NORTH HOLDS ON: North Laurel 11-12-year-old All-Stars advance in Central Region play with win over Illinois

Les Dixon, The Sentinel Echo, London, Ky.
·3 min read

Aug. 6—WHITESTOWN, Indiana — One down, and three more wins to go to reach the Little League World Series.

Jason Parman's North Laurel 11-12-year-old All-Stars scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back during their 5-4 win over Illinois during first-round action of Saturday's Central (Great Lakes) Region Tournament.

It was a little nerve-wracking, though.

Illinois began to chip away at its deficit and had the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning before Cooper Parman came in relief, and retired all five batters he faced, which included striking out three of them.

"I was too nervous because I have a plethora of arms to go to in case one gets in trouble," North Laurel coach Jason Parman said. "All pitchers have a short leash because we have arms to come in behind them. So, if one struggles to find the zone it's the next dude up."

Jason Parman used his team's strength, pitching, to secure the win. Five pitchers stepped on the mound for North Laurel as Ethan Anderson notched the victory, tossing two and one/third of an inning while allowing two hits, and two unearned runs. He finished with two strikeouts.

Nathan Miller tossed two/thirds of an inning of scoreless ball while Kip Allen pitched one and one/third of an inning, allowing one hit and one earned run. Jaxon Asher came in relief of Allen and allowed two hits and one earned run before Cooper Parman came in and slammed the door shut for North Laurel.

"I knew if I could get to the end of the game, I could bring in Cooper Parman and he could finish them off and that's what he did," Jason Parman said. "His fastball was touching mid-70s today, so he was warm."

Jason Parman said getting the win was "huge" while being able to save his pitching for future games was even bigger.

"I got a solid quality outing from Ethan Anderson," he said. "He will only need a day's rest while the other dudes are ready to go for tomorrow."

Anderson's two-run double in the first inning played a big part in the win along with Matthew Powenski's run-scoring double and Marshall Mastin's run-scoring single. Jason Senters also drove in a run during the top of the first inning.

"I told the kids if we can score five runs, we will win this ballgame and we did," Jason Parman said.

Powenski finished with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate while driving in a run, and scoring once. Mastin delivered two hits, and an RBI while Allen was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Anderson had a hit, two RBI, and one run scored while Cooper Parman finished with a hit, and a run scored. Jaxon Asher scored once while Jason Senters finished with an RBI.

North Laurel will be back in action Sunday at 4 p.m. against Ohio. The game will be televised on ESPN+.