myworldofbaseball

The World Select Team will be competing in the Arizona Fall Classic that will be held from October 10-14. There are 61 different teams competing in this event, including teams from Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Below are the names of the players from MLB World Select Team and the country they represent. A player from Uganda is participating.

Pitchers

Dennis Achidri (Uganda), Jiorgeny Casimiri (Netherlands), Daniele Di Monte (Italy), Liam Evans (Australia), Mathias Gonzalez (Ecuador), Jake Green (Australia), Lukas Hlouch (Czech Republic), Ky Jackson (Australia), Will Kortekaas (Australia), Luke Krkovski (Australia), Sebastian Munoz (Ecuador), Daniel Padysak (Czech Republic), Sue Sun (China), Angelo Wicklert (Netherlands)

Catchers

Ricardo Bertossi (Italy), Chris Burke (Australia), Fabian Kovacs (France)

Infielders

Travis Bazzana (Australia), Finn Bergmann (Germany), Denzel Bryson (Netherlands), Liam MacDonald (Australia), Luke November (South Africa), Delano Seiassa (Netherlands), Sunny Yang (China)

Outfielders

Jarrod Belbin (Australia), Paolo Brossier (France), Correze Nepia (New Zealand), Jaylin Rae (Australia), Brock Wells (Australia), Tyson Zamora (Australia), Ruendrick Piternella (Netherlands)

These players range in age from 16 to 20. Not only will they be performing before major league scouts, but also college scouts.

South Korea may have earned a spot in the gold medal Asian games. They beat a group of previously undefeated amateur Japanese players with a barrage of three homeruns to take the game 5-1. Kim Ha-Seong hit the first solo shot in the third inning to give South Korea a 1-0 lead. The games are being played in Indonesia and Kim and a few other players from South Korea have come down with the stomach flu.

Two hitters later ex-Twin Park Byung-Ho went deep with his solo shot to up the score to 2-0. It was his second homer of the games. Ex-Giant Hwang Jae-gyun went deep with a solo blast in the fourth inning, his fourth homer of the games.

If Korea can beat China they could find themselves in the gold. Taiwan still needs to play Japan and a Japanese win over Taiwan could throw the Super Round into a three way tie for first. Korea is playing with all professional players from the KBO. Taiwan is player with eight players from the CPBL with the rest amateurs. The Japanese are playing with all amateurs. Taiwan had beaten Korea earlier 2-1 in pool play.

Honolulu pitchers threw their third straight shutout and pitched four shutouts in their five wins as they win the Little League World Series with a final 3-0 win over Seoul, Korea. Ka’olu Holt did the honors this time throwing a complete game six inning shutout, giving up just two hits and striking out eight. This was his second start and fourth appearance. He allowed just one run in 12.2 innings of work, but he saved his best for last, pitching Honolulu to the championship.

Honolulu got all the runs they needed on a leadoff homerun by Mana Lau Kong. They added two more in the third after a single and two walks loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored one run and a second run scored on an errant throw after the wild pitch.

Korea was able to get a baserunner on in each of the first four innings, getting one as far as third base. The last two innings Holt retired all six hitters he faced to close out the game.

In the third place game Japan dominated Peachtree City 8-2. A seven run second by Tokyo put the game out of reach. Masato Igarashi went deep and drove in two runs for Tokyo. Masaumi Ikeuchi and Kai Nogami also drove in two for Tokyo.

Tokyo battled Seoul but came up short. They lost for a second time to Seoul, Korea, who scored two runs in the opening frame in their 2-1 win. Ji-Hyung Choi smashed a two out solo shot to make it 1-0. A Japanese error and booming double by Shoo-hoo Choi made it 2-0. After that double Shisei Fujimoto shut down the Korean bats, giving up just a single in the fourth and hitting a batter in the fifth. He struck out eight.

Tokyo could not get to Ji-Hyung Choi until the fifth inning. A hit by pitch, passed ball and single put runners on first and third and two outs. Masaumi Ikeuchi doubled in one run off new pitcher Yeong-Hyeon Kim to cut the lead to 2-1. Kim was able to get a strikeout to end the fifth and a ground out double play to the box to end the game.

On the United States side of the ledger Peachtree City again failed to score against Aukai Kea. The first time it took Honolulu 11 innings before they scored their first run to win the game, a walkoff two run homerun hit by Aukai Kea. This time they scored a few early runs, the first on a double by Hunter Nishina and RBI single by John de la Cruz in the fourth inning. They got a couple more insurance runs in the fifth on a Bruce Boucher RBI triple and a Jace Souza single. Kea did the rest, limiting Peachtree to three hits while striking out 15 of the 21 hitters he faced.

Honolulu plays Seoul, Korea for the Little League World Series. Seoul won back to back Little League World Series in 1984 and 1985 and again in 2014. Honolulu has yet to win a Little League World Series, though the state of Hawaii has won two championships in 2005 and 2008. In 2014 Seoul beat a team from Tokyo to advance to the finals.

Japan and Puerto Rico battled it out for six innings. The only run scored in the game was in the third inning. Masaumi Ikeuchi doubled and Yuya Ito singled with an error allowing Ikeuchi to score. Masato Igarashi worked 3.2 innings and Shisei Fujimoto retired all seven hitters he faced, four of them on whiffs to close out the win. John Lopez pitched all six innings for Puerto Rico in the hard luck loss.

Staten Island scored three runs in the top of the first but were quieted for the remainder of the game. Peachtree City rallied for two spots in the first three innings to take control of the game, cruising to a 7-3 win. Tai Peete recovered quickly after giving up three runs in the first and pitched through the fifth inning without allowing another run. Ben Traxler retired the last thee hitters to close out the win.

In the semifinal game Japan (Tokyo) plays Korea (Seoul) for the international championship while Peachtree City battles Honolulu for the United States championship. The two winners meet for the Little League World Series championship.

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.

Below are the representatives from the United States regions and Canada that will play in the Little League World Series. The Little League World Series starts with games today.

Great Lakes

Gross Point Woods (Michigan) dominated this region, winning the finals 13-0. In the four regional games they played they won by combined scores of 46-6.

Mid-Atlantic

Mid Island in Staten Island New York shut out a Berlin Little League in Maryland 4-0 to win their region.

Midwest Regional

Grandview Little League in Des Moines lost their opener to Fargo Little League in North Dakota. They got their revenge when they faced Fargo in the championship match and beat them 7-4.

New England Regionals

Coventry Little League in Rhode Island won two games 10-0 then lost to Pittsfield American from Massachusetts 10-1. They rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth in the semifinal game to beat Goffstown Junior Baseball in New Hampshire 6-5. In the championship game they saw Pittsfield again and beat them 3-2.

Northwest Regionals

Couer d’Alene Little League in Idaho were beaten by Boulder Arrowhead Little League in Montana 5-2. After beating Murrayhill Little League in Oregon 8-3 they got their rematch with Boulder Arrowhead and shut them out 2-0.

Southeast Regionals

Peachtree City Little League in Georgia used some solid pitching to sweep their regional shutting out Loudon South American Little League in Virginia 3-0 in the championship match.

Southwest Regionals

Post Oak Little League in Houston, Texas beat Tulsa National Little League in Oklahoma 8-0.

West Regional

Honolulu Little League in Hawaii dominated their region, winning the championship match against Tri City Little League in Northern California 11-2.

Canada Regionals

Canada will be represented by Whalley Little League in Surrey British Columbia. They won their championship game 11-0 beating Glace Bay Little League in Nova Scotia.

The United States and Canada still need to sort out their participants, but the other international teams for the Little League World Series have been decided. The Little League World Series will be in Williamsport, PA August 16-26.

Asia Pacific Regional

The two powers South Korea and Taiwan came out of their pools as the top teams. When the finals were played South Korea (Seoul) were the victors 6-1. Hong Kong did well, finishing second in their pool to Taiwan and defeating Guam 6-5 to take the consolation game.

Australian Regional

Australia will be represented by Gold Coast Baseball Assoc. in Queensland. They beat Adelaide 11-0 in the championship match.

Caribbean Regonal

The World Baseball Classic success has created a resurgence in baseball in Puerto Rico. There Little League team dominated their regional finishing 8-0. The closest team to them was Curacao at 5-3. A second Puerto Rican team did not do so well, going winless at 0-6. Puerto Rico played Curacao in the championship match and beat them 5-2.

Europe/Africa Regional

Just as last year there were no African teams represented in this region. So a better effort needs to be made to get African representation or just drop the name from the title. It takes a lot of coin to participate in a tournament in Europe. Spain (Catalunya) was the big surprise beating the Netherlands 19-0 in the finals. This is the first time that a true team from Spain will play in the Little League World Series. There previous four appearances had rosters filled with American players living in Spain.

Japan Regional

Kawaguchi Little League in Tokyo will represent Japan. They pasted Nagasaki Minami 23-2 in the championship game. They seemed to get better as the tournament wore on, winning their opener 2-1, taking the second game 7-2 and winning the semifinal match 13-2 before waltzing in the playoffs.

Latin America Regionals

Panama (Vacamonte) only loss in pool play was to their brethren Panama (Aguadulce Cabezera) in the last game of pool play 8-0. They opened against them in the first round of the playoffs and avenged that loss with a 2-0 win. In the championship match they went up against Nicaragua and won 6-3.

Mexico Regionals

Matamoros Little League finished undefeated at 8-0 beating Trevino Kelly 5-3 in the championship game.

The rain has postponed the Nationals/Braves game giving myworld a chance to catch up. Japan has made it to the finals of the Honkball tournament in Haarlem, Netherlands with a convincing 8-1 win over Taiwan. This is the same Japanese team that played five exhibition games against the United States collegiate national team and won two of five games. Japan erupted for seven runs in the fifth inning to erase a 1-0 Taiwan lead, cruising to the victory after the outburst.

One team that will be absent in the championship match will be Cuba. They did win their first game, collecting 14 hits in their 7-1 win over Germany. They did need to score six runs in the ninth inning to pull out the victory.

The Dutch get a chance to play Taiwan in the semifinal match with a 2-1 win over Italy. Yurendell de Caster drove in both runs for Netherlands, but his walk off single in the ninth was the big hit. Allessandro Maestri, who pitched for a number of years in the minor leagues and then took his craft to Japan, quieted the Dutch bats to one run in seven innings.

The Netherlands will play Taiwan with the winner advancing to play the undefeated Japanese in the championship match. The Netherlands were the winners of the last Honkball tournament, beating Australia in the finals, a game myworld actually witnessed.