleton, who got the surprise start on the mound and threw three solid innings to earn the win. “It’s pretty amazing to think everyone’s going to be watching on TV and you could do something great.”

West Side (2-1) can clinch a spot in the semifinals with a win against Michigan (1-2) at 1 p.m. today. Even with a loss, the team would stand a good chance of getting in, but that’s not how coach Josh Sams is viewing it.

“We’ll be playing like we need to win,” Sams said. “The standings are kind of funky. There’s still a chance we could be out of it if we lose.”

West Side took a quick 2-0 lead against Wisconsin (1-2) only to give it away with a walk, two errors and a passed ball that made it 3-2 after three innings.

But Hamilton answered immediately by sending 10 batters to the plate in the fourth and scoring five runs. Jake Pennington had an RBI infield single, and Broshear added a two-out, two-run single for a 7-3 lead.

“I knew we’re eventually going to hit,” Sams said after watching his team collect 11 hits, one shy of its combined total for the first two games of pool play.

Pennington finished 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored, and Shaun Brandenburg, Reid Ruhl, Alex Weller and Zach Evans each added singles, while Vince Sanford stole a base and scored twice.

But it almost wasn’t enough as Wisconsin scored once in the sixth and had the bases loaded before Broshear got Jacob Lindemann to fly out to Ruhl in left to end the game.

“It got pretty hairy there at the end,” Sams said. “I’ll tell you what, that was a thriller.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

Little League Baseball Regional tournament

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