WARNER ROBINS — This is no great scouting report advantage, nor is it giving away any major secrets.

But here’s a warning to the teams gathering in Portland, Ore., for the Little League Softball World Series: Do not allow Warner Robins to get the blood flowing. In any way, shape or form, do not rile up the Houston Countians.

If they appear sluggish or overconfident, let them be. Antagonize them at your own risk.

Ask West Virginia and Florida.

West Virginia watched two sparkling defensive plays by Sierra Stella at second base in the bottom of the fifth inning revitalize a drowsy Warner Robins offense, leading to an explosion at the plate for five runs in the sixth en route to an 11-4 win Sunday night.

Defense led to offense, as it often does.

Florida can blame the umpires, and with remarkably confusing legitimacy. For a few minutes, the Florida team was the beneficiary of an almost inexplicable blunder.

And then, just like that, Warner Robins was all geeked up, and a mind-boggling 2-0 deficit — the minds are still boggled at the play — was followed by a scolding from manager Roger Stella.

“He said we needed to start scoring some runs,” first baseman Hayley Tierce said. “He said we needed to step on their throats now.”

That deficit quickly became a 6-2 lead, and that was it, Warner Robins winning 10-2 for another Southeastern title. So much for all the hullabaloo.

Ah, the hullabaloo. Here’s the short version:

Florida’s Mackaleigh Dooley was on second and Carlee Jacobs first with one out in the second. Reed Jahnke grounded to Tierce, who stepped on the base and threw to shortstop Melissa Cox at second to get Jacobs.

The throw beat Jacobs, but Cox only tagged the base, not the runner, which she needed to do.

Inexplicably, the second base ump — who shall remain nameless to help cut down on ignorant reactions he may get, as if he’s going to sleep well for a few nights anyway — clearly called Jacobs out, which she wasn’t, and she knew it.

Cox tossed the ball to the mound and chaos followed. Florida runners kept at their stations. Stella saw what had happened and barked at his troops to get back out there. Then Dooley broke for home and scored. Jacobs strayed from second, and Whaley threw there from the plate, but it went into center, so Jacobs scored.

Then the action started.

Stella has referenced the Atlanta Braves a few times during the tournament, and he began to channel manager Bobby Cox.

“Yeah, right,” Stella said with a laugh, before an admission. “I wasn’t sure how they were going to get me off the field, because I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Oh, there was no cap throwing. But he was hot. He wasted no words in clearly expressing his displeasure and confusion to the men in blue, who no doubt were turning red from embarrassment under their uniforms.

“You have to be so loud, so I’m screaming like a banshee,” Stella said of trying to be heard over the crowd. “They can’t hear a word I’m saying.”

As umpires would make a point, Stella reacted, and the collective blood pressure of about 4,500 folks climbed a little higher. That happened three or four times.

Unlike Cox, Stella didn’t get the boot, and eventually the decision was made to split the difference: Dooley’s run counted, but Jacobs was put back on second. She then scored on Brooke Diaz’s single.

Cox was worried watching her manager argue.

“It made us mad at the fact that he was mad,” she said. “We didn’t want him to get thrown out and stuff. We need him.”

Most of those 4,500 folks were beside themselves, but Stella had no argument.

“They did the best they could,” said Stella, who didn’t see that Florida manager Lou Pastore had held Dooley at third. “That girl would have scored. It was probably the fairest thing to do.”

His players were still a little befuddled afterward.

“It made me mad,” Cox said. “The umpire had his hand held up that it was an out, and we started running off the field. Then we were just trying our best to get an out.”

Tierce second-guessed herself temporarily.

“I thought I should’ve thrown it to second,” she said. “But I had to get the out first. Then I threw it to second base. ... It really stung.”

As it was, the second base ump — although he didn’t know his mistake wouldn’t slow Warner Robins — no doubt wished for a trap door to open just beyond second.

The fans’ anger didn’t last long, because Stella laid into his team between innings, and it responded with offense, to the tune of a six-run third.

“I got all over them,” he said. “I almost took a football mentality with them there and got them fired up.”

Terrifyingly, in the top of the fifth, a frighteningly familiar situation developed. Florida had a runner on first, and a grounder rolled to first baseman Tierce.

Frankly, it was all an objective observer could do to not scream, “Don’t throw it to second! Please.”

Thankfully, she didn’t, and winning pitcher Avery Lamb struck out Erica Matich to end the inning.

Another close and seemingly missed play at second cropped up in the top of the fifth, but Pastore seemed OK with the explanation.

And Warner Robins took advantage and scored two in the inning. And after Florida got a couple of runners in the bottom of the sixth, Lamb caught a liner and doubled up Jahnke at first for a quality game-ending and championship-clinching double play.

Warner Robins has survived a tournament that’s thrown a little bit of everything its way, maybe more than these girls have seen during this wild ride the past two summers.

There was the first-game blowout of South Carolina. Then the quiet offense and comeback win over Alabama. And then the defending champs battled even less offense to take the lead and then handled a lightning delay of two hours and 40 minutes before sending North Carolina down on Saturday.

Sunday, Warner Robins struggled until Sierra Stella’s dandy defense awakened the offense. And Monday, an unforgettable – book it, nobody who saw it will forget it – call that put the eventual champs in a 2-0 hole only for them to turn confusion into conquering.

So to those teams planning for the trip to great Northwest, congratulations on a superb and impressive accomplishment.

But for your own good, don’t hack off Warner Robins. Leave the champs alone and see if they might doze off and beat themselves.

Then again, don’t hold your breath on that happening, either.

Contact Michael A. Lough at 744-4626 or mlough@macon.com