Chicago tops Vegas to advance
U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP
CHICAGO 7, LAS VEGAS 5
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — After his Chicago team had come back to beat Las Vegas 7-5 in the U.S. final on Saturday at the Little League World Series, Manager Darold Butler admitted he wasn’t sure what came next.
“I don’t even know what time tomorrow’s game is,” he said. “Anybody know?”
For the record, his Jackie Robinson West team meets South Korea in the World Series championship game at 2 p.m. Central today.
He and his players were so focused on their game with the West Region champions from Las Vegas that they didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to Saturday’s earlier game.
“To be honest, [I saw] bits and pieces, but I can’t tell you much about our next opponent,” Butler said.
He said it was more important how his own team plays rather than dealing with strategy and a game plan.
“I’m going to do my research, to put the team in the best position to win this game,” he said. “But at the same time, I love our style of baseball. We’re going to run, we’re going to be aggressive.
“I prefer to put the pressure on 11-, 12- and 13-year-old kids. I figure if we put enough pressure on them, some of their kids are going to make mistakes.”
Trailing 3-0 after the first and 5-4 heading into the home half of the fifth, Chicago scored three times to win it. Joshua Houston’s single tied it after two walks, with runs also scoring on a fielder’s choice and an error.
Ed Howard then came on to close it out for Jackie Robinson West, a member of the Urban Initiative which supports Little League programs in needy urban areas.
Las Vegas, the West Region champs, had topped Chicago 13-2 on Aug. 17 and had outscored the opposition 33-5 in its three victories in South Williamsburg. The game was played under gray skies with an occasional mist of rain.
Las Vegas threatened before many in a crowd of 27,428 at Lamade Staidum had even found their seats.
Zach Hare blooped a single, Austin Kryszczuk reached on a grounder through the hole and Brennan Holligan had an infield hit — giving them more hits in the first three batters than Chicago mustered against Las Vegas in the earlier meeting. Houston retired Brad Stone on a called third strike and Dillon Jones on a pop, but Drew Laspaluto lined a double off the wall in center that cleared the bases.
But Chicago came right back on Trey Hondras’ linedrive homer to right after Pierce Jones’ leadoff walk to cut it to 3-2. Marquis Jackson then singled and raced all the way to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Darion Radcliff’s hard single.
INTERNATIONAL CHAMP.
SOUTH KOREA 12, JAPAN 3
Dong Wan Sin’s three-run single helped South Korea defeat defending champion Japan.
South Korea had a seven-run second inning on just two hits. Hae Chan Choi also brought in two runs on a double during the inning. He finished 2-for-4 with 3 RBI.
Japan’s first hit didn’t come until the third inning. While the Japanese team scored once in the fourth and twice in the fifth inning, it was too little and late.