Little League Softball semifinals

Softball semis on TV has Louisiana’s Southwest champions playing Ohio, winner of the Central Region, and Pennsylvania’s s East champions meeting up with the host team from Oregon                              

By Arnie Leshin 

Thursday is a big day for Little League. Baseball unveils its 75th annual World Series in South Williamsport, Pa., and softball wraps up its 44thyear in Portland, Ore.

And in the girl’s quarterfinals, undefeated Louisiana, in its first-ever appearance at the World Series, almost saw its dreSam turn into a nightmare when it had to overcome a 2-0 deficit against Southeast’s Tennessee representative and did so with a 9-run assault in the top of the sixth inning to hang in there with a 9-2 victory.

Now 5-0, the Southwest Region girls from the East Bend LL in River Edge meet up in the first-game semis today against Ohio’s Central Region winner out of Wheelersburg, which had it a little easier in rolling over the West Region’s California team, 10-1 in the quarters’ opener.

In the other quarterfinals, the host team from Lake Oswego, Ore., edged the Canadian champion, 4-3, and the East Region winner from Tunkhannock, Pa., just got past the Asia-Pacific representative, 2-1, to set up an all-USA Final Four.

The lone unbeaten team remains Louisiana, but it came close to falling into the consolation bracket. It began by giving up a pair of first-inning runs to Gray, Tennessee’s Southeast champions. Getting on base wasn’t enough as Louisiana was shut out until it scored once in the fifth. Then came the sixth where it put together a hit parade of six safeties and left the Southeast stunned. It quickly tied the score at 2, than just kept socking the yellow ball. Everybody got into the act, including winning pitcher Lauren Mounce, whose fourth straight walk in the game, this time with the bases loaded, bringing a 3-2 lead.

And SW has now scored 36 times and has yielded 11 runs. It also has a previous-game 10-4 triumph over Central, but nothing matters except the semifinal result.

As for the Ohio youngsters, they were clearly the better team. They began with four runs in the opening frame and increased it to 10-0 before the West’s California team finally crossed the plate.

Central controlled the contest. It hit, it ran, played quality defense, and displayed stellar pitching to enter the semis at 3-2. The host team also owns a 3-2 record, while the East is 4-1.

Louisiana and Ohio have never won the World Series. Morristown American-National Tennessee won it once in 2007, and way back in 1975, the hosts from the Medford National LL were champions, and in 1981, Oregon’s host from the Gresham LL reigned supreme.  

In the lone consolation game today, Europe-Africa plays Latin America. On Wednesday, Southeast is lined up against Asia-Pacific and West takes on Canada.

TID-BITS: Texas has won this World Series 11 times, with Waco LL totaling 12 of them. Next comes Florida with seven, California with five,

Oregon, New Mexico and Georgia with two apiece, and one each from Tennessee, Virginia, Michigan, North Carolina, Illinois, South Carolina, New Jersey, Arizona, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico, the only International team to hoist the championship trophy.

The defending champions from Lake Air in Waco were never in the mix this time, so there will be a new champion. The initial championship in 1974 went to the Wellswood LL from Tampa, Fla.