PHOTO BY JOHN GEYERMAN
Lynn’s Kevin Durant rides a wave during the team’s trip to the Williston Area Recreation Center Sunday.
By Steve Krause
WILLISTON, N.D. — Some players went swimming at a recreation center. Others went to Aafedt Stadium to watch the teams they’ll be playing this week.
Sunday’s off day at the Babe Ruth World Series was a time for Lynn’s 15-year-old kids to escape baseball and the pressures it can bring when it’s played on a grand stage such as this, especially after Saturday’s 10-0 series-opening loss in 4½ innings to Atlantic Shore, N.J., the mid-Atlantic champion.
“I think so,” said second baseman Aedan Leydon, who, like many of his teammates, went to a simulated water park at the Williston Area Recreation Center.
“We didn’t play our baseball,” Leydon said of Saturday’s game. “I think getting away for the day and thinking of something else helps.”
Coming on the heels of a banquet Friday night that went until close to 11 p.m., the players had to be up and out of the Grand Williston Hotel at 9 a.m. Saturday in time for an elaborate 10 a.m. opening ceremony, complete with a Theodore Roosevelt impersonator to represent the late president’s devotion to the area (Roosevelt National Park is just down the road from Williston). Then, Lynn opened the World Series with an 11 a.m. (CDT) game against Atlantic Shore, N.J., the team that won the tournament as 14-year-olds last year.
It didn’t go well. Shore stole six bases en route to the victory while Lynn ran itself out of the game.
“That’s what we do,” said Shore manager Bill Rauzzino, whose Babe Ruth coaching experience includes a stint in Swampscott in the 1980s. “We like to be aggressive and put the pressure on teams. I think it settled us down, and a lot of times it makes the other team even more intense.”
Two of Shore’s stolen bases happened in the first inning, and resulted in the only run it would need. But when Lynn, which won the New England Regional tournament to qualify for the World Series, tried to do the same, the results were disastrous.
Dayshon Anderson led off the top of the second with a booming triple to left-center. But with Anthony Nikolakakis at bat, Anderson tried to score on a ball that got past Shore catcher Nick Atohi. He hesitated for a second, but it was enough to allow Atohi to retrieve the ball and throw it to pitcher Cole Vanderslice to apply the tag on Anderson easily.
Nikolakakis proceeded to hit a single, which only further underscored the importance of the previous play. Then, he was thrown out trying to steal second.
Manager Leon Elwell said running into two outs changed the whole game around. His son, Zach, Lynn’s catcher, was hit by a pitch, and Elwell feels the baserunning gaffes snuffed out a potential huge inning.
“Definitely,” said manager Leon Elwell. “We get a leadoff triple, a single, and a hit-by-pitch and we don’t score. You cannot play like that and expect to win the Babe Ruth World Series. This is my first one of these, but I know that much.”
Ewell did not think that Shore’s running game unnerved his team.
“Them stealing bases is not why we lost,” he said. “We didn’t make the plays.”
The two hits Lynn got in the second inning were two-thirds of its offense. David Barnard got the other one in the first inning.
“We didn’t hit,” acknowledged shortstop A.J. Luciano.
“They’re a good team, and they probably have to considered the favorites,” said Leydon.
“But,” said Christian Burt, who will take the mound Monday night (6:30 EDT) against West Fargo in Game 2, “I think we’re the best team in the tournament.”
Most everyone agrees the day off was helpful.
“I think so,” said Sean Leydon, Aedan’s father, and one of the team’s coaches. “I think the kids needed to relax a little. We’ve been going non-stop since we got here Thursday.”
Christian Burt, who will pitch Monday night’s game, was quick to point out, however, “baseball’s always on our minds.”
Burt said part of his day Sunday was to visit the batting cages at the recreation center.
“I tried to hit 100 mph fastballs,” Burt said. “I hit the ball a few times.”
The players also tried to surf at the water park.
“That didn’t go so well,” said Luciano.
West Fargo, the team Lynn plays tonight, lost its game to Florida Saturday, 12-0, also in 4½ innings. Fargo played Shore Sunday night.
The 10 teams are divided up into two groups of five. Lynn is in the National division and will play each team from its group once in pool play, which concludes Wednesday. The top three teams in each division move into a single-elimination quarterfinal Thursday, a semifinal Friday and the championship game Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT.