Guest Author - David Landry
Last week I wrote about the Little League World Series (LLWS) and received an amazing amount of positive feedback. Little League will definitely be one of the major themes of this site because so many of my readers are parents of young baseball or softball players. Playing the game is the best way to bond with baseball. Watching someone you love play comes a very close second. As much as I appreciate a David Ortiz walk off homerun, it can’t compare to an Ava Landry or Owen Landry single. The LLWS is in full swing, with the US Finals, International Finals and World Championship coming this weekend.
The Portsmouth, NH team, my sentimental favorites, lost in the semi-finals to Columbus, GA 8-0. Columbus will be facing off against Beaverton, OR Saturday at 3:30pmET on ABC. Beaverton defeated Lemont, IL 4-3 to advance in the tournament.
One of the good news stories of this series has been the Staten Island team, which was dubbed “The Cardiac Kids” for their ninth inning come from behind wins in two games. Unfortunately, the sheen around the team was dulled by an incident in which one of the players uttered an obscenity that was audible on ESPN and coach Nick Doscher subsequently hit the player on the brim of his cap. ESPN has announced that it will add a seven second delay to future LLWS broadcasts to eliminate the risk of future outbursts being aired.
Another “big story” from this LLWS has been Aaron Durley of the Dhahran, Saudi Arabia team. Aaron is 6’ 8” tall and weighs in at 256 pounds. Aaron actually outweighs David “Big Papi” Ortiz and is significantly taller. He plays for a team that is comprised of American expatriates, who are the children of employees of Saudi Aramco. The Dhahran team has been Transatlantic champions in 16 of the last 20 years. The Transatlantic grouping consists of teams of American Little Leaguers who are living overseas. The other power in that division is Ramstein, Germany, who were runners up this year and were the last winners other than Dhahran.
Dhahran was defeated in the International semi finals by Kawaguchi City team from Japan. Japan will face Matamoros, Mexico in the finals on Saturday at 7:30pm ET on ESPN. Matamoros defeated a team from Moscow in their semi final match. Mexico defeated perennial baseball powerhouse Venezuela to earn their berth in the finals. Anyone who followed the World Baseball Classic wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Japan, Mexico and Venezuela would be producing great young baseball players. The finals are Sunday at 3:30ET on ABC.
Stay tuned to ABC this weekend to see how this turns out. I’ve been impressed by the quality of baseball players that have been produced by Oregon, including Hall of Famer Bobby Doer, so I’m going to be rooting for Beaverton to go all the way. I recommend that you round up the kids, pick a team you can root for, sit back and enjoy. When it's all over, channel some of the excitement. Grab your gloves and a ball and head out into the back yard for some baseball bonding with your kids!
Postscript
Columbus, GA defeated Beaverton, OR in the US Finals this afternoon 7-3. Although Columbus came out in the first with three quick runs, Beaverton answered with three of their own in the fourth. Columbus slugged back with one run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to secure the win.
Japan defeated Mexico 3-0.
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