The Hills Junior Baseball Association made history tonight, becoming the first Australian team to win two games at the Little League World Series after a tightly fought 2-1 victory over The Caribbean at Volunteer Stadium.
Clayton Campbell started on the mound for Hills, and put up the most dominant performance by an Australian at the Little League World Series, striking out an incredible 14 hitters and in turn, breaking Blake Cavill’s Australian record of 10 at the 2015 tournament.
Campbell said that he wasn’t feeling 100% pre-game.
“To be honest I felt pretty shaky in the bullpen during the warm-up,” Campbell said.
“But once I got out there, the crowd cheering me on really helped me focus.”
Hills took an early lead in the first inning, when catcher Matthew Clements scored Harry Wheeldon on an RBI single to left field.
Pinch-hitting in the nine hole, Stephen Courtney came up with the biggest hit of his life in the fifth. A solo home run increased Australia’s lead to two, and made the lead near insurmountable with three outs left for The Caribbean.
A feature of this Hills team at the 2016 Little League World Series has been their composure under pressure, and Head Coach Les Stockdale has been overwhelmed by his team’s performances.
“The distractions here are like nothing we’ve ever come across,” Stockdale said.
“It’s very easy to become overwhelmed by signing autographs and being the stars of the show, but our boys have handled themselves to perfection.”
Hills started to show some rare nerves in the final inning, when a wild throw from catcher Matthew Clements enabled a run to score, but Campbell did what Campbell does, and finished the game with his 14th strikeout to seal an unforgettable victory for Hills Little League.
Hills have sealed a top eight finish at the Little League World Series, and they’ll look to push even further forward in the competition as they take on Mexico at 1pm tomorrow (3am AEST).