Slugger leads South Carolina as blowouts are the rule in early days of Little League World Series

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SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — South Carolina snuck into the Little League World Series with a five-run rally over the defending champs. But the club from Irmo, representing the Southeast region, is showing it belongs at the tournament, thanks in part to slugger-pitcher Joe Giulietti.

In the sixth inning of the regional final, the 2024 champions from Lake Mary, Florida, opted to walk Joe rather than face him with the game on the line. The decision came back to bite Lake Mary as Brady Westbrooks hit a walk-off three-run double to win that game 5-4.

When South Carolina made its LLWS debut on Thursday against Braintree, Massachusetts, Joe got his chance to hit and made the most of it. He doubled in his first at-bat and, with the bases loaded in the second inning, Joe smoked a line drive to left-center field that cleared the fence for a grand slam that gave his team an 8-0 lead.

“I’m just trying to hit it hard somewhere,” he said postgame. “In my mind I was like, ‘Please get over the wall.’”

Initially, he wasn’t sure if the ball had the distance, but it cleared. The entire dugout emptied, swarming him as he crossed home plate. Joe is the first player from South Carolina, and only the sixth from the Southeast region, to hit a grand slam.

“I wish I (walked him),” Massachusetts manager Frank Fasoli said. His assistants suggested the move, but Fasoli ultimately decided to let Joe see a pitch. “That’s on me, though.”

Joe was a dual threat — he also pitched.

Going back to the mound after the grand slam, Joe flexed his bicep and pointed to the crowd, which brought the Irmo fans to their feet. He proceeded to strike out the side.

South Carolina ultimately won 13-0 in three and a half innings — the game was stopped under Little League scoring rules. Joe, who at 5-foot-10 is the tallest player on South Carolina by about three inches, pitched 3 1/3 innings, striking out eight and didn’t allow a hit. After he was off the mound, Massachusetts scrounged one, but the game was well out of reach.

It was the largest opening game shutout by an American team since 2015, when the Mid-Atlantic region defeated the Midwest, 18-0.

“Joe gives us a chance in every game when he pitches,” manager Dave Bogan said. “The game just in general was what we’ve done most of the summer, top to bottom. We have really worked the count, driven up pitch counts. Not everybody got a hit, but we had some really nice deep at-bats and I think that helps get pitchers tired and frustrated.”

The bottom of the lineup worked five of the team’s eight walks and Massachusetts used three arms in the game. It’ll face Texas on Saturday in the elimination bracket.

South Carolina celebrated its win at the ESPN Big Bracket that sits just outside Lamade Stadium. Sutton Gravelle climbed the ladder to move the Southeast team one spot closer to the championship. Everyone was cheering and singing Miley Cyrus’ “Party In The U.S.A.”

Joe isn’t a fan of the tune but Sutton, whom Bogan called the team’s “comic relief leader,” blasts it all the time, so Joe’s grown to tolerate it. The whole team has. A majority of South Carolina’s roster has played together for years.

“One of the most important things is they know when to pick each other up and get on each other a little bit,” Bogan said. “They work really well together, not afraid to communicate, which is what we as coaches really like.”

The first couple days of the tournament were not particularly competitive, with the eight winning teams scoring a combined 59 runs and the losers getting just three.

Japan notably threw a combined no-hitter for the ninth time in team history in a 12-0 rout of the Czech Republic — only Taiwan has more no-hitters all time with 11. Venezuela, meanwhile, became the first team this year to earn two shutouts, as it beat Canada 4-0 on Friday.

Thursday’s winners earned three days off, which are pivotal because of Little League’s pitch count rules requiring rest days depending on how many pitches players throw. Joe is required to have three days' rest before taking the mound again for South Carolina.

“We get a little time to scout and watch some video from some other games and really think about who our opponent’s going to be,” Bogan said. “I want these kids to have fun, you know, this is going to be a great experience. We want to focus on baseball so it’s half business, half fun.”

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Amanda Vogt is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

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