Grandville Softball Wins Little League World Series Opener 14 – 5

Grandville Girls Softball opened play at the Little League World Series in Portland, Oregon on Thursday night with a 14 - 5 win over Makati City Philippines, the Asia-Pacific representative.

Grandville, the U.S. Central champion, ran the bases aggressively after taking advantage of walks to score runs early. They stole of total of nine bases in the game.

Grandville trailed 4-3 after 1 1/2 innings before scoring five in the bottom of the second. They never looked back, scoring at least one run in each inning that they came to the plate.

Jamie Vander Meer pitched the entire game for Grandville.

The loss puts Makati City Philippines at 0-2. Makati City Philippines lost their opener vs U.S. West 22-1.

There are a total of five teams in Grandville's Pool B. Four will advance to the quarterfinals to take on the top four from Pool A. The quarterfinals are on Monday.

Current Pool B standings:

• St. George, Utah (West): 2 - 0
• Grandville (Central): 1 - 0
• Salisbury, NC (Southeast): 1 - 0
• Victoria, BC Canada: 0 - 2
• Makati City Philippines: 0 - 2

Grandville's remaining pool play schedule:

• Friday: vs. Southeast at 1PM EST
• Saturday: vs. West at 10:30PM EST
• Sunday: vs. Canada at 4PM EST

A win for Grandville today clinches a birth in the quarterfinals. Victoria, BC Canada and Makati City Philippines play each other tonight. The loser of that game will be 0-3. A win by Grandville would ensure they finish ahead of the 0-3 team and advance.