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August 25, 2009

Nederland 15s win, advance to pool play at World Series

The Nederland Babe Ruth All-Stars ended pool play with a 6-2 victory over West Fargo, North Dakota on Tuesday afternoon. With the victory, Nederland improved to 3-1, which allows the 15-year-old squad to move into the tournament portion of the World Series.

Pool play consisted of 10 teams split into two divisions with the top three teams advancing to a single elimination tournament, which will begin today. Nederland will square off with Cranston, R.I. at 9:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

Nederland placed second in the American Division while Cranston placed third in the National Division. The winner of that mactchup will move into the semifinals where 3-1 Tallahassee, Fla. awaits.

In Tuesday's second-place clincher, Nederland found itself down 2-1 going into the top of the fourth inning. Nederland's Trent Fontenot sparked a one-out rally with a single. Beaumont's Dave Conley followed with his own single and then both players scored when PN-G's Tyler Lacour reached base on an error.

Then, with two outs, Port Neches-Groves' Danniel Sparrow smacked a double and later scored on a single from PN-G's Spencer Droddy. After the fourth, Texas owned a 5-2 advantage it would never surrender.

In the fifth inning, Nederland's Stephen Schlett helped the 15s manufacture an insurance run by leading the frame off with double. He moved over to third on a fielder's choice and then Fontenot drove Schlett in with a fielder's choice, giving Nederland a sizeable 6-2 lead.

Schlett also had an RBI single in the first inning, as he knocked in Sparrow for the game's first run.

West Fargo fired back with two runs in the third off of Conley, who started the game and went five innings before conceding the hill to PN-G's Collin Walker, who closed the book with five strikeouts, which was two less than Conley recorded.

All six of North Dakota's hits were allowed by Conley, who gave up five of those six in the third inning. All five came with two outs. Conley worked out of the jam with minimal damage, however, and was rewarded the win.

If Nederland gets by 2-2 Cranston today, it will face Tallahassee in the semifinals for the second straight season. Florida knocked Nederland out of the 14-year-old Babe Ruth World Series last year.

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