myworldofbaseball

More teams get eliminated. Below is a summary of yesterday’s games.

Latin America (Venezuela) 8 Mexico 7

In a wild game Venezuela scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of two errors and two hit by pitches. The only hit of the inning was a single by Luis Atencio that drove in the tying run. An error by the right fielder allowed the go ahead run to score. Jonathan Rangel finished Mexico off in order in the sixth to secure the victory. Rangel quieted Mexico’s bats after they scored six runs in the first two innings. Rangel limited them to just one run in his 4.1 innings of work, striking out eight. Davirik Fuenmayor scored the go ahead run but also drove in two runs with a homerun in the first.

Angel Castillo went 3 for 3 for Mexico but that was not enough to keep them in the tournament.

Caribbean (Curacao) 8 Canada 1

Curacao eliminated Canada from the tournament with a convincing victory. Four early runs in the first two innings and four late runs in the fifth were too much for Canada to overcome. Six different players drove in runs with Kevin Rosina pitching all six innings to get the win.

West Region (Hawaii) 6 Mid-Atlantic (New Jersey) 0

Hawaii knocked Elizabeth into the loser’s bracket. Hawaii scored all their runs in the first three innings. Jaren Pascual got the scoring started with a solo shot in the first inning and Nicholas Nashiwa closed out the scoring with a pinch hit three run double in the third. Two different Hawaiian pitchers, Logan Kuloloia and Isaac Imamura, shutout New Jersey through six innings.

Southwest (Louisiana) 10 Midwest (Minnesota) 0

Southwest scored five in the fourth to end the game via the slaughter rule. Connor Perrot drove in four runs and Reece Roussel was a perfect 3 for 3, scoring three times to lead the offense. Reece is hitting .700 for the tournament. Derek DeLatte also went 3 for 3 with a run scored and one RBI. Three different pitchers combined for the shutout.

Great Lakes (Kentucky) 4 Australia 1

In a crossover game between two teams eliminated from the tournament, both teams accomplished a first. Kentucky got their first win while Australia scored their first run of the tournament. Chaze Huff pitched a complete game while Jackson Idlett drove in two runs to lead the offense.

The Little Leaguers got to see the Cubs beat the Pirates in a Sunday night baseball game. These games were winner bracket games, with the losing team dropping down to the loser’s bracket. Prior to the Pirate/Cub game the below games were played.

Asia (Korea) 4 Caribbean (Curacao) 0

Korea used the duo of Su-Ho Yang and Jin-Won Na to each work three innings of shutout ball, holding the Curacao team to just one hit. Combined the two struck out 12 batters in six innings of work, each striking out six. Yang walked two and Na gave up the lone hit. Na also hit leadoff and scored twice with a walk, single and hit by pitch. Korea put the game away in the fifth with three runs, taking advantage of two errors, two walks and a hit by pitch scoring their three runs with the benefit of just one hit. Curacao drops to the loser bracket.

Japan 5 Mexico 0

The Japanese pitchers threw their second shutout of the World Series, dropping Mexico into the loser’s bracket. Yuto Kakeba got the start and pitched 3.1 innings, striking out six. In his first appearance he pitched one inning of relief and struck out all three hitters he faced. Kakeba also came through with the bat whacking a solo homerun to lead off the second to give Japan their first run. He was the only position player with two hits. Japan put the game away with four runs in the third, taking advantage of Mexico’s only two errors in the game.

Southeast (Loudoun County, Virginia) 11 Midwest (Coon Rapids, Minnesota) 0

Virginia only needed three innings to score their 11 runs. Justin Lee pitched four innings of shutout ball and the game ended after Minnesota could not score in the fourth. Liam Thyen drove in five runs with just one hit. He doubled, walked and hit a sacrifice fly. Colton Hicks drove in three runs and scored twice. He also doubled. Maddy Freking, the first female player to play in the Little League World Series since Mo’ne Davis in 2014 went hitless in her lone at bat. She also got to pitch one inning and gave up three runs. She normally plays second base. For the tournament she is 0 for 2 with one strikeout, two errors and one inning of pitching, giving up three runs.

Day three of the Little League World Series were all loser’s bracket games. A loss eliminated a team from the bracket, though they will still get to play one more consolation game.

Latin America (Venezuela) 2 Australia 0

It is the second game Australia has been shut out. Randy Soto pitched a complete game three hitter striking out four. Australia also had a complete game from their pitcher Max Miotto. He gave up back to back doubles to Ibrahim Ruiz and Hendrik Maestre in the second to seal his fate. Moises Concho drove in an insurance run in the fifth with a single.

Canada (British Colombia) 10 Europe (Italy) 0

Italy also failed to score for their second straight game. The game was ended after four once Canada exploded for five runs in the top of the fourth. Matt Shirley drove in three runs with two doubles.

New England (Barrington, Rhode Island) 6 Great Lakes (Bowling Green Kentucky) 1

Barrington faced some controversy from the first game for allegedly stealing signs, even though they lost the game. This time Lucas Tanous led the Rhode Island team to victory with his bat, recording three hits, two of them doubles to drive in three runs. Owen Pfeffer went the full six innings to get the win. A four run fourth, highlighted by a Tanous double put the game out of reach.

Southwest (River Ridge, Louisiana) 3 Northwest (Salem, Oregon) 2

River Ridge eliminated Salem. Both teams scored all their runs in the third inning. Reece Rousel had the big hit for River Ridge with a two run double.

There were a full slate of games yesterday because of the cancelled games on Thursday. Below is a summary of the games, with the International games first.

Asia (Korea) 10 Latin America (Venezuela) 3

Korea overcame an early 2-1 Venezuelan lead to score three runs each in the third to fifth innings to pull away. Ji-Won Na was the big bat, driving in five runs with a three run homer in the fifth and a two run triple in the fourth. He also scored the go ahead run in the top of the third on a Min-Wook Park triple. Gib-Eom Jung got the last seven outs without giving up a run to pick up the win.

Japan 20 Europe (Italy) 0

Japan exploded for 14 in the fifth to put the game away after five. Yuto Misake and Yuta Kakeba each drove in five runs for Japan. Misake hit a grand slam homerun in the 14 run fifth. Taishi Kawaguchi had a 3 for 4 day with a solo homerun. Ritsu Nishikawa allowed the only two hits in his three innings of work. The three Japanese pitchers combined for 10 whiffs, with relievers Yuto Kakeba and Yuto Misake striking out all six hitters they faced in their one inning of work.

Mexico 5 Canada 0

Four Canadian errors allowed four unearned runs to score, but all Santiago Leija needed was the one earned run to beat Canada. Santiago worked all six innings, striking out 11 and allowing just two hits. Mexico also managed just two hits in the game, but five walks and four errors helped them with the win.

Southeast Region (Loudoun County, Virginia) 3 New England Region (Barrington, Rhode Island) 0

Three different Loudoun County pitchers no hit Barrington through six innings, striking out nine. Brady Yates had a two run homer in the three run fifth to give Loudoun County all the runs they required.

Midwest (Coon Rapids, Minnesota) 2 Great Lakes (Bowling Green, Kentucky) 1

Tyler Phillips had an RBI triple in the second and scored on a wild pitch with two outs to give Coon Rapids the win. Coon Rapids won despite committing four errors. Carson Timm got out of a two out two on situation in the fifth and retired Bowling Green in order in the sixth to secure the win.

West (Wailuku, Hawaii) 5 Southwest (River Ridge, Louisiana) 2

Hawaii erupted for four runs in the first and held on to get their opening day victory. Duke Aloy had a big two run single to finish off the four run first. Jaren Pascual went all six innings to get the win. Louisiana scattered nine hits off him but stranded 10 runners on base.

Mid Atlantic (Elizabeth, New Jersey) 6 Northwest (Salem, Oregon) 2

Elizabeth rallied for five runs in the top of the fifth to overcome a 2-1 deficit and bring home a victory. Jayden Capindica got the clutch two run single with the bases loaded to give Elizabeth a 3-2 lead.

The Little League World Series begins tomorrow. Last week we reviewed the international participants. Today myworld will review the United States participants and Canada.

Great Lakes - Bowling Green East had a convincing 15-6 win over a team from Illinois. This will be the third trip for Bowling Green in the last five years.

Mid Atlantic - Elmora Youth from Elizabeth, New Jersey had a revengeful 19-4 win over a New York team that had beat them earlier in pool play.

Mid West - Coon Rapids Andover won 8-6 over a team from Iowa. They had also lost to Iowa earlier in the tournament.

New England - Barrington, Rhode Island beat a team from New Hampshire 6-4 to advance. This was another revenge win as New Hampshire had beaten Rhode Island earlier. This is the fifth time in six years a team from Rhode Island is representing New England.

Northwest Region - Sprague, Salem Oregon beat a team from Idaho 5-4 to advance.

Southeast Region - Loudoun South from South Riding, Virginia defeated a team from Georgia 12-2 to advance. It is the first time in 25 years a team from Virginia qualifies for the Little League World Series.

Southwest Region - Eastbank from River Ridge, Louisiana defeated Texas West 6-2 to advance to the Little League World Series. This is their fifth straight Southwest Region title.

West Region - Central East Maui Wailuku, Hawaii defeated a team from Arizona 4-1 to advance.

Canada - Coquitlam in British Columbia defeated a team from Quebec 6-3 to advance. British Colombia had been spanked by Quebec earlier in pool play. The last time a team from Cogquitlam made it to the Little League World Series was in 1984.

Japan and Taiwan advance to the championship. Cuba got hot late, winning their last four games, but their two early losses against Japan and Taiwan eliminated them. As expected, three time champion United States won the lower round. They were upset by Venezuela and Mexico to be left out of the Super Round.

Cuba 10 Korea 8

Cuba rallied for six runs in the last two innings, while Korea could only score two runs to pull out the win and ultimately eliminate Korea from the finals. Christian Saez clubbed a big two run homer in the third but his biggest hit was his two run single in the sixth that broke a 7-7 tie. He finished the game going 4 for 4 with three runs scored and four runs driven in. Alejandro Pena scored three times for Cuba on a 2 for 3 day with one walk.

Japan 8 Korea 7

Both teams were tied at 5-5 after regulation. Korea scored two runs in the seventh after an error. The Korean bullpen was unable to retire a Japanese hitter in the home half and went on to win it. Shinsuke Kuwamoto drove in three runs for Japan to be the hitting star. Their big bat Shosei Takahashi pitched a scoreless sixth and drove in two runs in the seventh inning to tie the game. He ended up scoring the game winning run.

Taiwan 14 Venezuela 6

The home plate umpire was from Korea so the 9 walks by Venezuelan pitchers could not be blamed on home umpiring. Taiwan scored all their runs in two innings, the third and fourth, while Venezuela took an early 6-0 lead scoring three each in the first and second innings. Hung-Jen Yeh drove in three runs from the lead off spot with a three run double in the fourth while Chen-An Kuo drove in three runs in the third with a three run homer. Yan-Chang Yu was able to quiet the Venezuelan bats, pitching four shutout innings while striking out nine.

Mexico 8 Japan 3

Once Japan had defeated Korea they had already qualified for the championship. Mexico was playing against bench players and scored all eight of their runs in the last three innings to earn the victory, taking advantage of the Japanese bullpen.

The United States crushed Czech Republic 15-0 and then beat South Africa 18-0 to win the lessor round. Czech Republic was limited to one hit in their game while South Africa could not get a hit against United States pitching.

Cuba and Korea will battle for third place in a rematch of yesterday’s game. Japan and Taiwan will play for the championship.

Cuba and Taiwan keep winning but for Cuba it may be too late to play in the championship with two losses. Two teams have to be upset for that to happen and then they have to win the tie breaker. The big game Korea and Japan got rained out after three innings but Korea was pulling the upset, with a 4-1 lead. Japan does not have a loss while both Korea and Taiwan have one loss. It could turn into a three way tie for first or a three way tie for second where one or two teams could be eliminated by a tie breaker.

Cuba 5 Venezuela 4

Venezuela pitchers got a bit wild with four walks (one intentionally to load the bases) to allow the winning run to walk in for the game winner in the bottom of the sixth. In the second Venezuelan pitchers walked the first two hitters they faced and both scored on a Yeison Acosta double. Another walk in the fifth scored after a two run single by Alejandro Prieto. Venezuela pitchers walked seven and four scored.

Leonel Dominguez of Venezuela woke from his slumber. Leonel hit homeruns in four of his first five at bats in his first two games, but the bat has been relatively quiet since. He woke up a bit yesterday with a two run shot in the first and a solo bomb in the sixth that tied the game at 4-4. Johan Fernandez also went deep for Venezuela in the fourth.

Johan Rodriguez went the full six innings for Cuba to get the win. He also drew the final walk that forced in the game winning run.

Taiwan 11 Mexico 1

Taiwan knocked Mexico out of championship considerations. A nine run fourth fueled by three walks and two hit by pitches put the game out of reach. Yi-Rui Wu smoked a two run double and Kai-Sheng Chen smacked a two run single to contribute the big hits in the fifth inning. Chen-An Kuo pitched a complete game to get the win.

The lower round had the two second round leaders the United States and the Czech Republic squaring off. The United States had an 11-0 lead in the game after two when the rains came. The game will resume today with the United States ahead 11-0.

The game did not mean much to Korea since they had already qualified for the Super Round and any loss would not be transferred. For the three time champs it was saving face. The United States pulled the game out in extra innings 12-11, Dillon Adkins going 3 for 3 with four RBIs and two homeruns. His single in the seventh drove in the United States first of four runs in the seventh. Korea left the tying run on second.

Yong-Jae Lee was the big bat for Korea with three RBIs and a homerun. Jae-Jun Lee also homered for Korea. Korea threw seven different pitchers in the game.

The United States goes down to the second bracket where they are expected to win. Korea will play in the Super Round where only them and Japan enter undefeated (2-0).

There will be a new champion. The three time defending champs were beaten by Mexico, eliminating them from advancing to the Super Round. They play undefeated Korea today, but the losses to Venezuela and Mexico, the two teams ahead of them in the standings were too much for them to recover. A win over Korea would leave them 3-2, tied with Venezuela, but the first tie breaker is head to head and Venezuela beat the United States earlier.

The teams advancing to the Super Round are Japan (5-0), Taiwan (4-1), Cuba (3-2), Korea (4-0), Mexico (4-1) and Venezuela (3-2). Each team will bring their losses with them to teams that advance to the Super Round. A loss by Korea to the United States will still leave them undefeated in the Super Round.

Mexico 2 United States 1

A win by the United States could have advanced them but they would still have had to beat Korea to prevent a three way tie breaker with Venezuela and Mexico. The United States could not solve Mexican pitcher Yustin Canizales, who pitched a complete game five hitter. He got into a bit of trouble in the fourth, giving up back to back singles to Lucas Tinajero and Josiah Hartshorn. A ground out advanced them to second and third and then a second ground out caught Tinajero out at the plate. A balk scored Hartshorn for the only run.

Yustin also helped himself with the bat, blasting a leadoff homerun in the first inning. In the third his RBI single put Mexico up 2-0. That was all the runs Mexico needed to seal the victory. The United States did get a runner to second on a walk and a balk in the sixth, the third balk called on Canizales in the game, but Canizales was able to get the third out of the game on a ground out.

Cuba 5 Czech Republic 0

In a game to determine who advances to the Super Round in Group A Cuba prevailed. Johan Rodriguez threw six innings of no hit ball, striking out nine to lead Cuba to the victory. Cuba scored their five runs early taking a 5-0 lead after three. Alejandro Prieto scored twice and drove in a run on a 2 for 3 performance. Both his hits were doubles.

Venezuela 13 Australia 0

Venezuela made sure they advanced, keeping the Aussies winless. Kennew and Jean Blanco combined for six of the Venezuelan 16 hits from the top two spots in the lineup. The Aussies could only muster one hit in the game.

Korea 11 Italy 0

Lead off hitter Dong-Hyeon Doo showed some pop, becoming the second player in this tournament to hit three homeruns in one game. Those three homeruns drove in six of Korea’s 11 runs. They were his first three homeruns of the tournament. Three different Korean pitchers combined for the five inning four hit shutout.

Japan 15 South Africa 0

Japan scored 10 in the first and the game was all but done. South Africa failed to get a hit in their four at bats. Kyonsuke Hayashi went deep for Japan, finishing the game 2 for 3 with two runs scored and three driven in. Shinsuke Kuwamoto was a homerun short of the cycle, finishing the game 3 for 3 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

Taiwan 32 Fiji 0

Fiji committed 11 errors. Tien-Szu Huang drove in seven runs with a double and two triples. Fiji did get one hit but that paled to the 23 by Taiwan. This was their first opportunity in the World Cup and they scored four runs in the tournament, giving up 147. Hopefully the kids will still bring back good memories that will motivate them to improve.

More blow outs. There was one big game with Korea beating Venezuela to stay undefeated. The rest of the games were decided by more than 10 runs. Below are the results from Day 4 of the Under 12 World Cup.

Korea 6 Venezuela 5

Korea is looking strong, remaining undefeated in the first round. A one out walk off homerun from Yee-Chan Park wins the game for Korea. Park finished the game 2 for 2 with a double, the walk off homerun and two runs scored. Park also walked with two outs in the second inning to ignite a four run rally that gave Korea an early 5-3 lead. Tae-Oh Lee got a clutch 2-run single in the inning to give Korea the lead. Venezuelan catcher Johan Fernandez hit a solo shot in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5. He has now homered in two consecutive games.

Mexico 21 Australia 2

Leadoff hitter Yustin Canizales went 5 for 5 with four doubles to lead Mexico to a blow out win over winless Australia. Jose Lavagnino drove in four runs with two doubles. For the game Mexico tallied 11 doubles out of their 26 hits. Javier Garcia threw almost three innings of perfect ball, striking out five. An error in the second allowed one runner to reach. Mexico ended the no hitter with two runs in the fourth, but behind by 19 runs the game was ended by the slaughter rule.

Japan 30 Fiji 0

Japan pitchers threw their third shutout in four games. Takuto Suzuki bashed two homeruns and drove in four in the rout. He ended the day a perfect 3 for 3 and is still batting 1.000 for the tournament, though that is only in four at bats. Another backup Hironosuke Namatame also went deep and drove in three runs. Lead off batter Shintaro Sakamoto and Yusei Izumi also drove in four runs. Japan only needed three innings to score their 30 runs.

United States 28 Italy 1

The United States only needed three at bats to put away Italy via the slaughter rule. Lucas Tinajero went deep twice, driving in four and Rashad Hayes went deep once and drove in four to lead the United States offense.

Cuba 13 South Africa 0

This was the second closest game of the day. Alejandro Prieto drove in six runs with two blasts and Christian Saez hit a solo shot to lead the Cuban offense. Three Cuban pitchers held the South Africans hitless, striking out 9.

Taiwan 16 Czech Republic 0

Taiwan ended the Czechs two game winning streak. Tien-Szu Huang and Yan-Cheng Yu each went deep in the rout, combining for 5 RBIs. Tsung-Chun Chiang was the big bat with his four runs driven in. He also went 4 for 4 with four stolen bases. It is his second 4 for 4 game and he is now batting .643 for the tournament.