After beating New Albany 13-1 in the loser’s bracket final, WSLL kept the momentum going to avenge its 5-1 loss to Galion in the state championship game Thursday. West Side beat Galion in the rematch 10-0 in four innings to claim its 11th state title in 13 years.
“The biggest thing to me was the way we reacted after our first loss,” Nichting said. “You never know how kids are going to respond in those situations, but we beat New Albany 13-1 and Galion 10-0. I would say we were pretty fired up. I couldn’t be more proud of how our kids performed.”
Although it was a double-elimination tournament, the championship was determined by a one-game final. Nichting said he’s not really a fan of that format to determine a state or district winner, but joked in this case, he won’t complain.
Normally, West Side would have needed to beat Galion twice to claim the crown, but in such a lopsided game, the team from Hamilton made quite a statement.
“My team is a pretty together group,” Nichting said. “A lot of them go to school together, they hang out together, so there was a lot of joy after the game. They were proud of the hard work they put in and how it paid off for them.”
Ace pitcher Maddox Jones, who was part of West Side’s World Series runner-up team last year, led the way Thursday, throwing a two-hitter with seven strikeouts.
He also had two hits, including a double, to help the offense.
“He dominated on the mound,” Nichting said. “He’s got a lot of good experience behind him with playing with that team last year. You could tell from the start (Thursday) he was on his ‘A’ game pitching. He threw very well.”
Sammy Platt and Asher Roy also added two hits at the plate, while Jaxson Bohlen, Carter Jackson, Brady Karwisch, Aiden Justice, Timmy Saurber and Nate Lineback also recorded hits. Karwisch, who also shined at third base, and Lineback both had doubles, and Justice and Lineback both scored two runs.
Nichting also credited his assistants, Kenny Coomer and Chris Hilton, for their contributions to the team. Coomer took last year’s 12-and-under all-stars to the World Series, and Hilton played on the 1991 team that Nichting helped coach to the World Series as well.
West Side now advances to the Great Lakes Regional, where it will have a first-round bye and face the winner of the game between Kentucky and Illinois on Aug. 7 in Whitestown, Ind.
The Hamilton all-stars finished as the regional runner-up last year, but because of COVID protocols, international teams that normally play in the Little League World Series could not travel to the United States for the tournament so the two finalists from each region qualified. This year, only the champions will advance.
“I’m sure there will be a little bit of a mark on our back from winning the Tom Seaver division (at the World Series) last year, but we have to win it all this year to go to the Little League World Series, so we’ll work hard and see what happens,” Nichting said.
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