HAMILTON — Braydon Caudill was caught up in the moment as he took the mound for West Side Little League on Saturday.
“I was really nervous because of all the people out there watching us,” he said. “But I had faith in my teammates. I just kept throwing strikes. I knew we had defense behind us.”
Caudill shook off the early-game jitters, and West Side used aggressive baserunning to sprint past New Albany 13-2 in five innings in the Ohio Little League state tournament at West Side Little League.
Caudill struck out four, gave up four hits and walked just one in four innings of work.
“We know he has the ability,” Coomer said of Caudill, who recently stepped into a pitching role. “This is really his first year on the mound. He grew a lot, and he got a lot stronger.
“Now, he’s just got to understand that in big situations, he’s got to calm himself down a little bit. He got a little excited there at the beginning. Overall, he did a great job.”
West Side will face Boardman in the winner’s bracket of the state tournament on Sunday at 7 p.m. at West Side Little League.
“This felt good because we’re going in thinking that’s the best team here that we’re facing,” West Side right fielder Eric Albrinck said. “It just felt really good. … Not a lot was mentioned, but they beat us last year.”
In heartbreaking fashion — twice.
New Albany knocked West Side into the loser’s bracket on a walk-off home run in extra innings and eventually eliminated the Hamilton team on a walk-off grand slam in 2023. New Albany went on to win the Great Lakes Region and reach the Little League World Series.
West Side got one of those games back on Saturday.
“We’ve had a long history with them for the past 10 to 15 years,” West Side manager Ken Coomer said. “Last year, they got the best of us. But anytime you play good competition, you always want to bring your best.”
Braeden Sparks scored on a Cash Jones fielder’s choice to give West Side a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Sparks was 2 for 2 with three runs scored.
The West Side defense held its ground through three innings before the offense tacked on four more in the fourth on four walks and attentive baserunning.
“That’s really good because once we get a couple, we just don’t stop,” Caudill said. “We just keep going.”
“We try to be aggressive,” Coomer chimed in. “They’ve been playing this game for a while, so they understand how that works.”
New Albany grabbed two in the bottom of the fourth, and West Side all but put the game away with an eight-run fifth.
“We did that without our one and two hitters,” Coomer said. “They didn’t get a hit. I’ve always said that we hit one through 12. Our middle and our bottom came through great. We got bunts down when we needed to. We’ll work on more baserunning and keep staying aggressive.”
Albrinck (1 for 2, two runs, two RBI, walk), Parker Moyer (1 for 2, run, walk), Cash Jones (1 for 2, two runs, two RBI, walk), Eddie Frazier (1 for 1, two runs, RBI, two walks), Preston Baker (1 for 3) and Alijah Holmes (1 for 1, run, walk) contributed at the plate for West Side.
Frazier closed it out on the mound for West Side in the fifth.
“We talked a lot about the positives after the game — and not a lot of negatives,” Caudill said. “It was all the good stuff.”
Ohio Little League State Tournament
At West Side Little League
Saturday, July 20
Game 1 — West Side 13, New Albany 2
Game 2 — Boardman 6, Lucasville 2
Game 3 — Galion 15, Cuyahoga Falls 5
Game 4 — North Canton 14, Enon 4
Sunday, July 21
Game 5 — West Side vs. Boardman, 7 p.m.
Game 6 — Galion vs. North Canton, 5 p.m.
Game 7 — New Albany vs. Lucasville, 3 p.m.
Game 8 — Cuyahoga Falls vs. Enon, 1 p.m.
Monday, July 22
Game 9 — Game 6 loser vs. Game 7 winner, 8 p.m.
Game 10 — Game 5 loser vs. Game 8 winner, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, July 23
Game 11 — Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 8 p.m.
Game 12 — Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, July 24
Game 13 — Game 11 loser vs. Game 12 winner, 7 p.m.
Thursday, July 25
State Championship Game — Game 11 winner vs. Game 13 winner, 7 p.m.
Friday, July 26
If Necessary Game, 7 p.m.
