A day after winning vs Chantilly the ANSLL 11-12 AMericans traveled to Dale City to face Coles LL. 

Joe Darcy got things started with a single on the first pitch for the first of his three hits.  Tyler reached first the hard way by taking a pitch on the instep but ANSLL was unable to produce any runs vs the hard throwing Coles starter.  Coles on the other hand took advantage of 3 hits and 3 infield errors in the first to jump out to a 5-0 lead before Nolan Gilbert came on to record the third out and stop the damage as Coles batted around in the first.

ANSLL went down 1-2-3 in the second but Coles got the lead off batter on, but only for a moment as a sharp line drive to the gap at short had Joe diving and laying out to make the catch and then bounced up and threw across the diamond to double up the runner at first. 

The top of the third produced 2 ANSLL runs on a single by Joe, a walk to Doug Gressly followed by a 2 run double by Jack Owens.  Nolan also singled as Jack hurdled the ball but ANSLL was unable to shorten the lead as they trailed 5-2 in the third.  Nolan was in the groove on the mound as he retired Coles 1-2-3 in their half of the third.

The fourth had Doug draw another walk and Jack shrug off a bean ball.  That put two on for Tyler Pacak who planted the first pitch deep over the center field fence to tie things up 5-5.  Coles again only sent 3 batters as this time a 4-6-3 double play ended the inning. 

Steven Schwartz led off the sixth inning with a single but got doubled-up on a diving catch by the Coles third baseman on a dying bunt.  Coles went into the bottom of the sixth but Tyler snagged a looper to first and Nolan K'd the next batter and a single to left got the winning run on, but a lazy fly ball to left was caught by Nick Santos to send the game into extra innings.

Joe singled and finally the hard throwing Coles starter had reached his pitch limit and the relief pitcher was welcomed with a bunt by Doug to advance the runner and a single by Jack.  Tyler stepped to the plate with two runners on again and delivered a hit to left that the left fielder missplayed and allowed Joe to score and get Jack and Tyler into scoring position.  Luke Lundy crushed a 2-0 pitch sizzling to the fence scoring both runners to give ANSLL an 8-5 lead.   Coles managed to get a baserunner on with a Texas-league single to right with 2 outs but Nolan got the clean-up batter looking on a full count to end the inning and advance ANSLL once again.

This game was as much a pitching duel as it was timely hitting.  The Coles pitcher was tough to hit with great velocity but Nolan pitched a fantastic game with velocity, location and changing speeds.  Nolan only gave up 3 hits in 6 innings and faced only 21 batters in 6 innings with only one of them reaching second.

ANSLL Americans (5-1) will face Chantilly American Thursday at Pine Ridge with the winner of that game advancing to the District 10 Finals.

Click headline for bracket.