ORWALL National falls in Series opener

The Oak Ridge/Woodlands Area Little League (ORWALL) National All-Stars drew hosts South Carolina in its first game of the Big League World Series on Wednesday in Easly, S.C. The home team proved to be rude hosts, posting a 15-5 win over the local team, at J.B. “Red” Owens Recreation Complex.

ORWALL National (0-1) takes on Southeast (0-0) at 3 p.m. Thursday in the round robin tournament. A 4 p.m. Friday game with the East Region champions follows. ORWALL closes out round robin play at 7:30 p.m. Monday with the Central Region champs.

The semifinals are on Tuesday with the championship game set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, nationally televised by ESPN2.

Teams from Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Puerto Rico, Canada and the United States are competing for the title of Big League Baseball World Champions. It’s the 13th consecutive year for Easley to host the most talented 16-18-year-old players from around the globe.

ORWALL National made a game of it Wednesday with two runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth to narrow a 6-0 deficit into a 6-5 ballgame. But South Carolina tallied seven runs in its half of the fourth inning and added two more in the fifth to win via the run-rule.

Branden Navarro and Justin Casio collected two hits apiece in ORWALL National’s six-hit attack – all singles. Navarro drove in three runs while Casio scored twice.

Mario Garza and Colyn Gallagher added a hit apiece. Gallagher drove in a run and scored twice while Tony Cianciulli also crossed the plate for ORWALL National.

However, five errors opened the door for South Carolina to score nine unearned runs, and four ORWALL National pitchers combined to allow 12 walks and 11 hits.