By JOEY JOHNSTON
The Tampa Tribune

For openers, the Citrus Park All-Stars played Friday afternoon’s first game in the Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pa.

Nervous time, right?

Wrong.

Dead wrong.

Citrus Park made an emphatic statement, sending 12 batters to the plate in the first inning and rolling to a 10-0 no-hit victory against Canyon Lake Little League of Rapid City, S.D.

The game was shortened to four innings by the 10-run mercy rule.

Michael McGuire, the Citrus Park ace, was unable to pitch because of a sore arm, but his absence was hardly noticed.

Citrus Park, the Southeast Region champion, will have its second game of pool play on Sunday night against Waipio Little League of Waipahu, Hawaii (8 p.m., ESPN2).

“I hadn’t pitched in forever, but I felt pretty good out there,’’ said Levi Gilcrease, the surprise starter.

On Monday night, Citrus Park has its final pool-play game, facing Shelton (Conn.) National Little League (6 p.m., ESPN2).

If Citrus Park finishes in the top two places of its pool, it advances to the U.S. semifinals, either Wednesday or Thursday night.

If Friday afternoon’s performance was any indication, advancement won’t be a problem. In fact, Citrus Park may have stamped itself as the team to beat.

The eight-run first inning was highlighted by Wyatt Reid’s three-run triple and Kevin Merrell’s three-run double against Rapid City pitcher Tanner Simons, who struggled with his control. Danny Lastra also added an RBI single.

Citrus Park tacked on two more runs in the second. Reid led off with a single, then advanced to third on Glilcrease’s double. Lastra smashed a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Reid and sending Gilcrease to third, where he scored on a wild pitch.

Citrus Park pitchers only faced 15 batters in four inning. The only baserunners reached on a pair of errors by Merrell in the second inning. But with one out, Darren Miller was brought to the mound, relieving Gilcrease. Miller struck out the next two batters and pitched into the fourth, delivering 17 strikes on 20 pitches.

Merrell, the third pitcher for Citrus Park, retired the final two batters.

The offensive leaders were Merrell (2-for-2) and Reid (2-for-3). Merrell, at shortstop, and Reid, at third base were singled out by the ESPN broadcasters for brilliant defensive plays.

Rapid City was the first team from its state to reach the Little League World Series. Meanwhile, Citrus Park became the eighth team from Tampa (four from Belmont Heights, two from West Tampa, one from Northside) to reach Williamsport.

“This Tampa team is very, very good,’’ ESPN analyst Orestes Destrade said during the broadcast. “The team from Shelton, Connecticut may be a tad bit better, but that was good execution by the Tampa team. They did what they needed to do.

“That team from Tampa, they looked like they belonged there.’’

For openers, it was a smashing success for Citrus Park.