Bentonville Survives, Advances

The host team in the Cal Ripken 10-Year-Old World Series lives to play another game.

At a glance

Cal Ripken 10-Year-Old World Series

Championship Schedule

Wednesday

GAME 1: Sarasota, Fla. 21, Hopewell Valley, N.J. 13

GAME 2: Bentonville 5, Danbury, Conn. 3, 7 innings

Today

GAME 3: Sarasota, Fla. vs. Northwest Bakersfield, Calif., 6 p.m.

GAME 4: Bentonville vs. Willamette Valley, Ore., 8 p.m.

Friday

GAME 5: Championship, 6 p.m.

NOTE: The second team listed in each game will be the home team and will be in the first-base dugout. In the championship game, higher seed is the home team, and if seeds are equal, then a coin toss will determine home team.

Bentonville’s top of the batting order combined three hits with a costly throwing error in the seventh inning and turned it into a 5-3 victory over Danbury, Conn., in Wednesday’s late game at Memorial Park.

The win means Bentonville will play again in an 8 p.m. semifinal game against Willamette Valley, Ore.

Ryan Thomas belted a one-out single and raced to third when David Marts singled down the right-field line, then he scored when the throw to third went off the mark. Sawyer Price followed with an infield single to score Marts and give Bentonville a 5-3 lead.

It didn’t come without late-inning dramatics. Danbury picked up three walks to load the bases, but Bentonville pitcher Kendall Thornton induced C.J. Cianflone to hit a grounder back to the mound for the final out.

Bentonville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first when Will Lawing’s two-out single drove in Ryan Thomas and David Marts, who led off the game with a single and a walk, respectively. Danbury had three hits and a walk in the bottom of the first, but Bentonville’s defense threw out two baserunners in the inning.

Marts belted a leadoff double in the third and later scored on another errant throw to extend Bentonville’s lead to 3-0. That lasted until the bottom of the fourth when Rich Wekerle tied the score with a three-run blast to right-center field.

Danbury had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the sixth when it loaded the bases with two out, but Price forced an extra inning with a called third strike.

Sarasota, Fla. 21, Hopewell Valley, N.J. 13

Sarasota erupted for eight runs in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead for good and kept on scoring en route to a victory in Wednesday’s first game.

Jason Scott capped the outburst with a two-run home run as Sarasota turned a two-run deficit into a 15-9 lead. Scott’s blast was one of four hit by the Southeast Regional champion, which advanced to play in today’s 6 p.m. semifinal against Northwest Bakersfield, Calif.

Hopewell Valley scored three times in the bottom of the fourth to pull within 15-12, but Sarasota responded with six runs in the fifth. Nick Henry highlighted the outburst with a grand slam and finished with a team-high five runs batted in.

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