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VALHALLA, N.Y. Tsubasa Yuhara stepped on the mound for Eastchester, wanting to give his team a quality performance against New Rochelle in Tuesday's Section 4 Little League Baseball Majors Tournament game.
The previous time Yuhara pitched, he was not pleased with his showing 1 2/3 of an inning in a loss Saturday to New Rochelle in a first-round game. So, Yuhara did his homework and bounced back with an excellent game.
Yuhara went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits and rang up nine strikeouts in a 5-2 victory in a losers bracket semifinal at Pat Henry Field.
Eastchester plays Poughkeepsie in the losers bracket final at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pat Henry Field. The winner advances to the title game against Stony Point at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Pat Henry Field.
My fastball was not working early because they were hitting home runs off of me, said Yuhara of his first outing against New Rochelle. I learned that they were good hitters so I studied what they liked and what they didnt like. I just needed to stay calm. I wanted to come out in the first inning and throw my hardest.
Yuhara allowed one hit a Jason Rodopoulos single through four innings.
Tsubasa told me before the game that he felt confident, said teammate Nick Kousoulas, who belted a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Tsubasa told me he was upset because he felt he didnt pitch well the other day. Yuhara did a fine job of moving the ball around and mixing his pitches not allowing New Rochelle to zero in on his fastball. Yuhara struck out the first two batters in the sixth inning, but exhausted his maximum pitch count. John Doherty stepped in and recorded the final out, by strikeout.
My fastball was working a lot better today, which made it easier for me to plan how I was going to pitch to each hitter, said Yuhara, who also smashed a solo home run in the first inning.
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