UPDATE 2: Kings make semifinals

The KAU Little League Kings, the Eastern Regional Champions of the Little League International Senior Division, will play Western Regional Champion Pearl City, Hawaii, in the Little League Senior Division World Series semifinals 11:30 a.m.  Friday, Aug. 16 at Mansfield Stadium, in Bangor, Maine. The KAU 16-year-olds finished pool play in the tournament with a 3-1 record.

Friday’s game may be followed online at the Little League International Web site. Should the KAU 16-year-olds win Friday, they will play for the World Series championship at 2 p.m. Saturday. That game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

UPDATE 1: According to information received from KAU President John Tucker and Kennett Kings' Coach Mike Pechin, Eric Duerr had both a CT scan and MRI at a local hospital.  The results indicate a concussion, but no spinal injury. Duerr was released from the hospital early Thursday afternoon. The treatment perscribed for his concussion makes it extremely unlikely that Duerr will play again in the World Series.  His successor behind the plate has not yet been named.

 

The Eastern Regional Champion Kennett Kings began their Senior Division World Series game against Latin American Champion Panama when starting pitcher Alex Pechin took the mound just after 10 p.m. Wednesday night.  A three-and-a-half hour rain delay earlier in the day was responsible for the late start.  But with the 1 a.m. deadline for finishing the game looming and the KAU 16 year-olds-down to their last at-bat, time stood still. The Kings’ contingent and many others who were in Bangor’s Mansfield Stadium will not soon forget the last 20-plus minutes of the Kings’ 5-3 loss to the Panamanian squad.

Having rallied in their final at-bats before to win games, the KAU squad could have been anticipating one more come-from-behind win as right fielder Drew Jarmuz uncorked a throw to catcher Eric Duerr for the third out of the top of the seventh inning. Javier Garcia didn’t score that one more run for Panama that could have made the Eastern champs’ possible comeback a little more difficult. But he and Duerr collided at the plate, a collision from which Duerr didn’t get up.

Reports from the ballpark indicated that apparently Duerr had been kneed in the head. An ambulance quickly arrived. Duerr was taken off the field on a stretcher, but Coach Mike Pechin said he never lost consciousness. His father, Kings’ Manager Todd Duerr, and his mother, Sue, travelled with him in the ambulance to a nearby hospital. For the Kings’ contingent of players, coaches, and fans, suddenly that bottom of the seventh inning at-bat and the nine minutes remaining to finish the game by the Little League-mandated curfew didn’t much matter.

“After the game, we had a team meeting,” said Coach Pechin. “We realize that we’re up here to play baseball, but now the game is secondary. The boys are just devastated for him. We did ask the team if they wanted to continue on, and they said yes because they know how much this means to Eric. [The coaches] wouldn’t have blamed them if they said they wanted to leave. “

Several KAU parents texted after the game that it seemed the Panama boys perhaps did not know how to react or how serious Duerr’s injury could be as they tossed a ball around as though they were taking infield practice on the field as the trainers and coaches surrounded the Kings’ catcher.

With the loss, the Kings are 3-1 in pool play, while the Panamanians are 3-0. The outcome of Panama’s game with Southwest Champion Northside Little League of Laredo, Texas, at 8 p.m. Thursday likely will decide when or whether the KAU 16s will play in Friday’s semifinals.

For the time being though, let the game summary read:

1)     KAU took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning;
2)     The Kings had a man on base every inning except during an expected 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning after Duerr’s and Garcia’s collision;
3)     As he said he would, the Eastern champions’ manager Todd Duerr said he would pitch by committee, which he did, relying on Pechin, Drew Jarmuz, and Ryan Barrett;
4)     Jarmuz and Andrew Jones both went two-for-two batting;
5)     Panama took the lead it would never relinquish with four runs in the fourth inning and one in the sixth inning.
6)     And as one mother texted after the game, “It’s been a rough night for the boys.”

Submitted by Mary Walter