Little League World Series

I watch it every year I'm in the US, either with my dad or my son. I remember the year the team from Tom's River won....we were so excited.

I'll have to see if it's playing on Sky here. Has it started already?

Today is the 3rd day of the LLWS.
The final game will be on the 31st of Aug, I think.

Please keep us informed, MM, about the progress of the LLWS. Who are the teams still in contention?
I hope that LL baseball is as innocent as it was when you and I were lads, MM. But I doubt that it is.
We would ride our bikes to some local field and play the game of baseball. No uniforms and no parents screaming about a foul ball that maybe wasn't foul. We had one adult, who, more often then not, let little boys be little boys.
I played 3rd base at first. But my throws across the infield often went wild.
The pet dogs we brought along with us waited in the woods off 1st base, eager to retrieve my errant errors. They would bring the balls back, covered with dog slobber.
I became a pitcher. I could throw hard, although not particularly accurately. That kept the batters on their toes, and heels, and butts.

Dog slobber. They're throwing spit balls, then.

My son played until 2002 and up until then I can say that his experience and our experience with it as a family was wonderful. It's one of my fondest memories of his childhood.
He had a wonderful coach - all the way through from t-ball when he started- so for the whole seven years he played. Mark was like a second father to him. He was an ex-marine and I guess had played for the US Marine team or something, so you would imagine that he'd be stern, and he was. He expected a lot, but he was never inappropriate and actually a very good and intuitive teacher- although once he'd left the marines, he was working as a farmer.


My son played short stop, catcher and then tried pitching for about two games until he hit a kid (by accident). He started crying on the mound because he hurt the other kid. Mark came up to me afterward and said, 'You're making him into a softie....you gotta let me toughen him up.' And I guess he did to some extent. Later when Joseph was playing highschool baseball - his friend was practicing pitching and hit Joseph in the eye with a wild pitch - gave him a black eye in fact- and he barely even twitched (Joseph). Robert (the kid who hit him - felt terrible- his mom brought Joseph this mug of candy and Robert just looked at Joseph's eye and almost started crying (even though he was sixteen or seventeen).
It's nice to see kids caring about each other to that extent even as they age.

Mark's son is Joseph's age - long past little league- but Mark is still coaching. I'm happy for the kids who get to play for him.

Most of the teams are still in contention, because of the way they play.
They play a round robin series against the other teams in their pool, so that each team is guaranteed 3 games.
The teams that win 2 of those 3 games then move on to the elimination games.

Right now, there are 5 teams that are 2-0 in pool play, with 3 teams that are 1-1.
The teams that are 2-0 are... Kuei-Shan LL,Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei...Pabao LL
Willemstad, Curacao... McAllister Park American LL,San Antonio, Texas...Park View LL, Chula Vista, Calif...Warner Robins American LL,Warner Robins, Ga.

Of those teams,the team from Chula Vista is IMO, the team to beat.
They have power, good pitching,and good defense.
The team from Chinese Taipei is the international team to beat this year.

A team from Warner Robins Ga won it a couple of years ago, and a team from there won the little league softball world series this year.

For more info, including schedules and results, look here...
http://www.littleleague.org/Little_League_Online.htm

Of course, one of the great things about LL is that nobody just sits on the bench.
The rule is that everybody plays every game.
Every player is guaranteed to play at least 3 consecutive outs and to get 1 at bat,every game.

Oh, I always love to watch these games. That kid from CA - 13 years old - 6'2" and 205 lbs - what the heck do they feed that kid, heh?

Of course I was cheering for the local Peabody team - too bad they are out. But it must be so great for them just to play in these games.

One year, when I went to Disney, we were eating at ESPN and the Little League champs came in - it was wonderful to see them.

My daughter is in Little League Softball now. She plays 2nd, short of 3rd base. My husband was the asst coach this past year and yep he was a Marine as well. Unfortunately for them on their travel team - they came in third. There was one team that in general wasn't the best - the one that came in 1st - but they had a pitcher that was incredible.

I've seen bits. Fond memories, always.

I got to play in 1966 (another format, then), Nicaragua defeated us 5-0 and won the right to travel to the US finals.
I pinch-hit (struck-out) and played second base (one inning). I can still see the smiling face of the opposing pitcher...

This is always genuinely good entertainment.

They got all worked up in Canadia because an "out of nowhere" team from the east side of Vancouver made it to the LL World Series this year. Then the team from Reynoso, Mexico beat 'em 2-1 in their opener. Well Hell, they got a girl on their team, fer Chrissake . . .

Then the Taiwanese cleaned their clock for 'em . . . oh well . . .

We didn't have uniforms, or shoes with cleats. We did have T-Shirts with a sponsor's name. Mine was red. Allied Concrete Co. in whitish-gray lettering. They are still in business.
Wow, Fbaezer, imagine what would have happened if you hadn't struck out.

If anyone is still interested, here is an up to date report.

As of right now, Chula Vista Ca will play San Antonio Tx on Sat at 3 eastern time for the US championship.
At noon saturday, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) will play a team from Mexico for the international championship.

That was a great game last night - fun to watch - thanks for the update I didn't see the whole game so didn't know the outcome.

Chinese Taipei has won the international championship, and will play the winner of the Chula Vista Ca- San Antonio Tx game.
That game is at 7 eastern time tonite on ESPN

Thanks, MM, for the update. No tv here. Give us an update periodically.

so who won?

San Antonio! San Antonio! If you say San Antonio - I'll be over the moon and have to call my dad later this evening...

(I couldn't get the games here, so I have no idea...I've been keeping up through this thread).

Alas, Aidan. San Antonio, like the Alamo, fell. I checked out Mysteryman's link. West Chula Vista CA whipped the Texas lads 12-2. San Antonio gave up 9 runs in the 1st inning.
My brother was stationed in San Antonio for a few years. I, too, was rooting for them.

Oh well...at least they made it to the finals. That's more than a lot of Little League teams can say.