I have the privilege of calling a Little League World Series once again this year! This will mark my third consecutive call of the Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series, held from July 28-August 4 in Livermore, California. It's for 13-year-olds, played on a field slightly larger than Little League but still smaller than Junior League (50 feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate, 70 feet between the bases). Following this tournament and its qualifiers closely over the last three years, I've come to expect fantastic action and stories, and I'm looking forward to bringing them to you again this year!
The 2024 Intermediate World Series will air on ESPN+, and I will lay out the backstory for one of the 12 competing teams each day from now until the tournament's start on July 28. I hope you'll read along and remember a nugget here and there when you watch the tournament!
West Seoul, Korea
West Seoul Little League
Location:
Seoul, Korea Republic
Championships:
Asia Pacific
Record: 11-0
Date Qualified: June 22
Noteworthy:
3-time World Series champion (15,18,23), 4-time International champion (15,18,22,23)
Coaches: Moon-sang Kim, Hyun-gi Lee, Jin-soo Kim
The four-time champions from West Seoul, Korea, enter seemingly every Intermediate League World Series as heavy favorites. This year's edition has both a unique motivation and, potentially for the second consecutive year, a truly worthy adversary in the international bracket.
The motivation comes from five players who were members of last year's South Seoul A 12-year-old team, which won the Korean and Asian-Pacific championships to punch a ticket to Williamsport. They were later disqualified, however, after a Taiwan protest revealed that two players from the South Seoul B team - which played against South Seoul A in nationals - had been added to the squad for the Asia-Pacific regional to replace injured players. Those players were clearly ineligible, and Korea was disqualified. So that quintet will finally get their moment at a Little League championship event in the U.S.!
The worthy adversary? Last year, it was Liga Mario Mendoza from Navojoa, Mexico, which split a pair of epic extra-inning encounters with West Seoul; only the fact that West Seoul won the second meeting, the international championship game, allowed the Korean squad to play and win the world title game.
This year's most likely adversary knows all about world title games: Liga Pabao from Curaçao has five players who have won the last two 12-year-old international championships, only to fall to U.S. teams in the world final in Williamsport. Pabao brings back almost the entire squad that lost to El Segundo, California, last year, and it is a real threat to finally be the last team celebrating.
So this West Seoul group has big work ahead. It does not appear a particularly powerful group, but the pitching and defense are exactly what we have come to expect. This based on Korea edging Chiba City, Japan 2-0 in a sharply played Asia Pacific championship game that happened to be held in Chiba province, a 45-minute drive away from the Japanese champions, who had a boisterous crowd at the final. Lefty Tae-min Kim and righty Yeon-jun Hong combined on a 2-hit shutout, and West Seoul's aggressive baserunning helped decide the contest.
Their Livermore draw is favorable, with games against South-West Germany and Hills, Australia to open the tournament if West Seoul stays unbeaten. That could leave Korea's pitching well-rested for two potential showdowns with Pabao, and if anybody has learned from last year, the key is: Win the second one!
| Road to Livermore | |||
| Korea | |||
| April 27 | Daegu Gyeongbuk (group) | W | 9-2 |
| April 27 | Jeolla Jeju (group) | W | 12-4 |
| April 28 | Chungcheong Gangwon (group) | W | 6-3 |
| April 28 | Busan Geongnyam (group) | W | 8-2 |
| April 29 | East Seoul (group) | W | 4-2 |
| April 29 | Chungcheong Gangwon (final) | W | 4-0 |
| Asia Pacific | |||
| June 16 | Hong Kong (group) | W | 15-0 |
| June 17 | China (group) | W | 10-0 |
| June 18 | Lorenz, South Tangerang, Indonesia (group) | W | 21-0 |
| June 20 | World Baseball, Taipei City TAI (semifinal) | W | 10-0 |
| June 22 | at Chiba City JPN (final) | W | 2-0 |
| Intermediate Baseball World Series | |||
| July 28 | South-West Germany | W | 8-0 |
| July 29 | Hills, Sydney NSW AUS | W | 8-1 |
| July 31 | Pabao, Willemstad CUR | L | 1-3 |
| Aug 1 | Amelia Guaynabo PR (elim) | W | 2-1 |
| Aug 3 | Pabao, Willemstad CUR (Int'l Final) | W | 5-4 |
| Aug 4 | Eastbank, Kenner LA (World Series Final) | 6pm PT | |
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