Texas East advances to Little League World Series

Published 11:11 pm Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Lamar Little League from Richmond is headed to Williamsport.

Lamar used a two-run fifth inning to beat Kenner, Louisiana’s Eastbank 5-2 Tuesday night in the Southwest Regional championship game at Waco’s Norcross Stadium. The win sends Lamar to the Little League World Series where it will begin play Aug. 13. It will be the third time in four years a Houston area team has made it to Williamsport and the third time Lamar has reached the pinnacle, going in consecutive in 2003-04, led by Randal Grichuk, who is currently with the Kansas City Royals for his 12th season in the big leagues.

The game was tied in the fifth when the bottom of Lamar’s lineup came through. Michael Frankie, who hits seventh, led off the inning with a walk and Lamar had runners on the corners with nobody out after Parker Eaton followed with a single. That was enough for Eastbank, which won the world championship at Williamsport in 2019, to pull 6-foot-2 pitcher Cristiano Windham, who was nearing his pitch count. Shane Grawe drew a walk to load the bases, then Joseph Miller hit a ground ball to third that scored a run and put Lamar up 3-2. Lamar added another run on a wild pitch.

Frankie came through again in the sixth inning driving in an insurance run with a base hit up the middle.

Brayden Carlisle got the win for Lamar, going 4 2/3 innings before hitting his pitch limit. He gave up two runs on two hits with four walks and five strikeouts. For the tournament, Carlisle struck out 10 in 7 2/3 innings.

Joseph Miller entered the game in relief of Carlisle in a big spot, coming on with runners on the corners with two outs in a two-run game. Miller got a ground ball to escape the jam. Miller earned the save by retiring the side in the sixth with a little help from third baseman Lucas Sontag, who made an incredible diving stop of a hard-hit ground ball and managed to throw to second from his knees for a force out.

Lamar got the scoring started in the top of the first when Logan Williams scored from second after Eastbank tried to turn an inning-ending double play but the throw to first was wild. Eastbank tied it up in the second, but Lamar got back on top in the fourth when Sontag led off the inning with a triple and later scored on a Jaxson Packard single.

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