95 south is never a fun trip at rush hour but for those that made the trip they were treated to a pitching performance and superb defense seldom seen in a Little League game, let alone a 9-10 yr old game.  If you like pitching and defense this was the game to see, but don't show up late!

ANSLL used less pitches than minutes in the game and the commute took longer than the game for many who made the trip to Dale City.

Chris "Little Santan" Santaniello took the mound for the 9-10 Americans and struck out the lead-off batter but the #2 batter for Coles ripped a double into the left-center gap and as Tyler "TD" Krogel and Ryan "mini-Ichiro" Peich raced for the ball Colin "all business" Corey came out for the cut and Ryan fired a strike to Colin and then the runner, who thought he could reach third, found himself on an island as Colin calmly ran at him and as the runner decided third might be his best option but it proved not the case as Colin threw to Jorge "Jorgito" Torres at third and the tag was applied.  Little Santan was able to field a comebacker from the clean-up batter to retire the side. 

ANSLL came to bat and Little Santan reached on an error and Colin brought Chris around on a triple.  Colin was able to score on a fielders choice by Steven Adams to give ANSLL a 2-0 lead.

Little Santan received some solid defense by Zack Carmichael as he tracked fly balls in right and Coles went down 1-2-3.  Ryan and Tyler reached on walks but ANSLL was unable to produce a run.

Coles fired back in the third with two runs to tie it up at 2, but the runner at third could do nothing as he watched the ball once again fall into Zack's glove.

Colin hit another triple and again scored on a fielders choice off the bat of Steven to put ANSLL ahead 3-2.

Coles would not go quietly and a lead-off double and bunt single put two runners on and Little Santan gave way to Colin who struck out the next three batters.  Garrett reached first on an infield single and moved to second on a late throw to first that got away and then Conner Hall "took one for the team" in the middle of his back, but ANSLL was unable to generate a run.

Colin sent the Coles top three batters down 1-2-3 in the 5th, and Colin and Steven provided runner at 1st and 2nd in the 5th then a screaming liner by Jorgito was snagged at short to thwart ANSLL's threat.

The 6th showed why they call Ryan "mini-Ichiro" but he looked more like the real Ichiro as he sprinted into the gap and robbed a sure double, if not triple as the ball fell into his outstreched glove to retire the first batter.  Colin continued his perfect dominance (9 batters, 9 outs, 5 K's) on the mound and retired the final two batters to secure a 3-2 victory for ANSLL.

Chris and Colin were outstanding and backed by solid D, they combined their efforts and only needed 64 pitches and 75 minutes to send ANSLL intothe final 8 where ANSLL will host Gainsville's National team at Pine Ridge on Wednesday.