“It was great,” said Spears, who has three home runs and 15 RBIs during tournament play. “The first home run, I knew it right off the bat. I knew it was gone. Second one, I thought it might have went foul. Gone.
“And then I was shoving. I was shoving. I got high in the pitch count — still finished the game. We played as a team. We’re ready for regionals."
West Side will play Kentucky on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 10 a.m. in the Great Lakes Region tournament, which runs through Aug. 6 in Whitestown, Indiana. That game will be televised on ESPN+.
West Side (6-0) got its bats going early on Thursday.
Anthony Saurber singled, and Jordan Malloy dropped a sac bunt to move Saurber to second. TJ Madden walked to put runners at first and second before Preston Baker’s RBI single scored Saurber to give West Side a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Cash Jones singled home Madden, and a Jonathan Lineback two-RBI double made it 4-0.
But New Albany responded with four runs in the bottom half of the first to knot it up and eventually took the lead on a Spears passed ball that scored a runner from third in the bottom of the second.
“I still felt OK after they took the lead,” West Side manager Ken Coomer said. “We were still hitting their pitcher pretty good. Our kids were still focused. They didn’t lose it. They were tuned in.
“We were patient at the plate, and we knew that the umpire had a tight strike zone. That was the biggest thing was our discipline at the plate, and the kids did a great job. This was the result.”
West Side scored the next 13 runs.
Saurber and Malloy led off the top of the third with walks, and Madden’s RBI single plated Saurber to tie it at 5-5. Baker singled home Malloy, a Jones sac fly scored Madden, and Lineback’s base hit brought in Baker to make it 8-5, West Side.
Then Spears smashed his three-run homer over the left field fence to give West Side an 11-5 advantage.
Madden sported a diving catch in center field during a New Albany threat in the bottom of the third, but West Side got out of the jam.
West Side reeled off a six-run fourth inning that was capped off by Spears’ grand slam, which all but sealed it.
Spears retired New Albany’s first three batters to enforce the run-rule in the bottom of the fourth. He gave up five runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Baker (3-for-3, three runs, two RBIs), Lineback (2-for-2, two runs, two RBIs) and Madden (2-for-2, three runs, RBI) chipped in offensively for West Side, which has won all six of its postseason tournament games by an 86-24 margin.
Saurber, Malloy, Boone Treadway and Bobby Frazier also added base hits.
“This is just all about hard work,” Coomer said. “I’ve said this for the last 20-something years — it’s a process. It all started with Ray Nichting, then it went to Tim Nichting, and it went to me and other coaches. You understand the process and that you believe in the process.
“The thing with our job as coaches is to get the kids to understand it and believe in it,” Coomer added. “Once they get that belief in them and they see how it works, it just keeps on going.
“West Side’s a great program. We’re very fortunate we have the players that we do.”
In the know
West Side captured its 40th consecutive district championship, now holds 22 state titles and has made trips to the Little League World Series in 1991, 1993, 2007, 2010, and 2021.
The Little League World Series is Aug. 13-24 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The team
West Side’s 12U All-Star team consists of Anthony Saurber, Jordan Malloy, Oakley Turner, TJ Madden, Cash Jones, Teegan Lay, Bobby Frazier, Preston Baker, Lennox Brown, Boone Treadway, Gavyn Spears and Jonathan Lineback.
West Side is managed by Ken Coomer and assisted by Tim Nichting, Danny Adams and Chris Craft.
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