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It’s all on the line for O’s and Royals in Game 3

The Orioles’ Jack Teitelbaum fired in a pitch as the Royals’ Dylan Hart was up at bat in Game 1.  Photo by Jayson Camacho
The Orioles’ Jack Teitelbaum fired in a pitch as the Royals’ Dylan Hart was up at bat in Game 1. Photo by Jayson Camacho

BY JAYSON CAMACHO  |  The first two games of the Greenwich Village Little League’s Majors American Division Championship series packed James J. Walker Field with family members and fans on Sunday. The best-of-three series featured the No. 1 seed Orioles versus the No. 3 seed Royals. The format featured a doubleheader on Sunday, followed by a third game on Thursday, if needed.

The Majors A Championship has always been a great event for G.V.L.L. It draws tons of attention from many families in the league, making it hard to find a seat in the crowd of baseball fans. This year’s series brought forth many concerns over pitching and catching rules.

The Orioles took the field first in the first game with Jack Teitelbaum on the mound. Teitelbaum has beenclutch for the team this season and been reliable in all of his outings. He came up big again on Sunday, throwing a complete-game shutout, striking out 11 batters, giving up only one hit and one walk.

The Royals just couldn’t get it going on offense in the first game. They weren’t aggressive at the plate and watched many strikes for a called strike three. Their pitching wasn’t on par either. Nathan Steinfeld had a very rough start to the game, allowing five runs in the first inning — two of those runs coming from a two-run homer by Elijah Meltzer. Steinfeld struggled to find the strike zone and walked six batters. He allowed five runs, including two earned runs. He only lasted an inning before being replaced by Paolo Riley-Bell.

Riley-Bell was also unable to stop the strong-swinging O’s. He threw 74 pitches in his three-and-one-third innings of relief. The O’s were a hitting machine and made a strong push to “mercy” their opponent — by scoring enough runs to end the game early. With a “mercy,” the Birds wouldn’t have to worry about pitching changes and could save their arms for the second game. Riley-Bell allowed five runs (four earned) and five walks. Dylan Hart pitched the final two outs of the fifth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, only needing a run to clinch the “mercy” rule, Leo Rahn came up with the bases loaded and two outs and — “Lord, have mercy!” — hit a single up the middle to end it.

Speaking after the game, the team’s manager, John Economou, spoke about the team’s success.

“We’ve stuck with the same game plan all year and played errorless baseball,” he said. “Allow very few walks and wait for your pitch at the plate to drive a hit. We’ve been fortunate enough to have good pitching and good hitting at the right times. Let’s see if our luck continues in Game 2.”

Asked what the Royals were going to do for Game 2, Larry Roberts, their manager, said, “Well we didn’t bring our ‘A’ game, but we are looking at this as something to learn from. Next game, we need to play better defense and we need to score runs early. If we score some runs early, it’ll be easier to control the game.”

The Royals arrived for the afternoon game with focus etched on their faces, eager to get revenge for the “mercy” earlier in the day. The pitching matchup featured Caden Roberts, the Royals’ ace, versus Caleb Tobocman. The Royals took the field first. From the game’s first pitch, it was clear that the momentum had shifted to the Royals.

Roberts shut out the O’s for the first three innings before allowing two runs in the fourth. He pitched five innings before handing the ball over to Finn Kaplan-Moore. Roberts gave up six hits, two runs (one earned) and notched 11 strikeouts. He did his job and shut down the O’s.

On offense, the rest of the Royals made sure to do their part.

They hit Tobocman well and were leading 5-0 by the end of the third inning. Not helping himself, Tobocman’s control was off, and he walked five batters (only 57 percent of his pitches were strikes). The O’s two errors were both very costly and resulted in Royals’ runs.

Nothing was going well for the Birds. After pitching three innings and giving up four hits and five runs (three earned), Tobocman was replaced by Michael McCusker. McCusker shut down the Royals, holding them hitless, but the Orioles’ offense couldn’t generate any more runs.

The Royals won the game 5-2, forcing a Game 3, which will be played on Thurs., June 18.