Little League World Series: Grosse Pointe Wins Wild One

GROSSE POINTE, MI — The Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores team, representing the Great Lakes region in the Little League World Series, emerged victorious in a wild, back-and-forth consolation game with the Europe-Africa champs.

Grosse Pointe defeated the Italy-based Emilia Little League team Monday by a score of 11-7 at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Emilia struck first, scoring six runs in the first inning thanks to four singles, a double and a triple off Grosse Pointe pitcher Braden Campbell. Jordan Arseneau was able to get out Grosse Pointe out of the frame and bring their own bats to the plate. After the first three hitters reached base in the bottom of the first inning, Arseneau homered to left field t cut the deficit to two runs. Adam Ayrault later doubled in the inning to score two more runs, and eventually scored on an error by the centerfielder to give Grosse Pointe an improbable 7-6 lead. (For more information on the Grosse Pointe team and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The teams traded runs in the second inning to make the score 8-7, and wouldn't score again until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Grosse Pointe broke the game wide open. After Tommy Schoeck homered to left field to lead off the inning, Matthew Greene and Jack Jones hit back-to-back doubles. To push the lead to 10-7. Shoenck later tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth inning, knocking a line drive single to center field.

The win was a true team effort, with five pitchers combining to strike out 11 batters. After a tough first inning, the team allowed just one run and three hits the rest of the game.

Final score: 11-7

OOPS! Grosse Pointe Woods/Shores pitcher Jack Jones just accidentally shattered a camera lens on a warmup pitch! #LLWS pic.twitter.com/01lpNzbAij
— Mike Foss (@MikeFossWXYZ) August 21, 2017

Grosse Pointe Woods/Shores beats Italy 11-7 in #LLWS consolation game. @GPWSLL gets first #LLWS win by a Michigan team since 1982. pic.twitter.com/GDrDy5HlWF
— Mike Foss (@MikeFossWXYZ) August 21, 2017

Grosse Pointe roster:

• Tommy Harris
• Braden Campbell
• Matthew Greene
• Joey Randazzo
• Tommy Schoeck
• Drew Hill
• Will Pflaum
• Adam Ayrault
• Joseph Wisniewski
• Chase Reinhard
• Jack Jones
• Jordan Arseneau
• Ryan Jones

Photo credit: Little League Baseball and Softball