GARDNERVILLE -- The Carson Crushers 15-and-under baseball team made a habit of spotting other team leads this week. They did it again facing elimination on Thursday before a late-inning rally fell short.
Sonora scored nine runs in the first three innings and advanced in the losers bracket of the United States Amateur Baseball Association World Series with a 14-4 win at Lampe Park. The Crushers went 1-4 in pool play and 1-2 in the double-elimination tournament.
"We just didn't have it tonight," said Carson coach Roy Good. "We started off making a few errors in the first couple of innings and it kind of went downhill from there. We couldn't get some hits when we needed to and we scored all of our runs in that one inning. If we could've scored a run or two each inning, we would've had a better chance of winning the game."
Carson managed only one hit in each of the first three innings off Sonora starter Myles Schroeder. Meanwhile, Sonora had runners all over the bases early on. Schroeder's RBI triple in the second made it 3-0. In the third, a trio of two-run doubles by Ryles Richards, Spencer Stobough and Schroeder put Sonora up 9-0.
"They had that big third inning and that was tough for us to come back from," Good said. "Their first pitcher really kept up off balance and we weren't able to get much off him."
The game looked like it would be over in five innings until Kyle Mandoki came in and pitched two scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth innings. That allowed the Crushers to get back into it.
In the fourth, Mandoki and Chris Ames each singled to start the inning and Jack Jacquet reached on an error to load the bases. Nick Smallman belted a two-run single to make it 9-2. Jacquet scored on a passed ball and Smallman eventually scored on a wild pitch as Carson trailed 9-4. But a double play with the bases loaded ended the inning.
Sonora added five more runs in the sixth after two-run doubles from Richards and Matt Curtis. In the bottom half of the sixth, Carson got two base runners on, but they neither of them scored. It stranded eight runners for the game, four of which were in scoring position.
"We couldn't get any timely hits," Good said. "I'm pleased with the team because everybody stayed with us. Even when things weren't going so well, everybody showed up and played hard."
Langley eliminated Sonora later on Thursday with a win at James Lee Regional Park in Indian Hills. Langley will play Douglas, which beat Seattle 9-0 on Thursday, in a losers bracket game today at 1 p.m. at James Lee Park.
