LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES : Yorba Hills’ 17-5 Victory Stops the Coach’s Worries

Coach Bill Rooney has been worried for the last week or so about the way his Yorba Hills Little League team has been playing.

Despite bringing a nine-game winning streak, which included a Western Regional title, into the 49th Little League World Series, the team’s defense and hitting bothered Rooney.

Toss out a miserable fourth inning Monday night and Rooney hasn’t much to fret about.

Yorba Hills (17-1) had 18 hits, all but two to right field, made only one error and turned in several key defensive plays in a 17-5 victory over Little Lakes West of Arden Hills, Minn., in front of 10,000 at Lamade Stadium. The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for Little Lakes West (12-2).

Yorba Hills faces Northwest 45 of Spring, Tex., at 5 tonight (PDT). Texas came from behind to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in its 11-10 victory over Toms River, N.J.

In other first-round games, Taipei (10-0) gave up a run for only the second time this year but defeated the Dominican Republic (11-3), 5-1. Saudi Arabia (9-0), made up of U.S.-born children whose parents work overseas, scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in a 5-4 victory over Toronto (14-3).

“We haven’t been playing our best games lately, but we’ve been doing enough to win,” said Yorba Hills center fielder Robert Nesbitt.

Nesbitt forgot to wear his batting gloves to the plate in the top of the fifth inning, but it didn’t seem to matter. He hit the game’s only home run, a towering two-run shot to right-center field off losing pitcher Luke Stasson, part of a six-run inning.