WHITESTOWN, Ind. — Johnston, Iowa, scored nine runs on eight hits to eliminate Kearney, 9-3, Tuesday morning in the Little League Midwest Region tournament in Whitestown, Indiana.
The loss knocks Kearney out of the double-elimination tournament and Johnston advances to play an elimination game on Thursday.
Johnston broke a 2-2 tie with a two-out, two-run single in the third inning, then tacked on three more runs in the fifth and two in the sixth.
Kearney scored two in the first on a triple by Hagen Gates after Cooper Gillespie and Cooper Johnson had back-to-back singles.
But Kearney managed just two more hits in the game, one by Maddox Helgoth to lead off the bottom of the sixth. He scored two outs later on a wild pitch, but that's where the rally died.
Kearney finished fourth in the tournament with a 2-2 record.
