Culver City Observer -

The Westchester 14-U Babe Ruth team continues its march in the World Series/.

Westchester defeated Twin Cities (Washington), 6- 3 Monday in a matinee game. Westchester came into the game with a 1-1 record. Twin Cities entered undefeated, having beaten Utah Sunday evening.

Westchester jumped to an early 3-0 lead on a double by Anthony Chavez, Carlos Jacobo taking a pitch in his ribs, and then an Avery Allen singled to center scoring Chavez. Starting pitcher Ethan Lazar doubled in two, giving Westchester a 3-0 lead.

Twin Cities scored a single runs in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly and in the bottom of the fourth on a botched double play attempt, narrowing the gap to 3-2.

After Erin Inatsugu (mother or right fielder AJ Inatsugu) gave a rousing rendition of God Bless America, the Westchester bats caught fire. Jacobo led off with a ground rule double to left field. Allen reached on a fielder's choice on a grounder to shortstop, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. Inatsugu bunted into a force play, bringing up pinch hitter Grant Craddolph.

Craddolph grounded to short, but the shortstop threw the ball away, allowing Allen to score, Inatsugu to take third and Craddolph to take second. Pinch hitting Matthew Kaplan struck

out, bringing up Christian Amador. With Amador at the plate, the Twin Cities pitcher threw an attempted pick off throw to the centerfielder, allowing Inatsugu to score and Craddolph to take third. Amador ripped a single to center, scoring Craddolph giving Westchester a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth.

Craddolph relieved Lazar on the mound to begin the bottom of the fifth inning and immediately gave up back to back hits. After getting two outs, Craddolph walked pitcher Fletcher Brown on four pitches. With the bases loaded, Craddolph struck out Casey Wassen to end the threat.

Craddolph gave up a lead off double and a single, putting runners at first and third. Craddolph got the next two batters before giving up a single scoring one. Westchester led 6-3 after six.

Westchester failed to score in the top of the seventh, setting the stage for a possible Twin Cities comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning

Craddolph got the first batter to ground out to shortstop. The second batter reached safely on an error and the next batter singled to center, putting runners on first and second with one out. Twin Cities' Kevin Brettison flew out to left for the second out of the inning. Jordan Wood grounded out to end the game.

Westchester is now 2-1 in pool play and plays Utah Wednesday at 5:30 pm to complete the round-robin pool. Three of the five teams in Westchester's pool will advance to the single elimination championship beginning Thursday.

In its prior game Westchester lost to Jacksonville, 10-2 in a pool play game.

Westchester had numerous opportunities to score, but couldn't get a key hit when necessary.

Jacksonville struck first with four runs in the top of first on two hits and some aggressive base running. Westchester came back loading the bases on walks LJ Gilliam, Grant Craddolph and Anthony Chavez. Carlos Jacobo knocked in the lone run on a hard grounder to second.

Jacksonville scored three in the top of the third, extending their lead to 7-1.

Angel (Gator) de la Torre replaced starting pitcher Matthew Kaplan to start the fourth inning, yielding one run.

Jacksonville connected for two runs in the top of the seventh to make the score 10-1. Westchester scored a run in the top of the seventh on singles by Matthew Kanfer and Craddolph and a sacrifice fly by Jacobo.

Previously in the World Series Westchester defeated Northeast Regional Champion Connecticut, 18-4

Westchester jumped out to a 2-0 lead on an LJ Gilliam double, a Matthew Kanfer single and after a walk and a hit by pitch, a Carlos Jacobo sacrifice fly to center. Southbury scored a single run in the bottom of the first. Westchester added to it's lead after Gilliam was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a balk, and then scored again on a Kanfer single.

Westchester broke the game open in the third, scoring four more on singles by Jacobo, Avery Allen, Matthew Kaplan, and a double by Kanfer, making the score 7-1. Westchester scored there more in the fourth on singles by Allen, Ethan Lazar, Gilliam and a double by Kanfer. Southbury came back for three in the bottom of the fourth, knocking out Westchester starter Anthony Chavez. Reggie Castro came in and shut down the rally, preserving Westchester's 10-4 lead.

Neither team scored until the seventh when Westchester exploded for eight additional runs, with a booming double by Jacobo and a double to right center by Christian Amador, highlighting the explosion.

Matthew Kaplan, starting first basemen, commented "Connecticut played well early. We had some hits fall and the ln things got rolling. I expect that Connecticut will be a major factor in this tournament."