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!).
Pearl City, Hawaii
Pearl City Little League
Location:
Pearl City, Hawaii
Championships:
HI District 7
Hawaii state
West Region
Record: 12-0
Date Qualified: July 27
Noteworthy:
1988 Little League World Series U.S. champs (12yo)
Ty Takahashi, Preston Onomura, Chad Furutani
Pearl City has a fantastic Little League tradition, as you can see above, particularly in the teenage age groups. Located within Honolulu, its last World Series appearance was the 2015 Junior League World Series; Central East Maui Little League has been more successful in All-Star play of late.
But this 13-year-old group has been absolutely dominant all year, beating Central Maui 5-2 for the state championship and then absolutely torching competition at the normally fierce West Region. It was big news when Douglas, Arizona managed to stay on the field for all seven innings against Pearl City in Thursday afternoon's rescheduled semifinal, and championship game opponent Encinitas, California was the only team in the tournament to keep them out of double digit runs ... but Pearl City won anyway, 9-6, to book their ticket to Livermore.
The best news for Pearl City is that although they face the same short turnaround as West Region champions often do, and despite playing two games on Thursday, they kept one of their ace starters under 50 pitches, making him eligible to pitch Sunday in their opener against Ascension Parish, Louisiana. It's just a hunch, but this could be an absolutely spectacular opening-night game between two of the strongest teams in the U.S. field.
| Road to Livermore | |||
| Hawaii District 7 | |||
| June 16 | Waipio | W | 11-1 |
| Jun 18 | Waipio (final) | W | 16-0 |
| Hawaii state | |||
| July 7 | Hilo | W | 13-3 |
| July 8 | at Kawaihau (winners' final) | W | 7-2 |
| July 10 | Central Maui (final) | W | 5-2 |
| West Region | |||
| July 20 | Woodland American, CA | W | 11-0 |
| July 21 | Nogales, AZ | W | 13-3 |
| July 22 | Douglas, AZ | W | 12-2 |
| July 23 | Elma, WA | W | 13-2 |
| July 25 | Klamath Falls, OR (quarterfinal) | W | 17-2 |
| July 27 | Douglas, AZ (semifinal) | W | 10-3 |
| July 27 | Encinitas, CA (final) | W | 9-6 |
| Intermediate Baseball World Series | |||
| July 30 | Ascension Par., Gonzales, LA | 6pm PT | |
| TBD | TBD | TBD | |
No comments:
Post a Comment