myworldofbaseball

The 18 and under World Cup will be played in Gijang, Korea in 2019. The first two qualifiers for that tournament were from Europe, Netherlands and Spain. The Asia qualifiers have finished and the three dragons have advanced.

Korea won the 18 year old qualifiers held in Miyazaki, Japan, defeating Taiwan in the finals 7-5. The game went into extra innings after Taiwan scored a run in the ninth to tie. Japan had to settle for third place after their 14-1 victory over China.

Korea and Japan seem to be leap frogging the 18 and under championships, with Korea winning in 2009 followed by Japan in 2011. Korea took the crown again in 2014 but Japan followed by recapturing the championship in 2016. Taiwan has finished in second place for consecutive tournaments. The last time they won an 18 and under Asian championship was in 2007.

The last time any team other than Korea, Japan or Taiwan has finished in the top two was in 1994 when Australia finished second. That was the first recorded 18 and under championship. Australia now competes in the Oceania region. China, Philippines and Thailand are the teams that fill the fourth spot.

There is some talk of a team from the Australian Baseball League (ABL) joining the China Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. The first step would be for the ABL team to play in the minor leagues but eventually advance to the major league. It is hoped that negotiations can be completed so that this ABL team can play next year for the 2019 season.

Taiwan has been seeking to add the number of teams to their professional league. Currently they have four teams. Adding one more team would give them an odd number so a sixth team would be ideal to balance the schedule. Another issue to work out is the number of Taiwan players to play on the team and whether the Australian team would have access to Taiwanese players through the draft. Currently three foreigners are allowed to play for each team in the CPBL and for the most part the three players fill the starting rotation.

The ABL has added two foreign teams to their league in the fall. A team from Korea and another from New Zealand will play in the ABL this fall.

There’s a saying - “Chicks dig the long ball”. So do dudes. Megan Baltzwell went deep for the United States for the first homerun in the Women’s World Cup. It gave the women some breathing room, turning a 2-1 game into 3-1 lead over Venezuela. It was the closest a team had gotten to the United States.

Martina Sementelli held the Venezuelans to one run in her six innings of work. Megan Meidlinger pitched the seventh inning to close out the victory. The United States scored two runs in the second inning courtesy of a Jade Gortarez two run single. Venezuela strung together three consecutive singles in the bottom of the second to trim the lead to one, Leonela Reyes driving in the lone run with her single.

Venezuela got seven innings from Kisbel Vizcaya, who restricted the until then powerful United States bats to just five hits. For Venezuela they dropped to 1-2.

Japan got a bit of a scare from Cuba. Maraisy Perez silenced the Japanese bats for the first five innings. Cuba scored their lone run on a steal of home by Katherine Vals in the bottom of the fifth.

Japan finally erupted in the top of the sixth, an RBI double by Lori Miura and an RBI single from Chihiro Funakoshi giving them a 2-1 lead. Miura drove in two more runs in the seventh with a single. Rina Taniyama secured the victory retiring the Cubans in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Taiwan stayed in the super round race with their 13-0 win over Korea, improving their record to 2-1. Chia-Wen Shen drove in three runs with two doubles and Chiao-Yun Huang also drove in three runs.

Puerto Rico stomped over the Netherlands 16-1 to also stay in the Super Round. The Netherlands committed seven errors. Lisandra Berrios drove in five runs for Team Puerto Rico. In addition to the seven errors, the Dutch woman walked 9 batters.

The Dominican Republic crushed Hong Kong 19-1. Yocarla Guerrero drove in four runs for the Dominicans. Kimberly Almonte ran wild around the bases, pilfering four bags and scoring four times without the benefit of a hit.

The Canadians stayed alive with a 9-6 win over the Australians. They scored six runs in the last three innings to eek out their victory. Jenna Flannigan drove in three runs including two in the sixth inning with a double that broke a 6-6 tie.

MVP - Cody Schrier (United States) SS - .476, 2, 8 with 17 runs scored and 4 for 4 in stolen bases

Catcher - Edgar Quero (Cuba) - .400, 0, 6

First Base - Brady House (United States) - .448, 1, 16 with 10 runs scored

Second Base - Seiya Fukuhara (Japan) - .296, 0, 9 with five stolen bases in six attempts

Third Base - Luke Leto (United States) - .364, 0, 9 with three doubles and one triple and 13 runs scored

Shortstop - Reginald Preciado (Panama) - .393, 0, 9

Outfield - Oscar Aude (Dominican Republic) - (.417, 2, 12, 11 runs scored), Luis Durango (Panama) - (.296, 0, 1 with 9 runs scored), Ryan Spikes (United States) - )375, 0, 8

Starting Pitcher - Andrew Painter (United States) - 2-0, 0.70 with 13 whiffs in 10 innings and a .200 opposition average

Relief Pitcher - Alexis Bernal (Panama) - 1-0, 0.68, .152 opposition average and 13 whiffs in 10.1 innings

Designated Hitter - Aoi Sugishita (Japan) - .438, 0, 8

Defensive Player - Kai-Yu Liu (Taiwan) - .059, 0, 2

Others to Applaud Based on Stats

Australia

Jake Burns - .267, 2, 8
Charlie Collins - .412, 2 doubles and 2 triples
Quinn Johnson - .471

Brazil

Pedro Lemos - 2-0, 0.54 18 whiffs in 13 innings and .184 opposition average
Joao Sakurai - 1.31 ERA, 12 K’s and 10 walks in 10.2 innings but a .061 opposition average.

Cuba

Frank Gonzalez - .348, 2 triples, 9 runs scored and 10 RBIs
Brander Guevara - 1-0, 0.66, .189 opposition average

Dominican Republic

Ronny Polanco - .385, 1, 5, 10 runs scored

Japan

Asahi Hanada - .419, 0, 8 with 10 runs scored and four stolen bases in five attempts

Taiwan

Ying-Chieh Mao - .500, 0, 6 with 6 doubles
Ping-En Wu - .474, 0, 5 with two doubles and one triple

United States

Samuel Dutton - 1-0, 0.00 with .143 opposition average.

Myworld has been busy preparing for the opening of high school volleyball season. Meeting with parents, athletic director and two a day practices makes for a very busy day. But we got an opening to review the Little League World Series.

Seoul, Korea appears to be the class of the International group. After beating Puerto Rico 4-2 they downed Mexico 5-1. Shoo Hoo Choi had a complete game six inning victory, giving up just three hits and one unearned run. Ji Hyung Choi went deep driving in two and scoring twice. They knocked Japan to the loser’s bracket with a surprisingly easy 10-0 win. The game went only four innings, with Yeong Hyeon Kim allowing just one hit in those four innings. He struck out 10 and did not issue a walk. He also hit two doubles and drove in five runs. Ji Hyung Choi went a perfect 3 for 3 with a homerun, two RBIs and three runs scored.

After losing their opener to Korea, Puerto Rico has worked their way up the loser’s bracket. They eliminated Australia with a 6-0 win, limiting the Aussies to just one hit. Yadiel Delgado went the first four innings and allowed the one hit, striking out seven. Luis Rivera drove in three runs and Eric Rodriguez hit a solo shot. A 3-1 win over Panama puts them into the finals of the winner’s bracket to face Japan. Roberto Joubert had a marvelous five innings of relief, striking out 14 and walking four. He did not allow a hit. Carlos Dejesus drove in two runs with a RBI single in the fourth and a ground out in the fifth.

Honolulu is the class of the United States pool. They had two shutout wins in the first and third games, beating Peachtree Georgia 2-0 and Staten Island, New York 10-0. The first game went 11 innings with a walk off homer from Aukai Kea. Kea also pitched the first 6.1 shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out 10. The win over Staten Island was the finals of the winner’s bracket and fueled by a grand slam from Sean Yamaguchi. He drove in five of the ten runs. Kea again got the start and threw 4.1 innings, giving up just one hit. They also beat Gross Pointe Woods, Michigan 8-3.

Peachtree will play Staten Island in the finals of the loser’s bracket to determine who will get a rematch against Honolulu. Japan will play Puerto Rico, with the winner getting a rematch with Korea.

Yesterday was the opening of the Little League World Series. The early results:

Seoul, South Korea (Asia Pacific) 4 Guayama, Puerto Rico (Caribbean) 2

Seoul rallied for two runs in the sixth inning to tie and send the game into extra innings. Gi-Jeong Kim drove in one run with a single and a steal of home by Ji Hyung Choi tied the game. In the ninth Choi was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, the second hit batsman of the inning, to drive in the winning run and Kim drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single to give Korea the victory.

Yeong Hyeon Kim struck out 13 hitters in 4.1 innings but still allowed two runs in the fourth, only one of them earned. Choi worked four innings and struck out seven. Kim was the big hitter of the day with three hits.

Staten Island 5 Des Moines 2

Staten Island scores the go ahead run in the fourth on a Des Moines error to break a 2-2 tie. They score three more to pull ahead of Des Moines.

Mexico 3 Australia 2

Angel Martinez slapped a two run walk off single in the sixth to give Mexico their victory. Oscar Hyde had given Australia an early 2-0 lead with a two run homer in the first. Hyde also pitched 5.2 innings before being relieved after retiring the first two hitters in the sixth. Mexico followed with three straight hits to win the game.

Houston Texas 3 Coventry Rhode Island 1

Justin Michaels collected three hits and scored a run and Ryan Selvaggi tripled in a run in the third to tie the game and scored the go ahead run on a wild pitch to give Houston the lead. Michaels doubled in the sixth and Andy Guy drove him in with a single to tack on an insurance run. Selvaggi got the last five outs to pick up the save.

The super round is being established. Cuba, Japan and the Dominican Republic are advancing from Group B. From Group A only Taiwan is secured for advancement. Brazil and the United States are playing a rainout date with the United States leading 4-0 after one. If the United States wins the United States and Panama will advance. If Brazil wins it could result in a tie breaker if Panama loses to winless Germany. If Panama wins then Brazil advances over the United States.

Brazil 2 China 1

Brazil kept their hopes alive by squeezing out a victory over China. Kawan Silva worked six innings giving up only one run in the second inning, retiring the last 11 hitters he faced. Pedro Lemos pitched the seventh inning to close out the victory, striking out two. The game ended after a single and a caught stealing. Lemos also drove in the first run with a single in the third inning. The go ahead run scored in the fourth on a bases loaded walk to Felipe Koragi.

Cuba 9 Australia 3

Cuba remains undefeated as they advance to the super round. Luis Estocholi went deep in a perfect 2 for 2 day, driving in two runs. Kevin Alcolea collected three hits and scored three times. Edgar Quero went a perfect 3 for 3 driving in three and scoring twice. One of his three hits was a double. Australia is done.

Taiwan 6 Germany 3

Taiwan advances to the super round. Germany has one more game to try to get a victory, a makeup against Panama. Germany scored two in the final frame to make the game close. Hao-Yu Lee slugged a two run blast in the third inning to give Taiwan a 3-0 lead. Taiwan scored three in the sixth to put the game out of reach, Ying-Chieh Mao blasting a two run double to fuel the inning.

Dominican Republic 11 Netherlands 2

The Dominicans got deep blasts from Oscar Aude and Esterlyn Sanchez to advance to the super round. Daniel Ramirez did not go deep but he drove in three runs with his two hits. The Netherlands were eliminated from the super round. Cristofer Gomez worked five innings to get the win.

United States 4 Panama 1

The United States stayed alive for the Super Round by giving Panama their first loss. Cale Lansville quieted the Panamanian bats for 5.1 innings on two hits and one run. The United States scored three runs early, Brady House hitting a solo homerun in the first inning and Cody Schrier driving in two with a single in the second after a walk and two hit by pitches loaded the bases. Panama rallied in the seventh to load the bases with three walks but Brady House retired the last hitter to secure the victory.

Japan 20 South Africa 0

It took only five innings to dispose of South Africa. South Africa did manage to get one hit. Yuito Suzuki blasted a two run homer in his only at bat of the game. Ryoma Ikeda was a perfect 3 for 3 with four runs scored and four stolen bases. Kyohei Akiyama did not allow a ball to be hit in play. He struck out 10 of the 12 hitters he faced and walked the other two. Sohi Kiyota struck out five of the 8 hitters he faced, walking one. South Africa put only two balls in play in the five innings, a ground out and a single.

When myworld watched the World Cup back in 2011 in Panama it was plagued by rain. Rain prevented two games from being completed today. The United States and Brazil could only play one inning with the United States scoring four runs before rain suspended the game. The game between Germany and Panama had to be postponed.

Taiwan 10 China 0

When the adults played China upset Taiwan in both the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic, embarrassing the fans and bringing on allegations that the games were fixed after gambling problems rocked the CPBL shortly after. The youngsters saved some face with the win. China was limited to two hits by Kuan-Yu Chen, who worked four innings. Yu-Min Lin struck out the side in his inning of work. When Taiwan scored five in the bottom of the fifth the game was over.

Tung-Sun Li and Chan-I Li both drove in two runs to lead the offense. Hao-En Chen and Hao-Yu Lee each scored twice. Four China errors resulted in five unearned runs.

Netherlands 22 Australia 7

The Australian pitching staff has now given up 42 runs in their last two games, dropping their record to 1-3 and ending any chance they may have had for advancing to the second round. The Netherlands has scored 40 runs in their last two games to even their record to 2-2. Emilson Haswell drove in three runs and scored four times to lead the Dutch offense. Australian pitchers could not find the plate walking 11 hitters.

Australia got a homerun from Jake Burns. They had a 1-0 lead after one and only trailed 4-1 after three, but the bullpen could not stop the Dutch bats.

Cuba 10 South Africa 0

Leonardo Reyes limited South Africa to two hits in 4.1 innings, improving Cuba’s record to 4-0. Cuba was limited to six hits but four errors and seven walks helped their cause. Carlos Chavez was a perfect 1 for 1 with two RBIs and one walk. Frank Gonzalez also drove in two runs. Both players hit triples to fuel the offense.

Japan 13 Dominican Republic 7

Japan scored early with nine runs in their first three innings. Seiya Fukuhara drove in four runs with his three hits and Haruto Uchiyama plated three. The Dominicans seven errors gifted Japan with four unearned runs. Their pitchers also walked 9 batters. Shinnosuke Kanai shut down the Dominican bats in the last three innings, retiring all nine hitters he faced, six of them on strikeouts.

Some interesting games. Day three tends to test the depth of a team’s starting pitchers. Some of the scores confirm the depth is not good.

Taiwan 2 United States 1

Chen-Yi Hung pitched 5.1 innings of one run ball as Taiwan handed the United States their first loss. Both teams move to 2-1, tied for second place behind Panama. Hung also delivered with the bat, doubling to lead off the fifth to score the first run of the game. He advanced to third on a passed ball and scored after an error by secondbaseman David Diaz. Luke Leto got the United States back in the game with a leadoff single in the sixth. He stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball and scored on a fly ball. The go ahead run scores on a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth.

The United States put two runners on in the top of the seventh but Shan-Tsung Peng got the final out to earn the victory. Kao-Hsiang Tsai was a perfect 2 for 2 including one walk. He scored the go ahead run in the sixth after leading the inning off with a single.

Netherlands 18 South Africa 2

The Netherlands won their first game while South Africa became one of two teams without a win. Jesse Velders drove in four runs and Jurrangelo Cijntje drove in three to lead the offense. Donovan Antonia knocked one out and scored three runs. Netherlands banged out 17 hits on the day and South Africa committed five errors to help with all that scoring. The game was done after five innings, though South Africa had a 2-0 lead after one inning.

China 5 Germany 4

China also won their first game. Germany is still winless but they scored their first four runs of the tournament. China got 4.2 solid innings from Ruo-Fei Ding, who walked five but allowed only two runs to cross the plate. After Germany had tied the game at 2-2 Jian-Cuo Luozang ripped a double to score the go ahead run in the bottom of the fifth. Germany scored two runs in the top of the seventh and had the tying run on third when Yu-Chen Wang got his only whiff in his 2.1 innings of work to earn his victory.

Dominican Republic 20 Australia 8

Not much of a pitcher’s duel. Oscar Aude drove in six runs, including hitting a grand slam homerun in the third inning. Esterlyn Sanchez and Deyvison de los Santos also went deep for the Dominicans. Manuel Beltre was a perfect 4 for 4 and scored four times. Ten of the 20 hits for the Dominicans went for extra bases.

Australia got a homerun from James Nati. Early errors by the Aussies allowed the Dominicans to tack on seven unearned runs in the first two innings.

Panama 7 Brazil 3

Panama became the only undefeated team other than Cuba in the tournament. Panama was only able to accumulate four hits in the game but they strung together three of them in the 5 run fourth to seal the victory. A couple errors, two walks and multiple wild pitches also contributed to the Panama scoring. Kenin Pinto pitched 5.1 innings allowing two hits and two runs. He struck out six and walked two.

Cuba 9 Japan 7

A mild upset here. It appears a lot of the 15 year old stars have not left the island yet, but if they continue to play well in Panama there will be boats waiting for them outside their hotel doors. Cuba scored seven runs in the first two innings to nip Japan. Frank Gonzalez drove in three runs and scored three times to lead the offense. Kevin Rosales retired all seven hitters he faced in closing out the game to get the win.

Japan had tied the score 7-7 after five innings on a solo homerun from Reiya Saka. Kevin Alcolea got the big hit for Cuba, a two run double in the sixth inning to give Cuba the lead they would not relinquish. Japan drops to 2-1 while Cuba goes to 3-0.

Day 2 has been completed in the Under 15 World Cup and there are four undefeated teams, Panama, Cuba, United States and Japan. Below is a summary of the second day of play.

United States 10 Germany 0

Two facts remained consistent after this game ended. United States pitchers have yet to give up a run in their first two games. Germany has yet to score a run. At least they were able to get two hits after being no hit in their first game. The slaughter rule ended the game after just five.

Christian Little threw three innings of shutout ball and was followed by an inning of work each from Timothy Williams Jr and Luke Leto. Davis Diaz was able to drive in two and scored two runs without benefit of a hit. He had two walks, a sacrifice fly and a stolen base. Thomas Dilandri went 2 for 2 with two runs scored and two doubles.

Japan 11 Netherlands 1

The Netherlands was actually winning this game 1-0 after four. Rick Rizvic had pitched four innings of no hit ball, walking three. When the Netherlands went to their bullpen Japan bats awoke for 11 runs in the last three innings. Hiromu Joshita drove in three runs and four different Japanese players scored two runs each.

Sota Hinoue shut down the Netherlands bats for one run in 4.2 innings. Yuito Suzuki struck out three of the four hitters he faced in relief. The Netherlands was restricted by Cuba to only one run in the opener.

Taiwan 9 Brazil 7

Taiwan got into the win column, sending Brazil down to their first loss. Taiwan erupted for 8 runs in the seventh inning for the dramatic come from behind win. Mao Ying-Chieh delivered a pinch hit RBI single that tied the game and Tsai Kao-Hsiang drove in the go ahead run with a single in the 8 run seventh. Brazil scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh and had runners on second and third with no outs. Lee Hao-Yu came on and struck out the next two hitters and got the last out on a ground out to nail down the save.

Australia 16 South Africa 6

Australia only collected six hits to score their 16 runs. 15 walks and three hit batsman allowed the Aussies to circle the bases without swinging their bats. James Nati slugged a solo shot for the Aussies and walked twice to cross the plate three times. Jake Burns also went deep to drive in four and Quinn Johnson was a perfect 2 for 2 with two walks and five RBIs.

Nicholas De Ascensao and Kyle Schwartz each drove in three runs for the South African offense. The five run fifth put South Africa in reach 9-6 but a big six spot in the bottom frame by Australia put the game out of reach.

Panama 2 China 1

After losing 27-0 to the United States on day one, China was a little more competitive for the hosts. In the sixth Leonardo Bernal led off the inning with a triple and the next two batters could not drive him in. No problem. A wild pitch allowed Bernal to score the go ahead run. Alexis Bernal pitched four innings of shutout relief to get the win for Panama.

Cuba 9 Dominican Republic 0

Osiel Veranes struck out 10 in his six innings of shutout ball. Jorge Broge followed him with an inning of work to complete the shutout. Frank Gonzalez was the only Cuban player to drive in two runs.