SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – The team from Goodlettsville, Tennessee came into the 2012 Little League World Series Championship coming off a win in one of the most memorable games in recent memory. However, they couldn’t find the magic again falling to Japan 12-2 in the championship game.

A day after scoring 24 runs against California, Japan held Tennessee to just 2 hits, home runs by Brock Myers and Lorenzo Butler.

Japan was led by Noriatsu Osaka who went 4-for-4 with a triple and 3 home runs driving in 4 runs from the lead off spot. Yuta Ishida chipped in with 2 hits including a home run and 3 RBI as Japan powered their way to the title. Rintaro Hirano also homered for Japan en route to the win.

Kotaro Kiyomiya picked up his 2nd win of the tournament going 4 innings allowing only 1 run on a single hit while striking out 8. Justin Smith, who hadn’t pitched in the LLWS or the Southeast Regional, got the start for Tennessee allowing 5 runs on 7 hits in 3 innings.

The championship was Japan’s 8th and 2nd in the last 3 years. Goodlettsville, a Nashville suburb, was the first team from Tennessee to advance to South Williamsport since Morristown in 1987.

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – In what will go down as one of the all-time great games not only in the 2012 Little League World Series but of all time, Goodlettsville, TN (representing the US Southeast) defeated Petaluma, CA (West) 24-16 in the United States Championship Game on Saturday afternoon.

The West team rallied back from a 10 run deficit in the bottom of the 6th to tie the game at 15 pushing it into extra innings. The West team rallied to within 3 runs before Kempton Brandis and Hance Smith hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game and force the extra frame.

However, the West couldn’t take the lead or hold on. In the top of the 7th, the Southeast scored 9 runs capped by a Jayson Brown 2-run home run.

The teams combined for a total of 35 hits, 7 walks, and 7 home runs. But the biggest day came from Goodlettsville’s Lorenzo Butler who set a record for RBI with 9 and tied the record for home runs with 3. He finished the game 3-for-5 with 4 runs scored.

The team from Tennessee with face of with Japan in the championship game as they defeated Panama (Latin America) 10-2 in the International Championship.

Japan slugged 5 home runs in the championship game to advance including two from Kotaro Kiyomiya.

The World Series Championship Game is set for 3pm Sunday. It will be shown live on ABC and ESPN3.com.

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – The US and International Championship games are set for the 2012 Little League World Series. In the International Championship, Japan (3-0) will face off with Latin America. (3-1). In the US Championship, the West (Petaluma, CA) will square off with Southeast (Goodlettsville, TN) to determine who will play in the Little League World Series Championship.

Japan defeated Latin America 4-1 last Wednesday. Japan blasted two home runs and got a good start from Ryuji Osada to pick up the win giving Latin America its only loss.

In the US Championship, undefeated Goodlettsville, TN will take on Petaluma, CA. In their first meeting, the Southeast defeated the West 9-6 nearly a week ago. It was the West’s only loss in the tournament so far. The first game was an exciting one. The game was tied going into the final inning when the Southeast scored 4 runs which included a 2-run triple and a 2-run home run to put the game out of reach. Don’t count out the West though as they have hit the second most home runs with 10 so far including 4 in the loss to the Southeast.

The championship games will take place on Saturday. The winners will advance to the Little League World Series Championship while the losers will play in the consolation game on Sunday.

Saturday August 25th
12:30 pm International Championship
Japan vs Latin America

3:30 pm US Championship
Southeast vs West

Sunday August 26th
11:00 am Consolation Game
3:00 pm World Series Championship

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – The 2012 Little League World Series is only five days old and already there have been some exciting games.

On Monday, Will Lucas of Fairfield, Conn. (New England) tossed a no-hitter striking out 13 beating New Castle, Ind. (Great Lakes). Matt Kubel homered for New England in the 4-0 victory moving the team to 2-1 in the standings.

Uganda finally made it to Williamsport as the team from Lugazi, Uganda was given visas a year after a team from Kampala was denied visas by the US State Department for irregular and insufficient birth documentation. The trip marks the first for a team from Africa.

Perhaps the most thrilling game so far was a 9 inning affair between Japan and Chinese Taipei. It was only the third time the two met at the Little League World Series since they both used to compete in the same regional tournament. It definitely lived up to expectations.

The two teams combined for 30 strikeouts and only 9 hits. Time after time one team would come up with a big strikeout or a key defensive play to keep the game going. Then in the bottom of the 9th with one out, Hajime Motegi hit a high fastball over the center field fence for a 2-run home run to win the game in walk-off fashion.

The win kept Japan undefeated and dropped Chinese Taipei to 1-1.

2012 Little League World Series Schedule:

Tuesday August 21st
Consolation Game – MEA vs Northwest
Game 21 (INT) – Caribbean vs Mexico
Game 22 (US) – West vs New England

Wednesday August 22nd
Game 23 (INT) – Latin America vs Japan
Game 24 (US) – Southeast vs Southwest

Thursday August 23rd
Game 25 (INT) – Winner Game 21 vs Loser Game 23
Game 26 (US) – Winner Game 22 vs Loser Game 24

Saturday August 25th
International Championship
US Championship

Sunday August 26th
Consolation Game
World Series Championship

Current Standings:

United States Pool:
1. Southeast 2-0
2. Southwest 2-0
3. West 2-1
4. Great Lakes 1-2
5. Mid-Atlantic 1-2
6. New England 1-2
7. Midwest 0-2
8. Northwest 0-2

International Pool:
1. Japan 2-0
2. Latin America 2-0
3. Caribbean 2-1
4. Mexico 2-1
5. Asia-Pacific 1-2
6. Canada 1-2
7. Europe 0-2
8. MEA 0-2

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TAYLOR, Michigan – The 2012 Junior League World Series Champion hails from Rockledge, Florida as the US Southeast team defeated Latin America in the championship 12-10.

The US Champion representing the Southeast made it to the championship undefeated. They finished the pool play 4-0 and took down the US Southwest team 11-5 in the US Championship Game.

2012 Junior League World Series Championship

US Southeast 12, Latin America 10 (8)

The championship game had quite the finish as the team from Latin America made a great comeback to push the game into extra frames. Down 10-8 in the bottom of the 7th, Ryan Oduber drove in the first run with a single and after the next run scored, the game moved into the 8th inning.

Trevor Payne led off the top of the 8th with a single. After he advanced to 2nd on a ground ball to the pitcher, he moved to third on a single by Brady Martello setting up the go ahead run. Payne would score on a balk call. A few batters later after a strikeout, an intentional walk, and a single the bases were loaded once again. Michael Hall would work a walk to drive in the final run of the game giving the Southeast a 2 run lead.

Blake Beyel picked up the win in relief tossing 1.1 innings of shutout ball. Andrew Parrish set the table for the offense going 3-for-4 from the lead off spot. The big stick was Mason Studstill who clubbed 2 home runs in the game giving him a total of 6 for the series. He drove in 4 runs and scored twice and finished the tournament hitting .571.

Ryan Oduber went 4-for5 for Latin America driving in a run and scoring 2 more. Jeandrick Oduber went 2-for4 driving in 3 runs in the loss.

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BANGOR, Maine – The 2012 Senior League World Series finished up this weekend with the team from Guatemala City, Guatemala representing Latin America taking home the title. This is the first title for Guatemala.

Latin America made it to the championship undefeated. In pool play, they finished 3-0 after one game got rained out. In the semi-finals, they defeated the US Southeast representative from Brevard County, Florida 5-2 advancing to the final.

2012 Senior League World Series Championship

Latin America 6, West 3

The West (Lemon Grove, California) took an early 1-0 lead on a bases loaded single by Dominik Sawyer. However, it didn’t take long for Latin America to bounce back. In the top of the third, Latin America came back with 3 runs of its own.

Juan Diego Montes got the scoring going with a RBI single. After Fernando Valls walked to load the bases, Julio Alvorado drove in 2 more runs with a single.

Heading into the last two innings, Latin America led 3-1. In the top of the 6th, they added another 3 runs to take a 6-1 lead and put a lot of pressure on the West.

Latin America got the first run in the 6th on a passed ball. Gabriel Montenegro walked with the bases loaded to drive in another run. The last run again came home on a bases loaded walk pushing the lead to 6-1.

California gave it a go in the bottom of the 6th scoring 2 runs of their own, but that was all they could muster as the Guatemalan pitching shut them down in the 7th to hold onto the win.

Hans Werner picked up the save. Alejandro Amezquita earned the win pitching 5 innings allowing 2 runs on 3 hits.

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TAYLOR, Michigan – The 2012 Junior League World Series has entered the semi-final stage with only one undefeated team left.

From the International Pool, Mexico (4-0) and Latin America (3-1) advanced to the semi-finals. The two played a tight game earlier in the tournament with Mexico coming out on top 7-5 winning in extra innings after scoring 3 runs in the 6th to push it into extra frames.

In the United States Pool, the Southwest (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Southeast (Rockledge, Florida) advanced both with 3-1 records. The Southeast defeated the Southwest 12-10 in their round robin match. They will face off again in the US Championship Game.

The semi-finals will be played Friday August 17th with the Championship set for Saturday August 18th.

Schedule:

Friday August 17th
International Championship
5pm Latin America vs Mexico

United States Championship
8pm Southwest vs Southeast

Saturday August 18th
11am Championship Game
Live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com

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BANGOR, Maine – The 2012 Senior League World Series has reached the semi-final stage. With the international and US teams mixed in the pools, three American teams advanced to the semi-finals.

Latin America and the US West team out of Lemon Grove, California remain undefeated winning their respective pools. Finishing as runner-up were the US Southeast out of Brevard County, Florida and the US Central out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The US Central out of Michigan finished tied with the US East out of Massachusetts with the Central advancing based on their 7-6 victory over the East.

The two semi-final games will take place Friday August 17th with the championship coming Saturday August 18th.

Schedule:
Friday August, 17th
11:30am Southeast vs Latin America
2:30pm Central vs West

Friday August 18th
2pm Championship Game
Watch live on ESPNU and ESPN3.com

Final Round Robin Standings:

Pool A
1. Latin America 3-0
2. Central 2-2
3. East 2-2
4. Host 1-2
5. Canada 1-3

Pool B
1. West 4-0
2. Southeast 3-1
3. Southwest 2-2
4. EMEA 1-3
5. Asia Pacific 0-4

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – The 66th Little League World Series begins on Thursday August 16th. Sixteen teams from around the world will compete to become the new champion.

The tournament is broken into two pools with the International Pool and United States Pool. The participating teams are as follows:

United States Pool:
Great Lakes – New Castle, Indiana
Mid-Atlantic – Parsippany, New Jersey
Midwest – Kearney, Nebraska
New England – Fairfield, Connecticut
Northwest – Gresham, Oregon
Southeast – Goodlettsville, Tennessee
Southwest – San Antonio, Texas
West – Petaluma, California

International Pool:
Asia-Pacific – Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei
Canada – Vancouver, British Columbia
Caribbean – Willemstad, Curacao
Europe -Ramstein, Germany
Japan – Tokyo, Japan
Latin America – Aguadulce, Panama
MEA – Lugazi, Uganda
Mexico – Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas

The tournament runs through Sunday August 26th. Many of the games will be shown on ABC or ESPN. Check your local listings for times and channels.

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TAYLOR, Michigan – The 2012 Junior League World Series will start on Sunday August 12th as ten teams are battling for the title. The tournament is broken up into an International Pool and a United States Pool. The teams will compete in a round-robin with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semi-finals on August 17th. The championship is scheduled for Sunday August 18th and will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.

International Pool
Asia-Pacific – Tainan City,Chinese Taipei
Mexico – San Nicholas de Los Garza, Nuevo Leon
EMEA – Lazio, Italy
Latin America – Oranjestad, Aruba
Canada – Calgary, Alberta

United States Pool
East – Franklin Square, New York
Southeast – Rockledge, Florida
Central – North Canton, Ohio
Southwest – Corpus Christi, Texas
West – Manhattan Beach, California

The past two seasons the team from Chinese Taipei has come out of the international pool making the championship winning once and finishing second once.

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BANGOR, Maine – The 2012 Senior League World Series kicks off on Sunday afternoon. Ten teams will compete for the title with a new champion being crowned this year as last year’s champion from Hawaii lost in the West Regional Tournament Championship.

The teams that are competing are:

Pool A
Canada – Montreal, Quebec
Central – Grand Rapids, Michigan
East – Auburn, Massachusetts
Latin America – Guatemala City, Guatemala
Host – Bangor, Maine

Pool B
Asia Pacific – Auckland, New Zealand
EMEA – Emilia, Italy
Southeast – Brevard County, Florida
Southwest – Houston, Texas
West – Lemon Grove, California

The tournament runs through Saturday August 18th. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semi-finals on Friday August 17th. The championship will be broadcast on ESPN3.com.

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EASLEY, South Carolina – The Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA gets most of the TV coverage and the big headlines, but soon another World Series in the Little League family starts, the Big League World Series.

Big League baseball is the oldest division in the Little League family for boys and girls ages 15-18, and every year the World Series is held in South Carolina. The World Series will begin on Wednesday July 25th with 11 teams from around the world taking part.

The tournament consists of 6 teams from around the USA and 5 international teams. The representatives are:

Asia Pacific – Muntinlupa, Philippines

Latin America – Maracaibo, Venezuela

EMEA – Buttrio, Italy

Canada – Windsor, Ontario

Puerto Rico – San Juan, PR

USA Central – Indiana

USA Southeast – Florida

USA Southwest – Laredo, Texas

USA West – Anaheim, California

USA East – Cumberland, New Jersey

A team from South Carolina also plays every year as the host team to round out the tournament.

The teams will play a round robin format with the top two teams in each pool (USA and International) advancing to the semifinals. The tournament runs for a week with the championship game on Wednesday August 1st.

For more information visit BigLeagueWorldSeries.org

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania – After Chinese Taipei became one of the first teams to advance to the 2012 Little League World Series, Uganda became the first African nation to advance to Williamsport defeating Kuwait 5-2 in the championship game of the MEA Regional Tournament.

In other action, Curacao defeated Puerto Rico 10-1 to win the Caribbean Regional Tournament. Curacao rolled through the tournament outscoring their opponents 65 to 7.

In the Latin American Regional, Panama defeated Venezuela 6-5 to advance to the Little League World Series. Four of the five games Panama won were close games. They won three of the games by a single run and another by only 3 runs.

In the Japan Regional Tournament, a team from Tokyo Kitasuna Little League defeated Matsusake City 11-0 to advance. Kitasuna won the final three rounds of the tournament by 10 or more runs dominating the competition.

The eight American regional tournaments and the Canadian regional will take place in early August. The Europe and Mexico regionals will start this weekend and end the following weekend. After which each of the regional winners will play in the 2012 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA from August 16-26.

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Press Release Little League Baseball

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (July 16, 2012) – For the first time in the 66-year history of the Little League Baseball World Series, a team from Africa will be in the field.  Lugazi Little League from Lugazi, Uganda, won the Middle East and Africa (MEA) Region Tournament today with a 5-2 victory over Kuwait Little League from Kuwait City, Kuwait.

The five-team, four-day tournament was played at the Little League Baseball European Leadership Training Center in Kutno, Poland.

Little League in Uganda is relatively new with the first local leagues chartering in 2005.

Lugazi is located in the southeastern area of the landlocked country, about 31 miles east of the capital city of Kampala. The Lugazi Little League is one of five chartered Little Leagues in Uganda, with four Little League (Majors) Baseball Division teams, and four Junior League Baseball Division teams. There are more than 700 boys and girls currently playing Little League Baseball and Softball in Uganda.

In 2011, a team from a different Ugandan local league, located in the capital city of Kampala, defeated a team from Saudi Arabia in the final game of the MEA Region Tournament. However, irregularities in the team’s birth and residence documents led to the U.S. State Department denying entry visas for the team. As a result, the Saudi Arabia team was awarded the regional title and competed in the 2011 World Series instead.

“After last year’s World Series, we met with State Department officials to work on ways to avoid a repeat of last year’s unfortunate situation,” Patrick W. Wilson, Little League International Senior Vice President of Operations and Program Development, said. “The meetings focused on ensuring that all players on the team, as well as the manager and coaches, would have all the necessary paperwork before the Uganda national championship team even traveled to Poland for the regional tournament.”

The next step for the Uganda team is to return to Uganda and begin the process of applying through the U.S. Embassy in Kampala for visas to enter the United States.

“In the months since our meetings with the U.S. State Department, we have been working with the local Little Leagues in Uganda on the methods to obtain the proper documents,” Mr. Wilson said. “We are grateful to the State Department for its assistance. As a result, we are now cautiously optimistic that the Uganda team will be joining us next month in South Williamsport for the 66th Little League Baseball World Series.”

Little League International, as with all teams traveling to and from all eight World Series tournaments in baseball and softball, pays all the travel, food and lodging expenses for the players, manager, and coaches. The Uganda team is expected to arrive in the U.S. in the second week of August.

Lugazi Little League posted a 3-1 record in pool play earning the No. 1 seed, and a spot in the championship game, on the basis of Little League’s tie-breaking rules.  Kuwait Little League and Arabian American Little League from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, also finished pool play with 3-1 records.  Kuwait Little League earned the other spot in the title game by virtue of winning the head-to-head game against Arabian American Little League.  All three teams involved defeated each other, creating the need to use the tie-breaker.

The new Middle East & Africa Champion suffered its only loss in the tournament, a 2-1 decision, to Arabian American Little League in its first game.  Lugazi Little League allowed only five runs in its five tournament games.

Lugazi Little League joins Aguadulce Cabezera Little League from Aguadulce, Panama, the Latin America Region Champion; Kitasuna Little League from Tokyo, Japan, the Japan Region Tournament Champion; Asia-Pacific Region Champion, Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan County, Chinese Taipei; and Pariba Little League from Willemstad, Curacao, the Caribbean Region Champion, in the 16-team Little League Baseball World Series field.

Lugazi Little League will play their first World Series game on Aug. 17, against the Latin America Region Champion, Aguadulce Cabezera Little League from Aguadulce, Panama.

The 66th Little League Baseball World Series, for 11-12-year-olds, will be played in South Williamsport, Pa., Aug. 16-26. Sixteen teams from around the world will vie for the coveted title of World Champion.

The World Series will use the same format as last year with the teams split into two eight-team brackets – a U.S. bracket and an International bracket.

The 2012 World Series is the sixth under an eight-year television contract with ESPN/ABC. All games of the World Series will be televised live, in high definition, on the ESPN family of networks or ABC. ABC will air the World Series championship game, Aug. 26 at 3 p.m., and the U.S. and International Championship games the previous day beginning with the International contest at 12:30 p.m. and the U.S. game to follow. For the second year, all 21 World Series games played at Lamade Stadium will air on ESPN 3D.

As has been the case since 1997, everyone can follow the road to South Williamsport for the squads from the U.S. with ESPN and its family of networks coverage of the Little League Baseball regionals. Live coverage of the semifinals and championship game at all eight regional sites begins August 7. In addition, the New England Sports Network (NESN) will televise four pool play games in the New England Regional, played at the A. Bartlett Giamatti Leadership Training Center in Bristol, Conn., and both semifinals.

A new addition this year to the television schedule will feature the televising of all pool play games of the Southwestern Region Little League Baseball Tournament in Waco, Texas, by the Longhorn Network, part of the ESPN family, Aug. 3-6.

The U.S. regional finals will be televised as follows (all times eastern U.S. time): Southwestern Region (Aug. 9, 9 p.m., Waco, Texas, ESPN2); Southeast Region (Aug. 10, 7 p.m., Warner Robins, Ga., ESPN); Great Lakes Region (Aug. 10, 1 p.m., Indianapolis, Ind., ESPN); New England Region (Aug. 11, 6 p.m., Bristol, Conn., ESPN); Northwest Region (Aug. 11, 4 p.m., San Bernardino, Calif., ESPN); Midwest Region (Aug. 11, 2 p.m., Indianapolis, Ind., ESPN); West Region (Aug. 11, 8 p.m., San Bernardino, Calif., ESPN); and Mid-Atlantic Region (Aug. 12, 5 p.m., Bristol, Conn., ESPN2).

The next berth in the Little League Baseball World Series is expected to be decided July 27 when the champion in the Mexico Region Tournament will be determined.

Ocean View Little League from Huntington Beach, Calif., captured the 2012 Little League Baseball World Series Championship scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 2-1 victory over Hamamatsu Minami Little League, the Japan Region Champion.

Follow every pitch of the Little League Baseball World Series on the Little League web site (www.LittleLeague.org).

Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.4 million players and 1 million adult volunteers in every U.S. state and scores of other countries.

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Chinese Taipei defeated Hong Kong in the finals of the Asia Pacific (ASPAC) Region of Little League to advance to the 2012 Little League World Series. The Chinese Taipei team belted out 12 hits en route to a 12-2 victory.

The tournament took place in Taichung City, and now the team will take a trip to Williamsport, PA.

Hong Kong was a big surprise in the tournament defeating South Korea in the semi-final round 3-2.

South Korea finished in third place defeating Saipan 2-1 in the consolation match.

Chinese Taipei becomes the first team to advance to the LLWS. Other regional tournaments will be played over the next few weeks leading up to the World Series.

The Little League World Series will take place in Williamsport, PA from August 16 to 26.

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SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa – Braydon Salzman pitched a complete game 3 hitter holding the Japanese offense to just 1 run en route to earning his second victory of the LLWS and helping earn California its 7th Little League World Series title.

Salzman struck out 9 in the victory. On the offensive side of the ball, Nick Pratto went 3-for-4 to improve his average for the tournament to .429. Pratto came up big for California in the bottom of the 6th inning. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Pratto came up big with a single to centerfield to win the game.

Salzman had led off the inning with a walk. Dylan Palmer followed with a single to center field to put two runners on with no outs. After a strikeout, Hagen Danner reached on an error by the shortstop loading the bases for California. Trevor Windisch was next up and grounded into a force out keeping the bases loaded for Pratto. After two straight balls, Pratto laced the next pitch up the middle for the winning hit.

Hagen Danner drove in the first run for California in the 3rd to tie the game at 1 with his 2nd homerun of the tournament. Of the 3 runs to score in the game, Danner’s home run was the only one that was earned. Both teams were plagued by errors that were very costly, none more so than the error in the top of the 6th by Japan’s shortstop.

California is now tied with Japan with 7 titles which ranks 2nd behind Taiwan’s 17. California has now won 2 of the last 3 titles. Japan goes home as the runner up after having defeated Hawaii in the 2010 championship game.

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SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT – In the International Championship, Japan downed Mexico avenging its only loss in the tournament fromnearly a week earlier. In the US Championship, the West defeated the Northwest 11-2 to earn a trip to the championship. Like Japan, the win avenged its only loss in the tournament which came 1-0 to the Northwest.

Japan 5, Mexico 2

Yoshiki Suzuki, who got a no-decision in the first match up, pitched a complete game to earn his 2nd victory of the tournament. He went all 6 innings allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, on 7 hits while striking out 7 to put Japan in the championship game. Japan pounded out 10 hits to score 5 runs getting 2 in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th, and 1 in the 5th.

West 11, Northwest 2

Third baseman Dylan Palmer went 2-for-4 driving in 3 runs and blasting his 1st home run of the series to led the way for the West offense. Nick Pratto added 3 RBIs of his own going 2-for-4 with a double. He also pitched 5.1 innings to pick up the win. Hagen Danner continued his hot hitting streak by setting the table going 3-for-4. He is hitting .556 in the series as the West heads into the championship game.

Cole McKenzie blasted his first home run for the Northwest going 2-for-3 in the loss.

The Championship Game will take place at noon on Sunday from Lamade Stadium.

Japan is looking for its 8th title (2nd behind Taiwan), while California will be trying for its 7th title (1st among the States and 3rd overall).

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Williamsport, PA – The 65th Little League World Series (LLWS) kicked off on Thursday with some exciting games. To kick off the tournament, Mexico squared off with Asia-Pacific. All of the first day games were close except for one where Japan took it too the Caribbean team 12-1.

Sunday’s slate of games should be good as the 4 undefeated teams in both brackets will all face off against each other.

Thursday August 18, 2011
Mexico 3, Asia Pacific 0
Northwest 6, Midwest 4
Japan 12, Caribbean 1
Southeast 0, Southwest 2

Friday August 19, 2011
Middle East and Africa 5, Canada 6
West 11, New England 0
Europe 1, Latin America 6
Mid-Atlantic 0, Great Lakes 1

Saturday August 20, 2011
Asia-Pacific 20, Caribbean 3
Southeast 6, Midwest 3
Middle East and Africa 4, Europe 2
New England 0, Mid-Atlantic 2

Sunday August 21, 2011
Latin America vs Canada
Northwest vs Southwest
West vs Great Lakes
Japan vs Mexico

International Bracket
Japan (1-0)
Latin America (1-0)
Mexico (1-0)
Canada (1-0)
Asia-Pacific (1-1)
Middle East and Africa (1-1)
Caribbean (0-2)
Europe (0-2)

U.S. Bracket
West (1-0)
Northwest (1-0)
Southwest (1-0)
Great Lakes (1-0)
Mid-Atlantic (1-1)
Southeast (1-1)
Midwest (0-2)
New England (0-2)

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The 65th Little League World Series is fast approaching with the final spots being decided today. The LLWS will kick off on August 18th and will run for 10 days.

There will be a new champion this year as lasts years champion, from Tokyo, did not make it back. However, Japan will be represented by a formidable team from Hamamatsu City.

The runner-up from a year ago, Waipahu, HI, will also not be back. They failed to make the regional round and the representative from Hawaii failed to make the finals. The US West representative will come from California but is yet to be decided.

There will be one team that many are familiar with from the States in Warner Robins, Georgia. They defeated a strong Japan team to win the title in 2007.

So far the participants are as follows:

Great Lakes: North Oldham LL La Grange, Kentucky

Mid-Atlantic: TBD

Midwest: TBD

New England: Cumberland American LL Cumberland, Rhode Island

Northwest: Billings Big Sky LL Billings, Montana

Southeast: Warner Robins American LL Warner Robins, Georgia

Southwest: Lafayette LL Lafayette, Louisiana

West: TBD

Asia-Pacific: Ching-Tang LL Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei

Canada: Langley LL Langley, British Columbia

Caribbean: Aruba North LL Oranjestad, Aruba

Europe: Rotterdam LL Rotterdam, Netherlands

Japan: Hamamatsu Minami LL Hamamatsu City

Latin America: Gran Maracay LL Maracay, Venezuela

MEA: Arabian American LL Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Mexico: Seguro Social LL Mexicali Baja California

The opening days games will feature some great matchups. Kicking off the tournament will be Mexico and Chinese Taipei always a couple favorites. Also from the International side of things will have Japan facing off with Caribbean. It will be a great week plus of baseball.

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A disciplined Japan team defeated Hawaii on Sunday 4-1 to take home its first title since 2003 and the first for an international team since 2004. Japan used pitching, defense, and timely hitting to take down the little leaguers from Waipahu, Hawaii at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in front of 29,812.

The game was close the entire way. Japan went up 1-0 with a run in the 2nd, but Hawaii would not go away. In the 4th inning down 2-0, Hawaii came back to make it 2-1 but would never get any closer. Japan would put the game away in the top of the 6th with a 2-run home run from first baseman Konan Tomori.

Japan got solid pitching performances out of starter Ryusuke Ikeda and reliever Ichiro Ogasawara. Both would go 3 innings and Ogasawara did not give up a hit or a walk the final 3 frames.

In the Consolation game, Chinese Taipei returned to their dominate ways defeating Texas 14-2. They jumped out to a 9-0 lead after 1 inning and never looked back ending the game early due to the run rule. Chinese Taipei pounded out 14 hits in route to the win.

The Little League World Series Championship game was set on Saturday after the conclusion of the semi-final games.

In the first semi-final of the day, Japan took down Chinese Taipei in extra innings 3-2.  This will be Japan’s first championship game since 2007, when it lost to the US representative from Georgia.  Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th inning, Japan rallied to tie the game at 2 and send it to extra innings.  In the first extra-innings game of the World Series, Japan would walk away with the victory after a 2-out single by Ryo Motegi plated the winning run.

In the United States Championship, Hawaii took down Texas 10-0.

Texas’ bats went silent against Hawaii, and Hawaii’s exploded.  After the first mercy rule game of the Series since 1997, and first shutout since 2004, the Waipahu little leaguers are looking for the 3rd championship for Hawaii in the last 6 years.

Ezra Heleski shut down the big Texas bats scattering two hits and striking out 6 over 5 innings.  Hawaii started strong going up 4-0 and never looked back.  Hawaii put the game away in the 5th pushing the lead to 10-0 and ending the game early.

Texas will face Chinese Taipei in the consolation game on Sunday at 11 am prior to the Championship Game at 3 pm between Japan and Hawaii.

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Hawaii became the first team to make the Final Four coming out of the loser’s bracket.  On Friday, they defeated Georgia for the second straight game to advance to Saturday’s US Championship Game.

The 12-5 victory might sound like an easy walk for the team from Waipio Little League, but by the bottom of the third they were down 4-0.  Facing a tough Georgia pitcher, Hawaii used 1 hit and a huge two out rally to knot the score at 4 by the end of the third inning.  Hawaii used a couple walks, a hit batter, a few passed balls, and 1 huge bases clearing triple to tie the game.

Hawaii didn’t stop there.  They pushed their lead to 7-4 after the 4th inning and continued to pile on the runs despite being out hit 8-7 by Georgia.

Waipio, Hawaii will now face Pearland, Texas in the United States Championship Game Saturday.  The winner will play the winner of the International Championship Game between Japan and Chinese Taipei for the Little League World Series Title.

For the fourth time in seven years, a team from Texas will play for the United States Championship at the Little League World Series. The team from Pearland, Texas overcame a 5-3 deficit in the 6th inning to win 7-5 sending home the Cinderella hopefuls from Auburn, Washington.

After a run-scoring single, Blake Toler advanced to third on 2 wild pitches. He would score on a groundout to tie the game at 5. Mason Van Noort then went to work at the plate. After fouling off 4 pitches with 2 strikes, Van Noort worked the count full before sending the 10th pitch of the at bat over the left-field fence giving Texas a 6-5 lead. Washington would commit two errors following the home run allowing an insurance run to score giving Texas a 7-5 victory and a spot in the U.S. Championship Game.

Texas’ opponent will be decided Friday afternoon. On Thursday, Hawaii stayed alive with a 7-4 victory over Georgia. Hawaii is attempting to become the first team from the losers’ bracket to make it to the Championship Game.