BtB follows the Little League World Series - 8/30 Update - California is the Champion
by Jeff Zimmerman on Aug 18, 2009 2:08 PM EDT
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Print8/25/2009 update - I added the final pool standing with the teams runs scored and allowed. Just looking at runs scored and allowed, Pool C was by far the most competitive with Latin America going 0-3, but only losing by a total of 4 points. The other 3 pools each had a distinctive 1st and 2nd place team. The games on Thursday look more interesting than the ones tomorrow.
8/21/2009 - Update - I added some more images of the teams and schedules to end of article. The games today look even as mainly U.S. teams play and these games are pretty competitive. Mexico and Canada play the only international game and Mexico should be favored. Finally here is a link I found of another preview.
8/18/2009 update - Finished the U.S. Teams and went back on got some pictures and information to the Chinese Taipei and Taiwan teams. Hope to look into international teams tomorrow and set up which teams are in each pool.
8/17/2009 update - Information on the Canadian Qualifier and several of the U.S. Teams. I will finish the U.S. teams tomorrow.
Eleven and twelve year old boys will soon be traveling to Williamsport, PA from all over the world to participate in the Little League World Series (LLWS) from August 21 to the 30th. I love watching these games and the ESPN network of stations plan on airing all 33 LLWS games along with the 8 U.S. Qualifiers. Here is a link to all the qualifying games, times, station coverage and daily results: Little League World Series Home
The following will be an on going discussion on the the teams involved and results once the games begin. I will update the article as results come in and hope everyone enjoys this summer classic. Feel free to chime in anytime with any additional information.
List of the Regions and Qualifying Teams
(More team information will be added as I am able to find information I, and hopefully you find interesting)
Asia-Pacific: Kuei-Shan Little League of Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei.
Chinese Taipei have made it to the World Series 23 times and have won it 17 time, but none since 1996. This team had no problems qualifying by beating teams from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore and Korea with a record of 6-0 and outscoring their opponents 71-4. This same team won the tournament in 1971 and 1973
A major weakness for the Taiwan team is that breaking balls are restricted for little league play in Taiwan (but 2 tournaments) and they are using older pitchers to prepare their batters for the breaking balls they will see. Also they are worried that the infield is grass because they only play on dirt infields in Taiwan
Canada: Hastings Community, Vancouver, British Columbia
via beta.images.theglobeandmail.com
Bristish Columbia usually sends the Canadian repersentitive to the LLWS and it seems to be more of an accomplishment just getting out of their regoinal with perrenial powerhouses White Rock and West Van.
The Canadian team prides itself on its bats and rolled through the qualifier without dropping a game and outscored the competition by a combined score of 82-1.
The team will also be the only team that has a girl on the roster. Katie Reyes plays first base and hit an out of the park homerun in the qualifying play.
Coach Matsuda knows that his team has an uphill battle to win in Williamsport as no Canadian team has every won the tournament. "The Canadian championships was the big goal, no question about it. Williamsport is the cherry on top," Matsuda said.
Caribbean: Pabao Little League of Willemstad, Curacao, N.A.
Seven years in a row Pabao Little League of Curacao will be in the Little League Baseball World Series. They qualified easily with a 5-0 pool record and outscored their opponents 60-7. This same team won the World Series back in 2004 and then lost in the finals in 2006 in extra innings.
Europe: KMC American Little League of Ramstein AFB, Germany
Japan: Chiba City Little League of Chiba City, Japan
Chiba City defeated Izumisano LL, from Izumisano City, 17-4; and finished the 16-team tournament with a 4-0 record and out scored their opponents 51-16. Chiba City was in the LLWS in 2005, but lost in the title game to Curacao
Latin America: Coquivacoa Little League of Maracaibo, Venezuela
Coquivacoa LL had a 7-1 record in their qualifier.
MEA: Arabian American Little League of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
For 10 straight years the Arabian American Little League has qualified for Little League World Series. They had a 4-1 record in the quaifier.
This team ran into a little controversy when they played in actual games in the U.S. as warm ups for the LLWS. According to the LLWS rules they are not to play in games and have since pullout out of a tournament.
Mexico: Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Guadalupe Treviño Kelly Little League from Reynosa, Tamaulipas finished the qualifier tournament with an 8-0 record,by outscoring thier opponents 60-15.
U.S. Great Lakes - Logan County/Russellville, Russellville, Kentucky
I am looking for any information beyond what is at the LLWS site and can't find anything. This pretty pathetic that I can find one picture of this team to put up and no local coverage. I really don't want to tear into Kentucky about moving into the 21st century, but come on. What is actually happen in Kentucky this time of year, than a team making it to the LLWS.
U.S. Mid-Atlantic - South Shore, Staten Island, New York
The team from Staten Island end up with a record of 6-0 record and outscored its opponents 42-8 in regional play.
Link to video of regional final game footage.
The team is playing in memory of firefighter Michael Cammarata who died at the World Trade Center during 9/11 and played in the 1991 LLWS for South Side. Another member of the 1991 South Side team, Jason Marquis, game the team a pregame prep talk.
U.S. Midwest - Urbandale, Urbandale Iowa
via cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com
The team from Iowa went 6-1 in the regionals and had a tough semi-final and final game with winning scores of 3-2 and 7-6.
U.S. New England - Peabody Western, Peabody, Massachusetts
The team from Peabody finished their regional with a record of 6-0 and start slugger Matt Hosman end the final game with a walk off grand slam. Matt finished the regionals with 5 home runs total
U.S. Northwest - Mercer Island, Mercer Island, Washington
The team from Mercer Island went 6-0 in qualifing outscoring teams 70-7.
Looks like some of these little guys are human: "The [ESPN] cameras were different and they made me a little nervous, but they were kind of cool, too," William Mansfield said.
U.S. Southeast - Warner Robins American, Warner Robins, Georgia
via www.eteamz.com
Warner Robins, the 2007 LLWS champs, are back by going undefeated in regional play.
U.S. Southwest - McAllister Park American, San Antonio, Texas
In the regional final game, the team from San Antonio had to come back from a 4-1 deficit late in the game to win 6-4 to beat the team from Bridge City. Both teams were undefeated coming into the final game and it showed in the closeness of the final game
U.S. West - Park View, Chula Vista, California
The team was 7-0 in regional play and outscored their opponents 98 to 15.
If you like home runs, this is the team to follow. The team hit 38 homeruns in 6 games with Kiko Garcia having 12 of his 14 hits leave the park.
Schedule/Results/Comments
Final standing with totals for runs scored and allowed
| POOL A | |||||||
| Region | Team | W | L | RS | RA | Average RS | Average RA |
| Southeast | Warner Robins, Ga. | 3 | 0 | 20 | 8 | 6.67 | 2.67 |
| Mid Atlantic | Staten Island, N.Y. | 2 | 1 | 21 | 11 | 7.00 | 3.67 |
| Midwest | Urbandale, Iowa | 1 | 2 | 11 | 22 | 3.67 | 7.33 |
| Northwest | Mercer Island, Wash. | 0 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 2.33 | 6.00 |
| POOL B | |||||||
| Region | Team | W | L | RS | RA | Average RS | Average RA |
| Southwest | San Antonio, Texas | 3 | 0 | 28 | 4 | 9.33 | 1.33 |
| West | Chula Vista, Calif. | 2 | 1 | 32 | 6 | 10.67 | 2.00 |
| New England | Peabody, Mass. | 1 | 2 | 13 | 27 | 4.33 | 9.00 |
| Great Lakes | Russellville, Ky. | 0 | 3 | 3 | 39 | 1.00 | 13.00 |
| POOL C | |||||||
| Region | Team | W | L | RS | RA | Average RS | Average RA |
| Caribbean | Willemstad, Curacao | 3 | 0 | 19 | 15 | 6.33 | 5.00 |
| Japan | Chiba City, Japan | 2 | 1 | 21 | 18 | 7.00 | 6.00 |
| MEA | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 | 3.33 | 4.33 |
| Latin America | Maracaibo, Venezuela | 0 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 2.67 | 4.00 |
| POOL D | |||||||
| Region | Team | W | L | RS | RA | Average RS | Average RA |
| Mexico | Reynosa, Tamaulipas | 3 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 6.00 | 1.00 |
| Asia | Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei | 2 | 1 | 26 | 3 | 8.67 | 1.00 |
| Canada | Vancouver, BC | 1 | 2 | 15 | 23 | 5.00 | 7.67 |
| Europe | Ramstein AFB, Germany | 0 | 3 | 13 | 43 | 4.33 | 14.33 |
Remaining Schedule
| Date | Time | Team 1 | Team 2 |
| 08/26/09 | 4 p.m. | Mexico | Japan |
| 08/26/09 | 8 p.m. | Southwest | Mid-Atlantic |
| 08/27/09 | 4 p.m. | Caribbean | Asia |
| 08/27/09 | 8 p.m. | Southeast | West |
| 08/29/09 | Noon | International Final | |
| 08/29/09 | 3 p.m. | U.S. Final | |
| 08/30/09 | Noon | Consolation Final | |
| 08/30/09 | 3 p.m. | World Series Championship |
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Comments
I always enjoy watching these games
It must be the high quality of play coming from players half the size of big leaguers.
by therayspartyleader on Aug 12, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions
The best matchups is the DR or Currasao vs. Japan.
It’s raw athleticism vs. good fundamentals.
F*** Billy Beane... actually, I kinda like Holliday
Cheating
Hope too many teams aren’t cheating with over aged kids or pooling kids from multiple leagues into one team. Most of the championships Taiwan won in the past were with illegal teams, and same with the year the Phillipines won, and the Danny Almonte(sp?) team from NYC. It must be difficult to verify each team is on the “up and up”.
vr, Xei
I saw
the last Taiwan team that won. they completely destroyed their opposition that year.
of course. they also looked pretty damn big, I was 12 at that time too, and while i was very small for a 12 year old anyway. those guys were giants.
Still, the teams since then have improved significantly in terms of legitimacy of the kid’s age and league status. which i guess also explains why they havn’t won since then too. (though they usually been pretty competitive anyway)
Has anyone noticed where these kids hit there "homers"?
Most of them are to the opposite field to either left or right center, depending on handed ness. And when they show the replay of these homers, they are of course away from the hitter and usually around the belt. To me, it looks like they take a good swing and somehow get the ball to hit the good part of the bat. But that’s the thing. Those bats they use (a lot of combats) have really good and large sweetspots. I won’t call it cheating since any player can use it legally.
I just think it cheapens the game a bit allowing the stronger hitters to get some “unnatural” pop.
by therayspartyleader on Aug 17, 2009 6:46 PM EDT reply actions
Yeah, they drag the bat through the zone as opposed to getting the sweet spot on the ball.
That’s why the good prospects start using wood bats in high school, so that they fix their swing sooner.
@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation
this is
Taiwan team’s pic btw , taken yesterday at the airport
ok, kids today eat very well, the guy in the middle is the local county governor (i live in same county) he’s pretty close to 6 feet tall.
Holy crap.
"Of course Kolby Rasmus was going deep! That’s what Kolby Rasmus does! You don’t give Kolby Rasmus second chances!" -Kolby Rasmus
I am with you there, I can't wait to see them. Kinda look like the Bad News Bears.
Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.
by Jeff Zimmerman on Aug 19, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Hmm
First few games are done, when we updating?
Taiwan crushed the German team 16-0 , Germany had 1 baserunner (on a walk) .
yes, it was a no hitter.
Chula Vista (Ca.) has outscored their opponents 29-0 in their two games.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
by FlyByKnight on Aug 25, 2009 12:54 AM EDT up reply actions
This team is amazing - Will get an update tomorrow.
Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.
by Jeff Zimmerman on Aug 25, 2009 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions
The game tomorrow will be a good one between Texas and California. The winner draws New York while the loser draws Georgia.
California has outscored their opponents 29-0. Texas has outscored their opponents 23-1. So, naturally, we’ll get a pitchers duel.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
the Taiwan team
outscored their op 24-0 , pretty close :P
man, i remember going to Williamsport as a 12 year old (audience of course) and I’m amazed that some of these kids hit HRs that clear the entire stadium. I mean I’m 26 now and I think right now I could only do on some rare occasional perfect swings.
International pool
Mexico toped Taiwan 3-2 to take division D. looks like the Taiwan team have serious problems against lefties that can throw a decent breaking ball. (the Meixcan starter went 4 1/3 inning .. no hit, 12 K !!)
So the matchup will be
Japan vs Mexico (tomorrow)
Taiwan vs Curacao.
both Asia vs Latin America matchups. fun times.
Taiwan vs Cu
Looks like we’re heading for New York versus Texas and Georgia versus California.
Actually, at least to me, this loss for California is good because the day off helps.
California versus Georgia is going to be epic awesomeness. I pray California wins this whole thing because, if they don’t, they’ll be the greatest team to never win their own section.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
I see the winning coming out of Pool B or D right now.
Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.
by Jeff Zimmerman on Aug 26, 2009 6:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Mexico versus Chinese Taipei appears to be the International Final unless Curacao can come back in the sixth.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
yikes
they’ll probably send out their lefty starter again. he destroyed the Taiwan team last time out.
Perhaps. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. He was crafty as hell.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
by FlyByKnight on Aug 27, 2009 10:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Ichiro Suzuki (.333), Albert Pujols (.333) and Todd Helton (.331).
California versus Georgia is going to be epic awesomeness.
10-10 going to the bottom of the 6th. Georgia had an early 1-0 lead before California struck back for 5 in the 3rd to take a 5-1 lead. That was shortlived as Georgia struck back hard for 9 in the 4th to take, what appeared to be, an insurmountable 10-5 lead. California battled back in the bottom of the 4th and 5th to tie it at ten. This game has been so damn amazing. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotion.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
Ignore the headline. That was for something else.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
by FlyByKnight on Aug 27, 2009 10:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Taiwan going to the finals
first time in 13 years!
They faced the same Mexican starter that annihilated them in pool play. but this time around he wasn’t quiet as sharp and they used some clever bunting to get to him early.
California beats Chinese Taipei for the first time in LLWS history. 6-3.
Oh man this was great. My pick to click even before the Regionals were over.
http://twitter.com/FlyByKnite
It was a little weird seeing Taiwan make all the errors they did
Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.
by Jeff Zimmerman on Aug 30, 2009 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions
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