Japan claims crown with rout of Texas
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The crack of the bat, the gasp of the crowd, a fist pump on the trip around the bases and then a hop to waiting teammates at home plate.
Japan went through the routine three times in the fourth inning of the Little League World Series championship as Daisuke Hashimoto, Keitaro Miyahara and Natsuki Yajima homered, turning a tight game with Lufkin, Texas, into a 12-2 rout.
Tsubasa Tomii buckled down after allowing two firstinning home runs, finishing with nine strikeouts in a game that was stopped in the bottom of the fifth after Japan went ahead by 10 on Yajima’s single to right field to score Seiya Arai.
“We were thrilled after we won the Japanese region before we came here,” Miyahara said through an interpreter. “But now getting to this level and becoming the Little League World Series champions this year, it can’t get any betterthan this.”
The title marks the 11th time a team from Japan has won the Little League World Series, five of which have comein the past eight years.
Lufkin had a six-run comeback victory over Greenville, N.C., in the U.S. championship game Saturday to reach the final. And early on, it looked as though the team’s momentum would carry throughthe championship.
Japan had allowed only one run in the tournament heading into the game, but Chandler Spencer crushed the first pitch over the left-center field fence.
Lufkin manager Bud Maddux, who has coached youth baseball for 41 years and won 10 total championships, came just short of the most coveted title, in Little League. He blamed himself.
“Just like I told them, I’ll take full credit for that,” Maddux said. “We didn’t make some adjustments that we should have. You can’t hang your head because [Japan] beat you. They’re a great baseball team, but we are, too.”