Little League

West Boynton gets past West Virginia in opening game of the U.S. Southeast Regional Tournament.

The West Boynton Beach Little League All-Stars relied on toughness and perseverance against West Virginia in their rain-delayed opening game of the U.S. Southeast Regional Tournament in Warner Robins, Ga.

The Florida champions had all they could handle in a game that started Friday at 4 p.m. and was suspended until Saturday, but got an 11-7 victory over Logan at Little League Southeast Park.

Facing a West Virginia ballclub that kept the game close with big-time pop at the plate, the boys from West Boynton Park combined timely hitting with superb relief pitching to get past their opening regional challenge. The squad from Logan Civic Little League unleashed three long home runs.

With the win, West Boynton (10-0 overall) advances to play Greenville/North Shore, N.C. in a round-two showdown on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be webcast on ESPN3.

Javier Soto and Jason Lashley were called to the mound at critical junctures and combined for nine strikeouts.

Soto came up huge with six strikeouts over three innings to start Saturday’s play after the teams waited for four hours Friday night before the action had to be postponed due to persistent storms.

“Javier was grooving the ball right (to his spots) when things resumed,” West Boynton manager Chuck Shifley said. “Then Jason came in later and also stepped up for us.”

Ethan Strikowski blasted a two-run home run, and Nikolas Cesarz delivered a two-run single as West Boynton went ahead 5-0 in the top of the first inning.

After Ayden Gurevich and Tristan Rucker connected for run-scoring singles to extend the lead to 7-2 in the second inning, Ryan Shiflet ripped a two-run double and Gurevich (3 for 3) added an RBI double in the third for a 10-3 cushion.