Little League World Series: West Side first Ohio team to reach semifinals in 47 years

“I’m kind of speechless,” Coomer said. “You never think ... we always have a dream to go to the Little League World Series, and our accomplishment is to try to get there for our organization. To do what we’ve done with what we’ve battled with our team with injuries and switching positions and just everything, it means so much, I think, to the city. Everyone should be very proud of these boys. They’ve worked so hard.”

West Side beat Torrance, Calif., 4-2 at Lamade Stadium, winning an elimination game for the third time in four days and earning a spot in the championship game of the Tom Seaver Bracket. It will play Sioux Falls, S.D., at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Lamade. The game will air on ABC.

South Dakota has yet to give up a run in the tournament. It beat Lafayette, La., 2-0 in the first round on Aug. 20, Oswego, Ore., 3-0 in the second round Monday and Torrance 1-0 in the third round Wednesday. Prior to this three-game run, South Dakota teams were 1-11 in the Little League World Series.

Gavin Weir started South Dakota’s games against Lafayette and Torrance and did not allow a hit in 11 2/3 innings. He struck out 29 batters. He will not be able to pitch Saturday, or Sunday, if his team advances, because he threw more than 65 pitches Wednesday.

Max Munson started the game against Oswego and gave up one hit in six shutout innings while striking out four.

“We’ll go back and do our homework,” Coomer said. “South Dakota is a great team. They’re well coached. They’re right below us in our dorms. We’ve had several conversations with their coaches. Great people. Our kids will fight. We’ll prepare them the best we can. You can never doubt these kids. From June 12 to now, these kids have worked extremely hard. They’ve responded. That’s all I can ask. if we lose, I’ll still be just as proud.”

West Side or Sioux Falls will play the winner of the Hank Aaron Bracket — Taylor North Little League (Mich.) or Honolulu, Hi. — at 3 p.m. Sunday for the Little League World Series championship. No Ohio team has ever played in the championship game.

West Side is the third team from Ohio to make the semifinals. West Elyria lost 4-3 to Chinese Taipei in 1969. Tallmadge lost 27-0 to Chinese Taipei in 1974.

“The final four is a very big deal,” West Side’s Noah Davidson said, “but we’re a good team and we deserve it.”

West Side trailed Torrance, which beat it 9-0 in the second round Sunday, 2-0 after three innings. In the fourth, Chance Retherford scored on a wild pitch to get West Side on the board.

Then in the fifth, a triple down the right-field line by Retherford scored Brady Baumann and JJ Vogel to give West Side a 3-2 lead.

“I’m a very amped-up kid,” Retherford said. “I get excited very very easily. I just went up there and kind of forgot and woke back up and crushed the ball.”

Retherford is hitting .333 (4-for-12) in the tournament with four RBIs and leads the team with four runs scored.

“Chance is a loose cannon,” Coomer said. “Chance is Chance. You’ve got to let Chance be Chance sometimes. I’ve learned that the hard way a couple of times. We butt heads sometimes. But we see eye to eye. It’s like any relationship. You’ve just got to know each other and work with each other. That’s Chance.”

Only JJ Vogel has more RBIs (5) than Retherford in the five games. Kaleb Harden (5-for-13) leads West Side in hits. For players with at least 10 plate appearances, Chase Moak (4-for-9, .444) has the best batting average.

Nine different players have scored runs for West Side in the five games. Seven have driven in runs.

After the two-run triple by Retherford on Thursday, a single by Noah Davidson scored Retherford to provide an insurance run in the same inning.

Davidson also starred on the mound, following Retherford, who pitched the first two innings, by allowing one run on one hit in the final four innings. He struck out four.

“I was a little nervous,” Davidson said. “They were pretty good hitters. I just pitched and did well.”

Davidson has allowed three earned runs in seven innings (2.57 ERA) in two appearances in the tournament.

“Noah stepped up big time,” Coomer said. “He’s always been a pitcher, but we never really used him as a pitcher until we got injuries. We’ve done a lot of bullpens with him, pretty much every other day. This is the second time he’s been put in this situation and he stepped up. Noah is a shy kid, but he has fight. You can’t underestimate him.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

West Side vs. Sioux Falls, S.D., 12:30 p.m., ABC