myworldofbaseball

There was a combined perfect game on the second day of the Little League World Series. Japan appears to be the team to beat, based on what myworld sees from the results.

Japan 8 Australia 0

Japan cruised past the Aussies. Japan used four different pitchers to pitch the shutout, giving up only two hits. Combined the Japanese pitchers whiffed 10. The Japanese scored a run in all five innings they batted, with a four run fifth putting the game out of reach. Keitaro Miyahara led the offense with three hits. Five wild pitches and two errors resulted in four runs scoring for Japan.

West (Santa Margarita) 9 Northwest (Walla Walla Valley) 0

Bobby Gray was two outs away from pitching a complete game no hit shutout, but had to yield to Bryan Ramirez to get the last two outs after giving up a one out single. Joey Gray hit a grand slam in the first to give the West an early lead. He finished 2 for 2 with a walk and five RBIs. Drew Rutter crossed the plate three times.

Korea (Asia Pacific) 10 Dominican Republic (Caribbean) 1

Korea spanked the Dominicans, slugging four homeruns. Jin-Won Shin powered two homeruns, driving in four and scoring three times He also doubled. Ye-Joon Khym and Dong-Heon Kim also went deep. Khym went a perfect 3 for 3 and scored four runs.

South East (Greenville) 6 Midwest (Sioux Falls) 0

Three different pitchers, Chase Anderson, Matthew Matthijis and Carson Hardee combined for a perfect game no hitter. Anderson worked three innings, striking out four of the 10 whiffs on the day. Matthijis struck out five in his 2.2 innings of work. Drew Fields and Ashton Byars each drove in two runs to lead the Greenville offense.

The Little League World Series has completed their first day. Below are the results:

Latin America (Venezuela) 4 Mexico 1

Despite the chaos in Venezuela they were able to send a team to participate in the Little League World Series. Jonney Rosario pitched five innings, allowing just one run and striking out seven in the Venezuelan victory. Juan Faria contributed two RBI singles on a 2 for 3 day to contribute to the win. Andre Garza hit a solo homer for Mexico in the second inning to give them a brief 1-0 lead.

Canada 12 Europe/Africa (Italy) 2

Canada scored 7 in the third, a Chase Marshall grand slam the big hit of the inning. Chase finished the day with 5 RBIs after a solo shot. Robert Orr drove in three runs in a game that went only four innings. Ty Fluet had a perfect 3 for 3 day with three runs scored.

New England 7 Mid Atlantic 6

New England was able to withstand a four run sixth inning to hold off Mid-Atlantic. Tai Mann hit a two run homer in the sixth and Chris Cartnick made it back to back, but New England fell one run short. New England scored in every inning but the fifth, Matthew Vivona one of three players to drive in two runs for New England. He also scored twice.

Southwest 5 Great Lakes 1

Southwest went deep four times with Hunter Ditsworth driving in two with his blast. He also pitched a six inning, one run complete game, striking out eight to get the win. Collin Ross hit two solo shots and Clayton Wigley also added a solo shot. Ditsworth gave up two hits, one of them a solo shot from Will Pfaum in the final inning.

The Little League World Series is around the corner and most of the games have been played to determine the participants. Canada and some of the United States regions have championship games that will be played today to determine the Little League World Series representative.

International

The Asian Pacific Region was played in Korea. The two powers of that area Korea and Taiwan were placed in the same pool. South Korea blasted Taiwan 12-0 and eventually won the pool with Taiwan finishing second. Hong Kong was the winner of the other pool. In the playoffs the championship round found Taiwan playing Korea again. Korea wins 6-1 to advance to the Little League World Series.

Australia had 20 teams battle it out in four different pools. In the end Hills Little League played Swan Hills, two teams without a loss. Hills was the winner 8-4 and will represent Australia in the Little League World Series.

The finals for Canada will be played today between White Rock Little League in British Colombia and Diamond Baseball Little League in Quebec. White Rock is undefeated while Diamond Baseball has lost twice, to Port Arthur Little League in Ontario 9-4 and White Rock 6-5. Diamond Baseball got into the finals beating Port Arthur 8-5.

In the Caribbean tilt the Dominican Republic got upset by Aruba 6-2. That put them in second place in their pool where in the semi-final they had to play an undefeated Puerto Rican team. They downed Puerto Rico 5-4 and then got revenge by beating Aruba in the championship match 8-4 to advance to the Little League World Series.

In the European/Africa division there were no African teams represented in the series. Myworld has to wonder what happened to the feel good story of Uganda from a couple years ago. A number of European teams battled it out with Italy remaining the lone undefeated team with their 12-2 win over a United Kingdom team. The two teams had played earlier in pool play where Italy also won 11-2. A team of American military kids from Germany found the going tough finishing the series 1-2, failing to advance to the playoffs. The UK eliminated baseball powerhouses Netherlands, Spain and Czech Republic as they advanced to the finals. Since no African teams participated in this round the “European/Africa” name was a bit inaccurate.

Japan will be represented by Tokyo Kitasuna. They won the championship game 17-0 and breezed through their four opponents by scores of 53-6.

In the Latin American series it was Colombia Falcon versus Venezuela in the finals. Venezuela had beaten Colombia earlier in pool play 9-2. Colombia Falcon was able to upset a strong Panama team 4-3 to get to the finals. Panama had beaten Colombia Falcon earlier 3-0 and their only loss had been to Venezuela. Guatemala was a surprise to make the semifinals but Venezuela disposed of them 8-3 and then shutout Colombia Falcon 8-0 to make it to the Little League World Series.

Guadalupe Trevino rolled through their competition to represent Mexico in the Little League World Series. They beat a team from Matamoros 3-1 in the championship game.

United States

The Great Lakes will see Hinsdale Little League in Illinois play Gross Points Woods Shore Little League in Michigan. Michigan has a loss to Westside Little League in Ohio, which Illinois beat in the semi-finals to get to the championship. Michigan had to beat Ohio 11-3 to advance to the finals.

The Mid-Atlantic finds Thurmont Little League in Maryland playing Holbrook Little League in New Jersey in the championship game today. Maryland had to beat Upper Providence Little League in Pennsylvania, a team they had lost to earlier to make it to the finals. Their bats were smoking in their 14-4 semi-final win.

The Midwest has Sioux Falls Little League in South Dakota playing Webb City Little League in Missouri in the finals. South Dakota had beaten Missouri earlier 6-5.

New England will see Fairfield American Little League in Connecticut play South Portland American Little League in Maine in the finals. Connecticut beat Maine 8-0 early in the double elimination tournament but Maine pulled out three games in the loser’s bracket to make it to the championship.

The Northwest will see Walla Walla Valley Little League in Washington play La Grande Little League in Oregon in the championship. Oregon had beaten Washington earlier 8-4 to knock them into the loser’s bracket.

The Southeast will be represented by North State Little League in North Carolina who beat Peachtree City National Little League in Georgia 8-6 in the championship. Georgia had lost to Goodlettsville Little League in Tennessee earlier 12-3 but came back in the semifinals to beat them 4-1.

In the Southwest it was an all Texas final with Lufkin Little League representing Texas East beating McAllister Park National Little League representing Texas West 2-1 in the finals. The two had played each other earlier in the tournament with Texas East again beating Texas West 11-10 to knock them into the losers bracket early.

The West will see Santa Margarita Little League in Southern California play against Dixie Little League in Utah in the finals. Utah had been knocked into the loser’s bracket early 14-5 by Hilo Little League in Hawaii but was able to fight through the loser’s bracket and beat Hawaii 12-6 in the semifinal match.

This will be composed of three teams from the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) and the China Professional Baseball League (CPBL). This is a little different than the Asian championships they had played in the past with the three professional organizations that ultimately fizzled because of poor attendance and no corporate sponsorships.

Instead of the championship team from each league squaring off as they did in the past these teams will be composed of All Stars from each of the three professional leagues of players who were born on or after January 1, 1993. Each team will be allowed three slots to plug in players who fall beyond that birth date. This would be a good opportunity for major league teams to check out the young stars in each of the Asian Leagues who could become major league players after they reach free agency.

The games will be played in Tokyo at the Tokyo Dome where the Yomiuri Giants play. It will consist of round robin play where each team plays each other once. Those two teams with the best record will then play each other for the championship. The designated hitter rule will be in play and there will be no pitch counts. The tie breaking rules will be in effect where runners are placed on first and second should the game go beyond nine innings.

The games will begin on November 16 with Japan opening against Korea. Korea will then play Taiwan on November 17 and Taiwan will play Japan on November 18. The teams with the best record will do battle on November 19. Because the Tokyo Dome is a domed stadium there should be no issues with rain outs and needs for double headers.

Hsin Chuan Wang delivered on the walk off single in the bottom of the 10th to give Taiwan a 3-2 win over Japan in the World Port championship held in Netherlands. Wang also came through in the second and fourth innings with RBI singles to account for all the runs for Taiwan. Yi Hung Chen scored runs in the second and the fourth innings after he led off each inning with a single.

Japan tied the score in the top of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Ryoto Maeda slapped a two out single to score Takuya Okura with the tying run. Taiwan had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom frame. Ching Han Ko blasted a two out double. Han Lin singled to right center but Ko was thrown out at home to send the game into extra innings.

Japan had their opportunities to put this game away but they stranded 16 runners in the 10 innings. Japan slapped 13 hits with 5 walks. Taiwan stranded 13 runners with 11 hits and four walks.

Japan 15 Curacao 0

Japan gets to play Taiwan tomorrow for the championship of the World Port Tournament. After Curacao had upset Cuba for their first win of the tournament they did not seem to have anything left for Japan in the semifinal game. Masaki Otani drove in three runs with three doubles in four at bats. Takuya Okura and Kazuya Suzuki also drove in three runs. The game lasted just seven innings because of the slaughter rule.

Daisuke Yamagami toed the rubber for five innings to get the win, giving up just four hits. Kosuke Fukushima pitched the last two innings to close out the game. Japan scored in six of the seven innings to thrash the Curacao team.

Netherlands 3 Cuba 1

The last two port tournaments these two teams battled for the championship. This year the two were in a battle to see who could avoid last place. Netherlands used four different pitchers to restrict the Cuban offense to one run. Diegomar Markwell worked the first 3.1 innings without allowing a run. Jim Ploeger relieved him and gave up the lone Cuban run working 2.2 innings. Kevin Kelly got the game to two out in the eighth with 1.1 innings of shutout relief before turning it over to Mike Bolsenbroek to retire the final four hitters to pick up the save.

Dwayne Kemp got the big hit for the Netherlands in their three run third with a two run single. The third run scored on a double play ground out. Cuba scored their only run in the sixth on an RBI single from Yusniel Ibanez. It was his second hit of the game. With runners on second and third and one out two fly outs failed to produce the second run, The Netherlands bullpen pitched a perfect seventh, eighth and ninth inning to close out the game and avoid a last place finish in their own tournament.

The two favorites for the Port tournament, Cuba and the Netherlands will play a game where the loser finishes in last and the winner takes the fourth spot. These two teams played for the championship in the last port tournament and finished in first and second in 2015. Taiwan did win this tournament in 2011. How times have changed in two years.

Taiwan 4 Japan 2

Taiwan will play in the championship game between the winner of the Curacao and Japan game. Han Lin collected three hits and drove in two runs with a single in the fifth inning to give Taiwan an early 4-0 lead. He scored the first run for Taiwan after singling in the opening frame. Ju Liang Tai scored twice from the leadoff spot, once in the third inning after being hit by a pitch and again in the fifth after drawing a walk.

Sheng Feng Wu threw five innings of shutout ball before turning it over to the bullpen. Cheng Hao Wang pitched the final two frames without allowing a run to earn the save.

Curacao 5 Cuba 3

Curacao picks up their first win. Shurendell Mujica hit an RBI triple in the top of the ninth to break a 3-3 tie. Curacao then pulled off a first and third double steal with Mujica streaking home to score an insurance run. Cuba was able to load the bases with one out in the bottom frame. Claysandy Hariquez came on to pitch and struck out Yoelkuis Guibert, who was leading Cuba in average at .455 and got Frank Camillo Morejon to fly to center to clinch the victory.

Yusniel Ibanez hit a homerun for Cuba in the first inning, only the second homerun of the tournament. Guibert had three hits with an RBI single in the seventh inning to tie the game at 3-3. The only at bat he failed to get a hit was in the final frame with the bases loaded and one out.

Mujica drove in three runs in the game. In the first inning he hit a two run double to give Curacao a 2-1 lead and sending starting pitcher Geonel Gutierrez to an early shower. Mujica was a homerun short of the cycle finishing the game 3 for 3 with one walk. Raywendley van Gurp drove in the other run for Curacao with a double in the fifth.

In the double elimination tournament the two favorites Cuba and Netherlands were knocked to the loser’s bracket by their Asian counterparts.

Taiwan 4 Netherlands 3

This is the second time Taiwan has beaten the Netherlands. In their opening match Taiwan won 2-1. In this game Taiwan rallied from two down to score three in the last inning to win. The Netherlands closer Loek Van Mil had another rough outing. He retired the first hitter but then gave up a double to Chia Wei Huang. The Netherlands catcher Gianison Boekhoudt also had a tough inning. A passed ball advanced Huang to third where he scored on a single by Yi Hung Chen. Chia Yu Lin singled up the middle moving the tying run Chen to third bass. That was it for Mil who exited with a 13.50 ERA. Mike Bolsenbroek replaced him but the game ended without him facing an official batter. Lin attempted to steal second and the throw was off target scoring Chan and moving Lin to third. Lin scored on a passed ball to end the game. A tough way for the Netherlands to lose this game.

Kevin Heijstek pitched well for the Netherlands going six innings and allowing an unearned run in the third. An error by shortstop Stijn Van de Meer (recently released by the Astros) put the leadoff runner on where he eventually scored on a Han Lin single. The Netherlands had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Dwayne Kemp two run single. Kemp also led off the 8th with a double and scored on a Nick Urbanus single to give the Netherlands a 3-1 lead. That looked pretty safe until the chaotic ninth inning.

Japan 5 Cuba 2

Japan got some revenge on Cuba after losing to them in pool play. Ryosuke Fujii pitched the last 3.2 innings without allowing Cuba a run to earn the win. In the 11th inning when teams were allowed to put runners on first and second Japan scored three runs and Cuba scored none to prove the difference in the game. Cuba was able to get two outs on a sac bunt and a force out at home. A Hiroto Kobukata single scored one. Up until that at bat he had been held hitless four times. A walk to Masaki Otani loaded the bases and set up the two run single by Takuya Okura.

Down by three runs it is difficult for the home to rally for a win. A bunt would only set up two in scoring position. The Cubans swung away and Dainer Galvez grounded into a double play.

Yoalkis Crus threw 133 pitches in his 9.1 innings of work for Cuba, scattering 11 hits and giving up two runs, one of them unearned. Okura was the hitting star for Japan. He drove in three runs with his three hits, including the two run single in the 11th.

Daisuke Yamagami tied up the Dutch bats for six innings, allowing just two hits and no runners to cross the plate. The Netherlands only hint of offense was in the ninth when they scored three runs, but Japan had already built a 7-0 lead by that point to win easlily 7-3. Kenta Fukuhara drove in two runs and Hiroto Kobukata delivered two hits from the lead off spot, driving in one run to keep his average at .545.

Taiwan eliminated Curacao from the four team playoff format with their 6-3 win. Two Curacao errors and a two run single from Wei Chuan Su fueled a three run sixth that proved to be the difference in the game. Cheng Hao Wang got the last five outs without giving up a run to earn the save. Curacao committed three errors to allow three unearned runs to score but their pitchers eight walks were also to blame for many of the Taiwan rallies.

A double elimination format will see Netherlands play Taiwan and Cuba do battle against Japan. The only loss for Japan in this tournament was against Cuba. The only loss for Cuba was against Netherlands. It has been a very balanced tournament with a number of closely contested games.

After being upset by Taiwan on the first day the Netherlands has come back and won their next two games, including a 6-1 over Cuba that puts the port tournament into a three way race. Japan knocked off Taiwan, who has not replicated their opening day performance while Japan moves to 2-1. It sets up a critical game between Netherlands and Japan. A win by the Netherlands will put them in first place. A win by Japan will make Cuba the pool winner.

Netherlands 6 Cuba 1

The Netherlands called on Lars Huijer to tame the Cuban bats. He went seven innings and gave up just one run. The Cubans sent Daniel Gongora to the mound and he was not as fortunate. He gave up five runs on nine hits in his six innings of work. Gianison Boekhoudt and Max Draijer each drove in two runs for Netherlands. Boekhoudt drove in the first two runs with a double in the first and a single in the third. Draijer collected RBI singles in the fourth and the fifth as Netherlands pricked Cuba to death with small rallies.

Japan 2 Taiwan 1

Japan went seven innings with Takahiro Yamamoto in their win over Taiwan. Ryosuke Fujii pitched two innings of perfect relief to pick up the save. Kenta Morinaka slashed what proved to be the game winning hit with a single in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie. Yi Hung Chen hit a solo homerun for Taiwan in the fifth to account for the only run for Taiwan. He also walked in his other two at bats.