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Big test for the surprising Canadians will be against Japan Wednesday, with stingy North Carolina facing hard-hitting Texas East the same day in the winner’s bracket at South Williamsport, Pa.
By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today
Oh Canada, no longer just an ice hockey nation as it is proving at the 71st annual International Little League Baseball World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
The country has been considered the birthplace of ice hockey, winning world championships, Olympic championships, and the heralded Stanley Cup. Baseball has been around, but compared to the men on ice skates, it’s just the new kid in the ballpark.
Now, for the first time, it has won its first two starts, and stands at the top of the International field at 2-0 after Sunday’s surprise 7-3 win over the Latin-American champions from Venezuela. This followed on the heels of the 12-2 rout over Italy’s Emilia Little League in its first test.
Now comes the true test, for Tokyo, Japan is also 2-0 after stunning South Korea’s Seoul Little League, 4-1, Sunday and the nation with 10 championships already won here, will meet up with the Canadians’ White Rock-Surrey Little League Wednesday in the winner’s bracket.
As for South Korea, which lost, 2-1, in last year’s final, it slips into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination and faces Mexico, also 1-1, Monday, with the loser eliminated from title contention. Italy is 0-2 and out of contention, as is Australia.
The United States field’s big story has been the dominance on the mound from the Southeast’s North Carolina team out of Greenville’s North State Little League. For the second game in a row, it was a stingy as can be, with a combined perfect game in its 6-0 opening win over the Midwest team from Michigan, followed by a no-no over the West team, which reached base once on the walk in the last inning.
If the first game result was expected, routing the California team from Santa Margarita Little League, 16-0, wasn’t. This, too, was a combined effort on the hill and the most dismal defeat ever suffered by a California representative here. What figured as a close contest, was never in doubt. While the North Carolina faithful cheered and cheered, those in the California section had a tough time believing what it was seeing.
The next stop for the Carolina boys is Wednesday against the Southwest’s Lufkin Little League, a 6-3 winner Sunday over the New England team from Connecticut, and they meet up in the winner’s bracket.
Meanwhile, New England, 1-1, tries to avoid elimination when it plays the 1-1 Northwest team from Walla, Walla, Washington, on Monday. NW ousted the Great Lakes team from South Dakota, 8-7, Saturday.
As for California’s Santa Margarita team, it, too, will have to win Monday against New Jersey, also 1-1, and coming off a 15-5 rout over the Midwest. And so the Midwest joins the Great Lakes from South Dakota on the outside looking in, both at 0-2.
Sunday night, the Little Leaguers will head downtown to watch the first-ever Major League game played in Williamsport, with the Pittsburgh Pirates facing the St. Louis Cardinals in a stadium that seats 2,500, and it is already sold out for this unique regular-season contest. The minor league ball park has been completely renovated, with the outfield fences enforced, the playing field receiving a tip-top going over, and extra seats put in.
No sweat for the Little Leaguers, only a dreamed-of treat. All of them have reserved seats, and they already met earlier with the players back at Lamade Stadium.
In the championship game Sunday of the International Junior Little League Baseball World Series played in Taylor, Mich., it was no contest as Chinese Taipei rolled over the East team from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, 12-1, for its fourth straight title here.
