The Game comes to LLWS
Ohio to face Michigan for championship
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Cooper Oden struck out six and allowed two runs over five innings Saturday as Ohio hung on to beat South Dakota 5-2 in a semifinal at the Little League World Series.
The West Side Little League squad from Hamilton, Ohio, became the first team from the state to reach the LLWS championship game. Ohio will play Sunday against Michigan, which defeated Hawaii 2-1 in the other semifinal.
Wearing his cap just slightly crooked, Oden stared straight though the South Dakota order, locating and mixing his pitches efficiently. Despite his successful outing, he said it wasn’t easy.
“That first inning was pretty nerve-racking because this is probably the biggest game I have pitched in in my life and probably will ever pitch,” he said. “Every 12-year-old that plays baseball, this is basically their dream.”
Trailing 5-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, South Dakota rallied for three straight singles off Oden to score a run. South Dakota then loaded the bases off reliever Kaleb Harden and brought the winning run to the plate with nobody out. But Harden got three outs, the last on a force at third, to send Ohio into the title game.
Ohio became the first team in LLWS history to reach the championship game without winning its regional tournament, finishing as a runner-up in the Great Lakes to Michigan. Then again, COVID-19 protocols have made this year’s tournament unlike any other. Because of travel restrictions, international teams aren’t playing for the first time since 1975.
Ohio manager Ken Coomer has been coaching for over 28 years. He spent the last three coaching Oden and said he is an all-star personality.
“He’s just one of those kids. You ask him to do something and he does it,” he said. “It has just been a great year for Cooper.”
Ohio jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second against Sioux Falls starter
Maddux Munson. With runners on first and second and one out, Oden hit a single that right fielder Gunner Alfson bobbled, allowing a run to score.
Michigan 2, Hawaii 1: Cameron Thorning hit a two-run homer and struck out seven over 3 ⅓ innings as Michigan advanced.
Thorning homered over the rightfield wall in the top of the first inning, racing around the bases to meet his teammates at plate. He followed that up by striking out the side in the bottom half.
The team from Honolulu Little League got to Thorning in the bottom of the third when Kaikea Patoc-Young singled to right to drive in a run. But reliever Jakob Furkas kept Hawaii scoreless and hitless the rest of the way.
He sealed the deal by striking out Eli Iopa and bounced his way off the mound toward the third-base line to celebrate with his teammates.
A championship game win by Taylor North would bring a LLWS title home to Michigan for the first time since 1959.