WHITESTOWN, Indiana — The West Side Little League 12U All-Star team’s summer tournament run came to an abrupt end.
West Side fell into an early hole against Jasper (Ind.) but was able to claw its way back before suffering a 4-3 loss in a Great Lakes Region elimination game at the Little League Central Region Complex in Whitestown, Indiana, on Monday afternoon.
“This is still a big achievement,” West Side manager Ken Coomer said. “I know we worked hard. These kids have come a long way from the time they were 8 and 9 years old until now.
“Just for these kids to be a part of what West Side is all about, it’s still a major achievement.”
West Side won all six of its postseason contests prior to regional play to claim the program’s 39th district and 21st state titles. West Side was searching for a sixth trip to the Little League World Series (1991, 1993, 2007, 2010 and 2021).
Jasper did all of its damage at the plate in the bottom of the second inning by scoring all four runs with help from a few West Side errors.
Cash Jones, who was the West Side starting pitcher, Eddie Frazier and Braeden Sparks each saw the mound in that inning.
“The four-run inning hurt,” Coomer said. “We had a couple errors — just kind of silly little stuff that we kind of lost our focus on and got caught up in the moment.
“Sparks was able to come in and throw a gem,” Coomer added. “We were battling hitting-wise, though.”
West Side responded the next inning.
Anthony Saurber connected on West Side’s first hit to start the top of the third. Jordan Malloy singled, but Parker Moyer bunted into a fielder’s choice to get Saurber at third the next at-bat. Zaylan Anderson’s hit loaded the bases. Jones walked to score Malloy, and then Alijah Holmes walked to score Moyer. Sparks had a sac-fly that brought Holmes across the plate from third to pull it to 4-3.
“We felt there were a couple more opportunities that we had, but unfortunately fell short,” Coomer said.
Sparks struck out six batters and limited Jasper hitters from doing very little at the plate when he took over.
West Side had a glimmer of hope in the fifth after Saurber walked to begin the inning.
“There was a wild pitch, and he got to second,” Coomer said of Saurber. “Being an 11-year-old boy, he saw nobody was covering third and didn’t realize that it was too risky. By the time he realized it, it was a bad idea. It was too late. He was just being aggressive.”
Saurber was tagged out trying to make it to third. Moyer walked after Malloy grounded out to short, but Anderson lined out to second to end West Side’s final threat to tie it.
West Side went down 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth to end it.
“The biggest thing is that we grew and hopefully learned from our mistakes,” Coomer said. “It’s all a part of growing up and getting experience. You’re not going to win them all. But we hope they just take what they’ve learned for the past two months and carry it on to the next level.”
West Side Little League’s 12U All-Star team consisted of Eric Albrinck, Zaylan Anderson, Preston Baker, Braydon Caudill, Eddie Frazier, Alijah Holmes, Cash Jones, Jordan Malloy, Parker Moyer, Brady Quick, Anthony Saurber and Braeden Sparks.West Side was coached by manager Ken Coomer and assistants Tim Nichting, Chris Craft and Danny Adams.
