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Bowling Green Little Leaguers Win Opener

Bowling Green Little Leaguers Win Opener
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By The Associated Press
Aug. 19, 2016 | WILLIAMSPORT, PA
By The Associated Press Aug. 19, 2016 | 11:02 PM | WILLIAMSPORT, PA
The Little League baseball team from Bowling Green, KY got an impressive two-way performance from Devin Obee to lead the Great Lakes regional representatives to an 11-1 win Friday over the Southwest squad from California.

Obee reached base three times, scored three runs and had one RBI. He homered in the fourth inning and singled in the fifth. Obee also baffled Southwest hitters, striking out seven.

Obee allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks over five innings.


Background story:

It is not easy to advance to the Little League Baseball World Series. Bowling Green Eastern coach Scott Kelley knows that much. It is tougher for him to think his players would battle through the Great Lakes Region for the second straight year and find themselves in position to win a title again.

But here the Kentucky kids are with a roster dotted with veterans — an almost unattainable luxury.

“It’s been a journey,” Kelley said as his players ate an early dinner at a picnic Wednesday, hours before play begins today in the 70th Little League World Series.

That journey picks up where it left off last year for infielder Spencer Newman and pitchers Devin Obee and Carson Myers. All three were on the Bowling Green team that went 2-2 last year. Now, they are the old guys who started last year and helped lead Bowling Green to a 3-0 romp through the Great Lakes Regional into the 16-team championship field in South Williamsport.

“Both Devin and Carson pitched last year,” Kelley said. “That gives them that advantage of having been on the mound and in the spotlight in that situation. So that certainly helps. I think in terms of those three being leaders on the team, can kind of calm the nerves.”

It also helps that their teammates already got a taste of playing inside Lamade Stadium, where the finals will be played on Aug. 28. Bowling Green beat Essexville, Michigan, in their regional final in a game that was moved 10 hours east to the championship stadium after bad weather forced the game’s postponement in Indianapolis.

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