The Galveston County Daily News

MIDLAND — The Galveston West Isle Junior League Baseball continued its perfect postseason run Friday.

But it wasn’t without some nervous moments.

West Isle overcame some opening-game jitters with an offensive power surge to outslug Colorado Springs, 14-8, in its first game of the 2009 Southwest Regional Junior League Baseball. Five players contributed at least two hits and a run to make West Isle 10-0 since the District 14 Tournament.

Galveston committed an uncharacteristic five errors and fell behind 3-2 in the top of the second. The deficit, however, was brief as West Isle scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good.

“It wasn’t pretty or our best effort,” coach Ryan Orewiler said. “We didn’t make some plays we usually do, but that’s expected. The important thing is we won the game and continued to win.”

The nerves got an even bigger jolt before the contest. As if the anticipation of a regional tournament wasn’t enough, West Isle had to wait more than an hour in the sun to start their contest against Colorado Springs. The game before ran long, forcing the long delay.

No team from Galveston has gone this far since 1995.

“The pressure combined with the delay certainly didn’t make it easier,” Orewiler said. “But the kids battled like they always do.”

Jesse Miranda pitched the first 41/3 innings and then re-entered in the seventh to finish what he started. Miranda struck out five batters.

D.J. Enriquez provided most of the offense with three hits and five RBIs. Jose Perales also got three hits and drove in three runs. Miranda helped his cause with two hits and five runs, while Nick Orewiler and Ario Homen added two hits apiece.

“Our offense really carried us,” Orewiler said.

The double-elimination tournament continues today at 4 p.m. when West Isle takes on the winner of Lafayette and West Texas state champion South Padre. The winner advances to the quarterfinals and a chance at a trip to the World Series in Taylor, Mich.

Galveston has appeared in just one Little League World Series, in 1954.

“Hopefully, we got the nerves past us and we come out better (today),” Orewiler said. “As the competition gets better, the room for error gets less. So it’s good to get this one out of the way pretty comfortably.”