myworldofbaseball

The Little League World Series began in 1947. They have played every year since then. Except now in 2020 there will be no Little League World Series. For the first time in its history the corona virus has forced its cancellation.

With the corona virus Little Leagues in general have not been operating. It is unclear when they will be able to start this year. Also, international travel restrictions make it difficult to run qualifying tournaments.

ESPN will have to find more opportunities to handle their dead time.

Haarlem is a pretty cool city to watch baseball. You have the downtown area with a number of nice eating establishments and a little out in the suburbs you have the ball park where the Honkball tournament is held. It is also held in late June/early July where the sun stays out until 10 PM, or so it seemed. Loved the fact that bicycles seemed to outnumber automobiles as the mode of transportation.

Honkball has announced five of their teams for their tournament for June 26 to July 5 at the Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem. Netherlands, Cuba, Germany, Japan and Taiwan are the teams that have been added to the tournament. They are looking at adding a sixth team from the United States, but Curacao is an easy alternative if they cannot attract a team from the United States.

The Netherlands is normally their national team. You may recognize some ex-major or minor leaguers from their rosters. Roger Bernadina is a name some may recognize. Japan and Taiwan are teams whose rosters are filled with players from industrial leagues or colleges. Japan is the defending champions and Taiwan has won the tournament in the past. Cuba will probably be a mixture of veterans and youngsters depending on where Cuba wants to go. Germany will probably be a team composed of their national team players that could include Donald Lutz.

So enjoy the tulips, windmills and baseball in Haarlem. It will be a week difficult to beat for a vacation.

The Philippines was only challenged in their opening game by Thailand 3-2. After that they won their next three games by 12 or more. They got an opportunity to play Thailand again for the gold. This time the game was not close with the Philippines winning 15-2. Thailand scored both their runs in the fourth inning, but by then they were down 10-0.

Thailand got into the gold medal round by defeating Indonesia 6-4. Thailand scored a run in the fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie and were never behind in the game after that.

Singapore got into the bronze medal game by defeating Cambodia 9-1. It was the first game their pitching staff had held a team to less than 10 runs, but the Cambodian offense had been able to generate only one run in their first three games. In the bronze medal game Indonesia was able to establish an offense and beat Singapore 10-4.

The Philippines was only challenged in their opening game by Thailand 3-2. After that they won their next three games by 12 or more. They got an opportunity to play Thailand again for the gold. This time the game was not close with the Philippines winning 15-2. Thailand scored both their runs in the fourth inning, but by then they were down 10-0.

Thailand got into the gold medal round by defeating Indonesia 6-4. Thailand scored a run in the fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie and were never behind in the game after that.

Singapore got into the bronze medal game by defeating Cambodia 9-1. It was the first game their pitching staff had held a team to less than 10 runs, but the Cambodian offense had been able to generate only one run in their first three games. In the bronze medal game Indonesia was able to establish an offense and beat Singapore 10-4.

Five teams are competing in baseball in the Southeast Asian games. None of them are Korea, Taiwan or Japan. So that gives the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia an opportunity to prove themselves in the sport of baseball.

The two top teams appear to be the Philippines and Thailand. In the opening day match the Philippines just edged Thailand 3-2. They have remained undefeated in these events defeating Cambodia 12-0, Singapore 17-0 and Indonesia 14-1.

After losing to Philippines Thailand defeated Singapore 12-7 and Cambodia 14-1. The big match is when they play Indonesia on Saturday to determine who will play the Philippines in the gold medal rounds.

Indonesia had gone undefeated in their first two games beating Singapore 14-7 and Cambodia 8-1. They got crushed when they played the Philippines 14-1, falling behind early 6-0 after two innings.

Singapore and Cambodia are winless but will play Saturday for fourth place. The winner of this game will then play the loser of the Thailand/Indonesia game for third place. Singapore appears to have some offense, but their pitching has failed to keep a team from scoring double digits in runs. Cambodia has scored only one run in three games.

There are no boxscores for this event so it is difficult to follow the details. You can go to 2019seagames.com to follow the results.

Taiwan recently won the Asian championship, defeating Japan 5-4. Below is the all tournament team.

Catcher - Leung Ho Nam (Hong Kong)
First Base - Juan Diego Lozano (Philippines)
Second Base - Jennald Pareja (Philippines)
Third Base - Chen Wei Chih (Taiwan)
Shortstop - Liao Chun Kai (Taiwan)
Outfielder - Hwang Seong Bin (Korea)
Outfielder - Du Nan (China)
Outfielder - Tsai Chih-Yu (Taiwan)
Designated Hitter - Tatsuhiko Satoh (Japan)
Pitcher - Yasuaki Ojima (Japan)
MVP - Liu Chih-Jung (Taiwan)

It was not as easy as in previous years. Spain and Israel battled with Italy and Netherlands in the semi-finals, but the usual suspects prevailed.

Netherlands 1 Spain 0

Spain has some explosive bats but a trio of Dutch pitchers managed to deaden them. Diegomar Markwell went the first three innings, Tom De Blok worked five innings and Juan Carlos Sulbaran danced out of trouble in the ninth to shut down Spain and win 1-0. Netherlands scored the only run of the game in the eighth inning on a clutch Calten Daal two out single that scored Kaliam Sams, who had led the inning off with a single. Spain put two runners on in the top of the ninth, but Jesus Martinez grounded out to end the game.

Lowuin Sacramento had limited Netherlands to just two hits until the eighth. Sacramento slowed down Ademar Rifaela, who had hit 6 homeruns and drove in 16 runs in his last four games. Rifaela went 0 for 3.

Italy 7 Israel 6

Italy rallied for three runs in the eighth to pull out their victory over Israel. Chris Colabello slugged his fifth homerun of the tournament, a solo shot that pulled Italy to within one. Later in the inning Alberto Mineo gave Italy the lead with a two run homer. Israel put two runners on in the ninth but Alex Bassani, working his second inning was able to get the last out to earn the save.

Israel slugged three homeruns to account for all their runs. Daniel Valencia and Rob Paller each hit solo shots while Simon Rosenbaum hit a grand slam homer in the fourth to give Israel a 5-4 lead. Italy scored four runs in the third inning, benefiting from two Israeli errors that made three of those run unearned.

Below are the final pool standings. The big game on the final day of pool play was Netherlands sending Israel to their first loss in convincing fashion.

Pool A

1) Netherlands 4-1, 2) Israel 4-1, 3) Czech Republic 3-2, 4) Germany 2-3, 5) Great Britain 2-3, 6) Sweden 0-5

Pool B

1) Italy 5-0, 2) Spain 4-1, 3) France 3-2, 4) Belgium 2-3, 5) Austria 1-4, 6) Croatia 0-5

Netherlands 13 Israel 4

A six run seventh broke the game open. Ademar Rifaela continued to stay hot slugging a three run homer in the inning and finishing the game with five RBIs. He also mashed a two run homer in the fifth. That gives him five homeruns and 12 RBIs in his last two games. Hendrik Clementina and Kalian Sams also went deep with solo shots for the Netherlands. Daniel Valencia had a two run blast for Israel.

Italy 11 Belgium 4

Angelo Palumbo pitched five innings of two hit shut out ball and Chris Colabello slugged a three run homer to lead Italy to a win and a first place seed in the playoffs. John Andreoli got the scoring started with his solo homerun in the first. Alessandro Vaglio drove in three runs with a two run single in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth. Beau Maggi drove in two runs, each with a double.

Spain 19 Austria 1

Spain scored a run in all six innings they batted. Jesus Ustariz started the scoring with a two run homer in the first inning. Javier Monzon finished the game with five RBIs, a two run double in the fifth and a three run homer in the sixth. Oscar Angulo scored four times on a perfect 3 for 3 day with one walk.

Great Britain 13 Sweden 7

Great Britain received 9 RBIs from the bottom of their lineup to trigger their win. Nateshon Thomas led the charge with three RBIs and two runs scored on a perfect 3 for 3 day. He also stole two bases.

France 23 Croatia 0

A 14 run second ended this game in six. Bastien Dagneau finished the game with six RBIs. Dagneau had two singles in the third inning that drove in three runs and blasted a 3-run tater in the third.

Netherlands 10 Great Britain 2

In a makeup game the Netherlands romped. Sharlon Schoop drove in three runs on three hits. Rifaela continued his RBI tear with two more. He and Chris Colabello share the RBI lead with 14, but Rifaela has driven in all 14 of his run in the last three games. Orlando Yntema tossed six innings of three hit shutout ball to net the win.

Czech Republic 10 Germany 6

The Czechs win put them in third place in pool A. Matej Hejma clubbed a three run homerun and drove in four to prove the difference in the game.

In a couple of play in playoff games between the bottom two teams in pool play Austria defeated Great Britain 6-1 and Croatia blasted Sweden 17-2.

Italy downed Spain to send them to their first loss. And there appears to be a new powerhouse in the European game, with Israel remaining undefeated after four games. The big test for Israel will be today when they play Netherlands.

Italy 13 Spain 3

This was the opportunity for Spain to show Europe that they could play with the big boys. The game was close until the bats for Italy came alive with 10 runs in the last three innings. Chris Colabello got the scoring started for Italy in the first with a two run homer. He would contribute three more RBIs with an RBI single in the 7th and a 2-run single in the 9th. Giuseppe Mazzanti blasted a 3-run homer in the 7th and added an RBI single in the third. Alberto Mineo added a three run homer in the six run ninth. Those three players combined to drive in 12 of the 13 runs scored by Italy.

Spain scored two in the sixth on a Aaron Galvan double to pull within one, 3-2, but that was as close as they would get.

Israel 7 Great Britain 4

Blake Gaillen broke a 3-3 tie with a two run homer in the seventh inning. He added another solo shot in the ninth for insurance. Zach Weiss came on in the ninth to close out the game.

Great Britain had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a 3-run homer from Ben Andrews in the first inning.

Netherlands 8 Germany 1

Lars Hujer kept the German bats quiet, limiting them to one run in 6.2 innings. He struck out 11, allowing just four hits. Ademar Rifaela had a pretty impressive hitting day, going deep three times to drive in 7 of the 8 Dutch runs. Sharlon Schoop drove in the first run for the Netherlands with an RBI single in the first. After that it was all Ademar, blasting a 2-run homer in the second, another 2-run homer in the fourth and finally finishing it off with a 3-run homer in the eighth.

France 12 Belgium 2

France stayed alive with a win over Belgium, both teams now sitting at 2-2. France battered the Belgium pitchers for 18 hits and three homeruns. Maxime Lefevre was a perfect 3 for 3 with two doubles and three runs scored. Maei Zan added a 2-run homer in the 4th, Andy Paz hit a 2-run homer in the 8th and Bastien Dagneau made it back to back with his solo shot in the 8th.

Marc-Andre Habeck went seven innings for France, giving up just one run and striking out nine.

Austria 12 Croatia 1

In a battle of the winless, Austria came out on top. An eight run sixth put the game out of reach. Alex Seidl pitched a complete game seven innings. Croatian pitchers walked nine batters. Samuel Hackl got the scoring started for Austria with a 3-run homer in the first. Dominik Talir closed out the scoring with a grand slam in the sixth.

Czech Republic 10 Sweden 3

The Czechs scored five in the first and it was over after that. Martin Cervenka drove in the first two runs with a single. Jan Tomek pitched six innings of one run ball. The Czechs are tied with Great Britain and Germany at 2-2 for third place in pool A.

Israel and Italy continue to roll. Great Britain bounces the Czech Republic for their second loss. Only Israel is undefeated in pool A while Spain and Italy have yet to lose in pool B.

Italy 10 Austria 1

Chris Colabello hit a grand slam homerun in the eighth to cinch the victory. Andrew Maggi and John Andreoli each went deep earlier in the game to lead the Italian offense. Austria could score only one unearned run off four Italy pitchers.

Great Britain 4 Czech Republic 3

Great Britain scored a run in the top of the tenth without benefit of a hit, the Czechs preferring to sacrifice a run while they turned a double play. Richard Brereton stuck out a critical hitter with runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the tenth to salvage the win. Martin Schneider whacked a three run homer in the seventh to account for all the Czech runs. Except for the three run homer, Alex Webb pitched well, striking out 12 in 6.2 innings of work.

Belgium 9 Croatia 6

Belgium kept Croatia winless, rallying for six runs in the eighth to pick up the win. Thomas de Wolf got the big hit in the inning with a grand slam homerun. He finished the game with 5 RBIs. Kenny Branden pitched the last two innings without allowing a run to pick up the victory.

Slobodan Gales drove in four runs for Croatia on a double and triple.

Netherlands 9 Sweden 0

Netherlands got their first win of the tournament. Donny Breek pitched six innings of shutout ball, striking out 10. Ex-major or minor leaguers Roger Bernadina, Curt Smith and Sharlon Schoop all went deep for Netherlands to account for 7 of the 9 runs. Schoop was a perfect 5 for 5 with three RBIs, falling a triple short of the cycle.

The Swede hitters could manage only two hits and they struck out 15 times.

Spain 6 France 3

Spain scored all their runs in the seventh to come up with the win. France committed six errors in the game, three in the nightmarish seventh inning that allowed four unearned runs to score. Leonel Cespedes pitched six shutout innings and France decided to go with their bullpen and Spain erupted for six.

Israel 4 Germany 2

It took ten innings but Israel escaped with a victory to remain undefeated in pool play. For the hosts it was their first loss. Israel got seven shutout innings from their bullpen, Dean Pelman pitching the last inning to secure the victory.

Israel scored two in the top of the tenth, two hitbatsmen benefiting the rally. Nick Rickles broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single, a second run erased on a throw out at home. Benjamin Wanger drove in an insurance run with a SF. Germany wasted a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the tenth when Kevin Kotowski was thrown out at home on a Simon Guehring single. Don Lutz ended the game grounding into a double play.