Yankees win Little League crown

Don't look now, but the Yankees may be starting a dynasty.

The Yankees made it two straight city championships by knocking off the Mariners, 7-2, Friday night at Governors Field.

Coach Jim Blueberg has six players that have been part of both league and city championship teams - Colby Blueberg, Austin Law, Zac Berg, Dylan Campagno, Bryan Sommers and Mark McCraw. In that two-year stretch, the Yankees have compiled a 41-6 record.

"This is a special group of kids," Jim Blueberg said after being doused with water by his happy team. "It's a dynamite group. What makes them special is that they are a team. They do everything together."

And, the Yankees demonstrated that they have the Mariners' number, beating them for the third time (in four tries) this year, according to Mariners manager Bryan Bibee.

"They get really good instruction," Bibee said. "Their coaches stress that. They practice a lot. A lot of their kids play competitive travel ball and I think the more baseball you play, the more it helps.

"We played them a little tougher the last time. You have to play 100 percent when you play them."

The Mariners actually led 2-1 going into the bottom of the third, but the Yankees pushed across three runs thanks to a two-run single by Collin McColluch and a sacrifice fly by McCraw to take a 4-2 lead.

McColluch had homered for the Yankees in wiping out the Mariners' first lead of the game.

"He's been doing that all year," Jim Blueberg said. "He had that big hit that gave us two runs and the homer."

With a 4-2 lead, Colby Blueberg gave up a leadoff double to David Feltner in the fourth. He was removed in favor of Law, who retired eight of the last nine hitters to finish the game. The duo combined for 12 strikeouts, two walks and a hit batsman.

"The pitching, bewteen Colby and Austin, did a good job," the elder Blueberg said. "Austin had been been in a collision (he ran into the catcher who was trying to catch a pop fly), so I didn't want to put him out there immediately."

The Yankees finished off the game with three runs in the fifth thanks to two errors, a walk and a single by Dylan Turner, who finished with two hits as did McColluch.

Austin Pacheco led the Mariners with a double and single.

Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1214