Blasko really bringing it

This is this reporter's first look at Nevada fireballer Michael Blakso, whom one longtime observer compared to former Washington Kirkland LL phenom Cody Webster back in 1982.

 Webster - 5-7, 174 pounds, with and with the unusual nickname "Bofus" - pitched and hit Kirkland to the World Series title while capturing the nation's imagination. 

Kirkland's title interrupted Taiwan's reigh of LL World Series titles.

Ironically, Webster's best sport was football in high school, a Bellevue, Wa. sports editor once told us. 

Anyway, Blasko is throwing harder than anyone we've ever seen here, dating back to our first time covering the tourney in 2001. He really makes the catcher's mitt pop. He has just retired Hawaii in order in the first, striking out two.