For the second consecutive year, I am thrilled to be calling Little League's Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series July 30-August 6! This is not the 12-year-olds you see on TV in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, every year, but kids one year older, playing on a slightly bigger field (50-foot pitching distance, 70-foot basepaths) in Livermore, California. It's a different vibe than Williamsport, but extremely cool nonetheless, and it was really special for me to call the 2022 tournament, including the championship game on ESPN2.
So leading up to the 2023 Intermediate 50/70 World Series, which will air entirely on ESPN+, I want to introduce each of the competing teams with whatever information I've been able to glean on their path to Livermore (and to your ESPN+ screen!).
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Amelia Guaynabo Baseball
Location:
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Championships:
Puerto Rico state
Latin America
Record: 9-1
Date Qualified: July 8
Noteworthy:
4th Puerto Rican league and 13th overall to appear at both 12-year-old (2022) and 13-year-old (2023) World Series in consecutive years.
Coaches: Luis Garcia, Kelvin Dominguez, Reinaldo Alicano
With no direct bid this year thanks to the rotation policy with Mexico, it was always going to be a long path to Livermore for the Puerto Rican champs, requiring a trip to the Latin America Region tournament on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
Fortunately for Puerto Rico, the league from Guaynabo, a San Juan suburb, is back in a big way. Last year's squad became Puerto Rico's first direct entrant to the 12-year-old World Series in Williamsport, and 12 of the 13 are back at the Intermediate age level, an incredibly high percentage!
Last year's team needed to come through the elimination bracket in Puerto Rican play to beat Vega Baja, and then the teams were paired against each other in the opening game of the territorial tournament as 13-year-olds! Guaynabo won that game and the rematch in the final in May, then headed to Antigua in July.
After splitting games with Venezuela in pool play, Puerto Rico drew the lower seed based on runs allowed and had to play Liga Pariba from Curacao, the winner of the other pool, in the semifinal. Guaynabo stepped up to the challenge, shutting out both Pariba from Curacao on Saturday and Paraguaná from Venezuela on Sunday to take the regional crown!
Guaynabo's opening game in Livermore will be against Navojoa, Mexico, which also won its region championship with back-to-back shutouts. So we expect runs to be at a premium on Day 1!
| Road to Livermore | |||
| Puerto Rico | |||
| April 29 | Vega Baja | W | 4-1 |
| April 30 | Salinas | W | |
| May 6 | Loíza (winners' final) | W | |
| May 20 | Vega Baja (final) | W | |
| Latin America - Saint John, Antigua & Barbuda | |||
| July 3 | Paraguaná, Punto Fijo VEN (group) | W | 11-10 |
| July 3 | Antigua Barbuda (group) | W | 19-0 |
| July 5 | Paraguaná, Punto Fijo VEN (group) | L | 2-7 |
| July 5 | Antigua Barbuda (group) | W | 17-1 |
| July 7 | Pariba, Willemstad CUR (semifinal) | W | 1-0 |
| July 8 | Paraguaná, Punto Fijo VEN (final) | W | 2-0 |
| Intermediate Baseball World Series | |||
| July 30 | Mario Mendoza, Novojoa MEX | 9am PT | |
| TBD | TBD | TBD | |
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