Eastdale Rolls At World Series

Four Pitchers Hold Philippines Hitless

PORTLAND, Ore. — Two years ago, the girls of Eastdale Little League of Albuquerque made it their goal to reach the Little League Softball World Series.

Now, the first New Mexico team to play in the tournament since 1984 has something new to strive for: a world championship.

While there’s still a lot of work to do, Eastdale took an important first step Friday, winning their first game, 10-0 in six innings, over a team from Makati City, Philippines.

Four Eastdale pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter against the Filipino team, which had rapped eight hits in an 11-4 loss to New Hyde Park, N.Y., in its first game Thursday.

Most of the girls from the current Eastdale team won the New Mexico state tournament in the minor (9- and 10-year old) division in 2010. At that point, Eastdale manager Reno Sanchez set the bar high for his group.

“I told them our goal was to be on ESPN in 2012 winning the Little League World Series,” Sanchez said. “I’m not sure I believed it at the time, but our girls believed it and worked their tails off to get here.”

Eastdale nearly accomplished its goal a year early, reaching the regional final last

year before losing to Midway Little League of Waco, Texas — the team that went on to finish second in the 2011 World Series.

Eastdale has dominated every level of qualifying this year, outscoring its opponents 167-10 in 11 games on the way to winning the Southwest region.

In Friday’s World Series debut, three of the four New Mexico pitchers — Shannon Stein, Andrea Howard and Ariana Strunk — each had three hits. Victoria Reyes pitched the final inning.

“We were so excited coming into this game,” Stein said. “This is what we’ve been dreaming for, and winning our first game means a lot. But it’s just the first step.”

With the New Mexico state flag whipping in the wind behind the right-field fence at Portland’s Alpenrose Stadium, Eastdale took control of the game with two runs in the top of the first inning.

Philippines put runners on second and third with one out in the first, but Stein struck out consecutive batters to end the threat, and the Asia-Pacif ic region champs never threatened again.

Eastdale broke the game open with a four-run, twoout rally in the third inning. Desiree Madrid drove in three runs with a basesloaded double to make it 5-0, then Strunk followed with a single for a six-run lead.

“We played very well today and we’re happy with where we’re at so far,” said Sanchez.

Since 1994, the World Series has been held on the grounds of Alpenrose Dairy in the hills southwest of downtown Portland.

The 10 teams in the World Series — six from the United States and four from around the world — are divided into two groups of five teams. Each team plays the other four in its group, with the top two from each group advancing to Tuesday’s semifinals.