Walpole's waiting game

Coming off its first shutout defeat of the entire summer, the directive going into the final Pool A game of the Little League World Series for the Walpole American 12-year-old All-Star team remains fairly obvious.

 For the first time since the New England Regional final, Walpole American faces a make-or-break situation going into tonight’s game against Warner Robins (Georgia), the Southeast representative. With all four teams in the pool sporting a 1-1 record, the winners of today’s games will move onto the national semifinals and the losers will pack up and leave Williamsport.

 Yesterday’s constant downpour from the skies delayed those contests, but the same forecast for today may force another postponement.

 Either way, whenever Walpole American’s game comes (tonight’s game is scheduled again for 6 p.m.), getting its once-scorching bats hot again is the only way its ride will continue.

 “We’ve got to get these bats going early instead of waiting late in the game,” said Walpole American coach Jared Ruggieri.

 One would not have expected this to be the problem coming out of the New England Regional, where the Americans blasted six home runs in a 14-4 win over Shelton National (Conn.) in the final.

 But since then, Walpole American has only scored three runs and they all came in the sixth inning of the opening win over West Side (Hamilton, Ohio). The Americans have also failed to hit a home run in these two games.

 “That kid we saw (Sunday) night was throwing the hardest we’ve seen all tournament,” said Ruggieri of Lake Oswego, Oregon’s Mitch Lomax. “He’s 6-2, the ball’s coming down, he’s an imposing kid on the mound. Sometimes the bats just don’t go. The kid was on his game, you’ve got to take your hat off.

 “We had a good (batting practice) today and we’ll have another one tomorrow,” he continued. “If you don’t get runs it will be tough to win. We have to score some runs. You’ve got to tip your hat and Oregon and Lomax and hopefully we can get it going tomorrow.”

 To do so, Walpole American will have to get to Warner Robins ace Clint Wynn, who already owns a win in Williamsport in the opener over Lake Oswego.

 “They came out of a tough area, those teams down there play year round,” said Ruggieri of Warner Robins. “They beat Florida and Alabama to get up here. We know they’re a good team. We beat Ohio and they beat (Warner Robins), but you can’t really go on that because (Warner Robins) beat Oregon and they beat us.

 “We’re going to see their ace,” he continued. “He can change speeds. We’re just hoping we can get these bats going and some runs on board. It will be a tough game because we’ll see their best.”

 Luckily for Ruggieri and Co., Warner Robins will also see Walpole American’s best as ace Sam Falkson will step on the mound, and he hasn’t lost a start for the Americans yet.

 “We were just talking about that,” said Ruggieri. “We’re more comfortable as coaches with him out there...We’re not going to score too many off (Wynn), but with (Falkson), if we push three or four runs across the board, hopefully that will be enough. We’ll see if he’s better than him.”