Henderson romps past Ohio at Little League World Series — PHOTOS

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — This is how they play, Ryan Gifford said. This is how they hit. This is how they pitch and field.

This is what things are supposed to look like.

What a difference a few days make.

The Henderson All-Stars will move forward in this Little League World Series, the result of a 13-2 rout of the Great Lakes Region champion from Ohio before 11,456 at Lamade Stadium on Saturday night. The game was called after four innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

It was 4-0 after one inning and 10-0 after two. It was over in a blink.

“The (kids) did everything we’ve talked about and have been working on,” said Gifford, the Henderson manager. “I knew they had it in them. It was just a matter of time.”

A different team

This is the same Henderson team that managed just three hits in a 3-1 opening loss to the Metro Champion from Rhode Island on Wednesday. Much of that had to do with pitcher Connor Curtis and his 15 strikeouts of Henderson batters.

But there would be no such struggles Saturday. Henderson had 10 hits to go with the 13 runs and played an almost perfectly clean game behind starting pitcher David Edwards.

He couldn’t have been much better, allowing the two runs on five hits. He also loved throwing under the bright lights of Lamade.

“I said to myself I was going straight at them,” Edwards said. “It was great pitching here, and my teammates made good plays behind me.”

They did. Henderson was really good defensively, accounting for just one throwing error. It made the easy plays and the difficult ones. It was far more crisp and more comfortable than Wednesday.

It was also a tough road for the kids from New Albany, Ohio. This is the team that had its first game called after a two-hour rain delay Thursday night, while trailing the favored West Region champion from El Segundo, California, 4-3 after four innings.

Whether there was any lingering effect Saturday from such a stoppage can’t be known, but Ohio was never in this thing. Not from the first line-drive base hit from Henderson — which also came from Edwards — and the many to follow.

“We didn’t expect this outcome,” New Albany manager Tim Bush said. “I think Nevada played one of its best games and we didn’t, so it was pretty lopsided. They were fantastic. They hit the tar out of the ball. (Edwards) did a great job. We had scouted them pretty hard. Watched all of their games. Had everything we could get on them.

“Our kids are a pretty resilient group. I don’t know if what happened (Thursday) was out there. I don’t think it knocked them off where we were at.”

Henderson just knocked the ball around. Edwards was 3-for-3 and scored three runs. All 12 batters reached base. And then there was Gifford’s son, Nolan, who really got into one.

Already with a double, Gifford stepped to the plate in the second inning with two on. New Albany had just changed pitchers.

You knew what was coming. First-pitch fastball.

“I was expecting it,” Nolan Gifford said. “I saw it belt high and just swung, and it went that far. I really didn’t get all of it. I got under it.”

Under and out. The three-run home run sailed over the left-field fence for a 10-0 advantage.

Tweaking things

So things move on, and Henderson doesn’t get much time to bask in its victory. It next faces the Midwest Region champion from Fargo, North Dakota, at 11 a.m. PT Sunday on ABC (KTNV-13 locally).

Which is just fine with Ryan Gifford.

“I love it,” he said. “I’m a pretty mild-mannered guy, but I got after the kids in practice the other day. What happened (Wednesday) wasn’t our brand of ball, and to put that out there at this level … (Curtis) pitched one of the best Little League games I’ve ever seen, but our kids are all good baseball players. They know what they need to do.

“Sometimes, you have to make some little tweaks here and there and they come out and perform like this.”

Which is to say terrific.

It was over in a blink.

Contact sports columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.