DANVILLE -- Jason James couldn't get away from it. Everywhere he turned, someone was waiting to bust his chops.
"Jason! Tell em you closed your eyes!"
"Hey, that's the first time you ever got it out of the infield!"
James, a Danville Junior Division All-Star, just shot back a "whatever," shook his head and smiled.
It would take more than some good-natured ribbing to get to James after he homered in his first-ever Little League All-Star tournament at-bat.
James broke a fourth-inning tie with a solo shot that helped lift Danville to a win Friday. Mike Ramsey threw 3 2/3 innings of one-hit relief, and Mason Fausnaught pitched out of a bases-loaded jam late in the game as Danville's Juniors beat Bloomsburg, 5-4, in the District 13 Area I opener at the Washies Complex.
Ramsey and Fausnaught, though, have lots of All-Star experience. James "just wanted to hit the ball" somewhere when he was called on to bat with two outs in the fourth.
The score was tied at 3, thanks in part to two-run doubles by Bloomsburg's Jordan Marolf and Danville's David Vitunac in each team's three-run second inning.
James, a left-handed hitter, got ahead of Bloomsburg starter Devin Lacey 2-0, then took a strike. Lacey's next pitch was down the middle, just above the belt, and James pulled it over the wall in right field.
James threw up his hands as he rounded first base, seemingly more surprised than anyone in attendance.
"Yeah, I was ... extremely," he admitted. "Everybody on the team was surprised because the closest I've got was top of the fence. It finally went over."
Danville pounded 10 hits in the game -- four for extra bases, including a Trey DeParasis double that helped tack on a run in the fifth. But none rivaled the jolt of James' homer.
"It's a surprise but, I mean, he kills the ball in practice," said Danville manager Duane Winnie. "He came up really big for us. Good things happen to good kids."
Danville (1-0) plays Warrior Run on Tuesday in a winners' bracket game. Bloomsburg (0-1) faces the Berwick-South Columbia loser in an elimination game Thursday.
Ramsey relieved Danville starter Troy Patterson with three runs in and two runners on base in the second. He struck out Bloomsburg's clean-up batter to end the inning, starting a string of nine consecutive outs by strikeout.
Along the way, however, Ramsey had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam and a second-and-third, one-out situation to keep the score knotted at 3. He fanned nine and walked seven, including three with one out in the sixth.
"Michael does the job once he's on," said Winnie. "It takes him a little bit to find his release point. But he's always working hard and he deserved the win."
Fausnaught took the ball with the bases full in the sixth and fanned the first hitter with a 3-2 fastball on the outside black. He quickly got ahead of the next batter but lost him to a seven-pitch walk which pulled Bloomsburg within a run, 5-4.
"I was thinking, Don't choke. Don't blow the game,'" said Fausnaught, who then blew three strikes past the eight-hole hitter to end the inning.
"Every time I get on the hill, I know I'm going to be around the strike zone and ... If I hit my spots, I should be all right. I started off 0-2 with everybody and I almost choked both times. I just figured, Throw it as hard as you can ... and see if they can hit it."
Danville's pitchers combined to strike out 14 and walk 13. Bloomsburg had just four hits but stranded 14 baserunners.
"It's all about bearing down and getting outs," said Winnie. "Once they got runners on base, the pressure was on and the adrenaline kicked in."
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James' homer lifts Danville in opener
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