The name of each league's division is followed by the name of the Little League team with a link to a Google map of the city where they are from. The links on the city's names is to the each city's wiki page.
Mid-Atlantic:Toms River NJ vs Council Rock Newtown PA
Southeast: Columbus Northern - Columbus, GA
Great Lakes: West Side - Hamilton, OH
Midwest: Plymouth/New Hope - Plymouth, MN
Southwest: Pearland White - Pearland, TX
Northwest: Auburn - Auburn, WA
West:Waipio - Waipahu, HI
International
Asia-Pacific: Fu-Hsing - Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Canada: BC Little Mountain
Caribbean: Jose M. Rodriguez - Manati, Puerto Rico
MEA (Middle East & Africa): Arabian American - Dharhan, Saudi Arabia
Japan: Edogawa Minami - Tokyo, Japan
Latin America: Chitre - Chitre, Panama
Mexico: Oriente - Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
Europe: KMC American - Ramstein Air Base, Germany
Today's Televised Game: (Note: ESPN also streams all games live. Start time PST).
Mid-Atlantic Final: 8 PM
Rundown
West: My 12-yr-old son Andres and I watched Waipio win the West Championship in San Bernardino yesterday against Ocean View. They made it look easy as Ocean View made some costly errors - not catching pitches, tossing balls into dugouts and dropping a critical fly ball. Today is the Mid-Atlantic showdown between the beach kids from New Jersey against the Little League hometown favorites from Pennsylvania (the Series is played in Williamsport, PA). Please take a moment to vote for your favorite. I'll post the poll results tomorrow on the 2010 Little League World Series Fan Page on facebook.
Caribbean: It's been over a month ago, July 10th, that Jose M. Rodriguez Little League from Manati, Puerto Rico won their place among the 16 teams to compete the 2010 Little League World Series. They weren't supposed to go. It was Aruba North's turn having exited the pool play undefeated and the #1 seed setting themselves up to be the first team in the 21-mile long island nation's history to go to the Little League World Series. It was also the Netherland's second bite at the apple as the Dutch also battled for a slot as the European champions. But the Jose M. Rodriguez team from Puerto Rico, who had been beaten by Aruba North 4-1, turned the tables defeating them 8-2.
After an entire season of base running and batting, one solo home run became the difference between victory and defeat. While Rhode Island had dominated the entire tournament, it was Connecticut whose season lives on. One of the most brilliant defensive Little League games that's ever been played. Brilliant.
Midwest: What would have been a story is if the boys from South Dakota pulled off an upset. The blood-letting started in the second inning as Plymouth/New Hope took advantage of weak pitching but it was a three-run homer in the fourth that sealed Canyon Lakes' fate and smothering their three runs.
Northwest: Idaho fielded a very good team. Sports writer John Murphy called them "plucky." But Washington was a whole lot better. The hit better, pitched better and ran the bases better. On a walk, one of Auburn's base runners took advantage of the pitcher looking toward third base assuming he would stop at first but he kept on running making it to second base before anyone could do anything about it. A new baseball play - a two-base walk! North Boise's Tyler Oldenberg did have a brief moment of glory when he his a home run that seems to launch into orbit clearing the concession stands and leaving the ESPN announcers shocked and awed. But it couldn't win the game for them. Boise lost to Auburn 13-3 in the fourth invoking the 10-run/4 inning mercy rule.
West: The rematch of the week proved the Southern California and Hawaii front-runners are for real. The clashes between Napa and Ocean View and between Waipio and North Scottsdale had the suspense of a daytime TV soap opera. Lots of smiles and tears but no real surprises. This is simply the prelude to the clash of the titans we've all been waiting for. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. I'll be there to see who Wins the West!
MEA (Middle East/Africa): The sons of Americans working in Saudi Arabia won the tournament against Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Kuwait City (Kuwait), Cape Town (South Africa) and Reverend John Foundations, Kampala, Uganda. And that's where the story takes us - to an amazing story of sportsmanship.
The coach of the Dubai team, Kelly Jones, said the Ugandan team was devastated. So, you know what the kids did? In a gesture that characterizes the Little League spirit, the Dubai team gave the Ugandans the shirts off their back and their caps.
Paul Oberjuerge writes in Abu Dhabi The National, “I get a little choked up thinking about it,” said Kelly Jones, a coach with the Dubai team. “When our boys gave their shirts, their caps to the kids from Uganda, it was just a great moment.”
Sportsmanship is one of the most important values that we can learn, teach and demonstrate every day of our lives.
New England: RI Cumberland National - CT Fairfield Am.
Mid-Atlantic: NJ Toms River - PA Council Rock Newtown
Southeast: GA Columbus (Qualfied)
Great Lakes: IL Moline - OH West Side
Midwest: N/S Dakota- MN Plymouth/New Hope
Southwest: Texas, Pearland White (Qualfied)
Northwest: WA Auburn - OR Murrayhill
West: S.CA Ocean View - HI Waipio
Canada: BC Little Mountain - ON Ancaster
Today's Televised Games: (Note: ESPN also streams all games live. I believe all these start times are PST).
Midwest Final: 1PM ESPN - Dakotas v MN (MN favored) Great Lakes Final: 5PM ESPN - IL v OH (no favorite but Ohio is 1st seed) Northwest Final: 6 PM ESPN - ID v WA (WA favored) New England Final: 7PM ESPN - CT v RI (RI favored)
Rundown
Mid-Atlantic: The expected matchup on Monday between Toms River (NJ) and Council Rock Newtown (PA) was confirmed yesterday. The boys from a beautiful little New York country town lost to the tough beach boys of New Jersey 13-5. Later that day, the Railroaders, fourth seed from a town just a stone's throw from the West Virginia border, lost 13-3 to a team that had already beaten them 14-1 in an earlier tournament match-up. Monday, 8PM game on ESPN will mark the final game before the 2010 Little League World Series starts. It will be a great one to watch.
Southeast: It was a tough day for Floridians as they saw their fantastic Viera/Suntree team lose to Georgia's Columbus Northern team 9-2. It was close until the final two innings when the wheels just came off the pitching and Viera/Suntree's bats couldn't keep up. Note to Fans: there is crying in baseball.
West: Sunday's expected match-up between Waipahu, Hawaii and Huntington Beach, California will start in San Bernardino at 5 p.m. Hawaii's only defeat in the tournament so far has been at the hands of local favorite Ocean View Little League with the defense keeping them to just one run winning 2-1. But, as Napa showed last week, Ocean View can be beaten, when they beat the SoCal team 5-4 on Tuesday. The kids and I will be there to watch our first West Championship game live.
Canada: After taking apart Windsor South Canadian from just across the Michigan border in Ontario 7-1, Little Mountain is has just one more hill to climb today to get their ticket to Williamsport and that's through Ancaster. A David and Goliath matchup, BC has already defeated them 11-1 in pool play.
Latin America: The end of July is hot in Guatamala. Actually, it's almost always hot in Guatamala so weather was not a factor when the best teams from Latin America showed up to see who would represent the Western Southern Hemisphere in Williamsport. San Salvador, Cartagena, Santa Domingo (Costa Rica), Puerto Ordaz (Venezuela) Chinandega (Nicaragua) and two teams from Guatamala were defeated by a team from Chitre, Panama, population 25,336. This team is the embodiment of the "scrappy underdogs." The only English-language story about them I could find online is in the Lebanon Daily News (PA).
Video of a Latin American team against a Japanese team
New England: RI Cumberland National - CT Fairfield Am.
Mid-Atlantic: NY Stony Point - PA Council Rock Newtown
Southeast: FL Viera/Suntree - GA Columbus
Great Lakes: IL Moline - OH West Side
Midwest: N/S Dakota- MN Plymouth/New Hope
Southwest: E.TX Pearland White - W. Texas Eagle Pass
Northwest: WA Auburn - OR Murrayhill
West: S.CA Ocean View - HI Waipio
Canada: BC Little Mountain - ON Windsor
Rundown
New England: Vermont got a critical win against Maine 8-5 but Rhode Island continues it's dominance with a 15-5 victory over Massachusetts. All the teams are playing for - besides pride - is a good enough record to make it into the sudden death semi's.
Mid-Atlantic: Toms River National handed Stony Point their first loss with a 5-2 showing leaving the "home town" team Council Rock Newtown (PA) as the only team with a 4-0 record. Railroaders (MD) went to a 2-2 record with their defeat of 0-3 Brandywine (DE) in 8 innings 5-4.
Southeastern: Yesterday's consolation games in advance of today's semi-finals saw two shu-touts. Alabama beat Tennessee 14-0 to get their only win and leave Spring Hill (TN) winless in the tournament and SYA (VA) beat Carolina Forest (SD) 9-0. Fast forward to earlier today, the 'home town' team, Columbus Northern from Georgia, kept a perfect 3-0 record with a 9-3 win over Ripley from West Virgina to earn a spot in Friday's Championship game. Now playing, undefeated Viera/Suntree (FL) is battling 2-1 Carolina Forest (SC) for the chance to play Georgia's best baseball team.
Great Lakes:Day off. Today, 3-1 Moline National (IL) face 2-2 Burlington (WI) and 3-1 West Side (OH face 2-2 Terre Haute North (IN) to determine Saturday's Championship Game. All games are on ESPN2.
Midwest: Plymouth/New Hope (MN), the top seed with a 4-0 record, will be playing Daniel Boone American (MO) after beating Grandview (IA) 11-3. To its credit, Daniel Boone American beat 0-4 Kearney (NE) 12-2 to earn a semi-final slot on Thursday. Canyon Lake (ND) also earned a coveted spot in the semi-finals by keeping Riverton Area (KA) winless with a close 11-10 victory. Even though Minnesota is the clear favorite to win, ESPN is only covering Thursday's Iowa/Dakota match up.
Southwest: A Texas v Texas gunfight in Waco is set up for Thursday as Pearland White keeps a perfect record as it knocks out Orchard Mesa (CO) with a 10-0 shutout. Arkadelphia's perfect 3-0 record didn't help it in the semi-final elimination round after Eagle Pass beat them 5-4. Championship is on ESPN at 6 p.m.
Northwest: (Tues.) In what may be a preview Saturday's Championship game, Auburn (WA) shut out Murrayhill (OR) 7-0 becoming the only undefeated team in the region. North Boise came out on top 9-7 as it faced Boulder Arrowhead (MT). In today's games (Wed) Washington allowed only one run by Juneau's Gatineau Channel team winning 16-1. North Boise kept it's hopes alive with a 17-4 decision over Laramie.
West: In a surprise win, Napa beat Ocean View by 5-4 ensuring every team has at least one loss in the tournament. Ocean View dominated most of the game and the score was tied in the final inning. Napa had the home team advantage and was able to get a walk off win (I watched the nail-biter in San Bernardino). Mountain Ridge (NV) finally got a win at North Scottsdale's expense with a 8-7 win keeping their hopes live for a spot in Friday's semi-finals. Seeding is extremely important as no one wants to face Hawaii.
Canada:Little Mountain (BC) continues to get big results with it's 16-0 victory over NDG (Quebec). Calgary Rocky Mountain chalked up another win against Glace Bay 11-6. Windsor improved it's seeding for Friday's semi-finals by defeating the 'home team' Ancaster TWP 2-1. Seeding for Friday's semi-final is still up in the air as four teams will be playing Thursday to make up for Monday's rainouts.
European: Proving that the team with the best W/L record going into the Semi-Finals is not guaranteed to win - it is baseball, after all - out of 11 teams from Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Moldova, Netherlands, Belgium, England, Lithuania and Germany-US (Ramstein Air Base), only Italy had a perfect 5-0 record. In the 7th game of the tournament for both, Germany-US (KMC American) won the privilege of playing for Europe by shutting out Italy 4-0. I'll repeat that - the kids of Americans working on the U.S Air Force Ramstein Air Base are representing the Europeans. Doesn't that make the defeat of the Third Reich that much sweeter?
New England: RI Cumberland National - CT Fairfield Am.
Mid-Atlantic: NY Stony Point - PA Council Rock Newtown
Southeast: FL Viera/Suntree - GA Columbus
Great Lakes: IL Moline - OH West Side
Midwest: IA Grandview - MN Plymouth/New Hope
Southwest: E.TX Pearland White - AR Arkadelphia
Northwest: WA Auburn - OR Murrayhill
West: S.CA Ocean View - HI Waipio
Canada: BC Little Mountain - ON Windsor
Rundown
New England: Rhode Island's Cumberland National continues it's winning streak by shutting out Bangor 10-0. They now have the only 3-0 record in the region. Fairfield Americans (CT) beat Portsmouth (NH) by just one run in their 3-2 victory. Starting tomorrow, the games will be carried live on the New England Sports Network (NESN) is owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins and delivered to over 4 million homes throughout the six-state New England region and nationally via DirecTV and Dish Network.
Mid-Atlantic: NY takes a day off giving Council Rock (PA) an opportunity to catch up and match their 3-0 record with an impressive 14-1 win over Maryland's Railroaders LL. But it was Tom's River National (NJ) that earned the second shutout of the tournament (NY shut out Maryland) with it's blistering 21-0 win over Capital City LL. With their 0-3 record, it appears the Washington D.C. team is having the same luck at winning baseball game as the D.C. politicians are at running the country. (What? I was supposed to let that one go?)
Southeast: Viera/Suntree maintains a perfect 3-0 record with a 5-0 shutout of Spring Hill (TN) who haven't won a game yet. Huntsville (AL) get's it's first victory by beating South Carolina 10-3 - the other winless team. Ripley (WV) won an important game against Virginia, 3-2, keeping them in the hunt with a 2-1 record. Columbus Northern (GA) is the only other team with a perfect record after today's 7-3 win over Winston-Salem.
Great Lakes: Richmond (MI) got its first win with a shutout of Terre Haute 9-0. The real battle is between West Side (OH), who beat Burlington (WI) 9-2, and Moline National (IL), who beat Owensboro (KY) 7-3. Each are the favorites to win in the semi-finals on Wednesday and will likely to face off on Saturday, August 14th. No games tomorrow.
Midwest: Iowa's Grandview continue their domination by keeping Daniel Boone American to just one run while scoring seven of their own. Plymouth/New Hope is also undefeated and also only allowed Kansas' Riverton Area one while scoring 13 times. Canyon Lake (SD) made sure Nebraska's Kearney remained winless with a 6-5 victory.
Southwest: ESPN2 begins it's live broadcast of 2010 Little League World Series Tournament play of the semi-finals in Waco, Texas. Yesterday, Pearland White extended it's perfect record to 3-0 with a 13-2 victory over winless Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Arkadelphia looked like it's identical twin with it's own 10-3 victory over winless Tulsa American also extending it's record to 3-0. Eagle Pass American, who play just down the U.S.-Mexican border from the Mexican 2010 LLWS team Oriente, beat Lincoln Parish 14-1. So far, no shutouts the entire tournament.
Northwest: Boulder Arrowhead from Billings got their first win yesterday and did it decisively with a 14-0 shutout of Laramie handing Wyoming their first defeat. Murreyhill beat winless Gastineau Channel preserving their perfect 3-0 record. Tomorrow is likely to be a preview of Saturday's championship as Washington's Auburn face Oregon's Murreyhill at 12:30 in San Bernardino.
West: Huntington Beach's Ocean View Little League showed today why they are the favorites to Win the West by not only shutting out Utah but having their explosive offense score 22 runs. The are now the only undefeated team in the region. Arguably the second-strongest team, Hawaii, barely beat Mountain Ridge - a team who hasn't won a game - with a score of 4-3.
Canada: Only one game was played with the other three rained out. Calgary Rocky Mountain got their second win handing Windsor their first defeat with a final score of 8-4. The Canadian National Little League website is worth a visit.
Asia-Pacific: Remember who Park View Little League had to beat to be World Champions? The Team from Taiwan. This years, only Fu-Hsing LL from Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) made it out of the preliminary games played 7/10-7/14 with a perfect 4-0 record shutting out EVERY OPPONENT and scoring 36 runs. For the championship, they played an undefeated Philippines team who had scored 32 runs against Vietnam in one game alone and 46 total runs. Fu-Hsing's pitching dominated giving them the incredible record of not only zero losses but no team could score against them. Final score -10-0.
New England: RI Cumberland National & NH Portsmouth
Mid-Atlantic:NY Stony Point & PA Council Rock Newtown
Southeast: FL Viera/Suntree & GA Columbus & NC Winston
Great Lakes: IL Moline & OH West Side
Midwest: IA Grandview & MN Plymouth/New Hope
Southwest: E.TX Pearland White & AR Arkadelphia
Northwest: WA Auburn & OR Murrayhill
West: S.CA Ocean View & HI Waipio
Canada: BC Little Mountain & ON Windsor
Rundown
New England: Another tough defeat for Shelburne (VT) handed to them by Southburough (MA) 3-6. They slip to 0-2 while Southburough recovers from its Fri. loss to Bangor. New Hampshire's Portsmouth had a hit-fest against Bangor winning 10-5 leaving Rhode Island as the only undefeated team in the region.
Mid-Atlantic: What team has given up only one run, pitched two shutouts and scored 31 runs in just three games? Stony Point LL from New York - so far this year's Cinderella Story. Today it was Maryland's Railroaders LL that became the latest team to get run off the rails by this pitching and hitting powerhouse. Council Rock Newtown also had a great showing with an 11-1 win over Brandywine making the Delaware team the first to drop to a 0-2 record.
Southeast: Viera/Suntree LL from Melbourne (FL) earned the region's only shutout yesterday with a 4-0 win over SYA from Virginia. In the duel of the Carolinas, Winston-Salem National (NC) had the most runs and a 14-2 victory over their Myrtle Beach opponent Caroline Center Community Forest (SC). W. Virginia's Ripley handed Spring Hills (TN) their 2nd loss scoring 11 runs against 6 and Columbus Northern from GA remained undefeated against winless Huntsville Eastern (AL) 8-7.
Great Lakes: After today's play, each one of the six teams has a defeat on their record. The big story is Moline National LL (Il) shutout of Burlington LL (WI) 7-0. Owensboro Southern LL (KY) beat Michagan's Richmond LL team by just one run 9-8 and Terre Haute North (IN) pulled off a win in a big hitting game against West Side LL from Hamilton (OH) 11-9.
Midwest: Des Moines' Grandview LL team pulled off another impressive victory keeping Riverton Area LL (KA) to just 2 runs while scoring 12 runs. Both Iowa and Minnesota have 2-0 records now that Plymouth/New Hope beat Nebraska's Kearney 5-1. Canyon Lake LL from Rapid City N. Dakota evened up their record today with an impressive victory over last year's regional winner, Daniel Boone American LL from Columbia, Missouri, 12-1.
Southwest: With the Texans having a day off, it was Arkansas' Arkadelphia team's turn at bat taking Orchard Mesa from Grand Junction (CO) to the woodshed with an impressive 11-1 victory yet both teams have won slots on ESPN2's Tuesday broadcast. Lincoln Parish (LA) also swung the lumber with a 14-4 win over their gulf shore neighbors from Ocean Springs Miss. Albuquerque's Altamont denied Tulsa American a win in the tournament beating the sooners 11-6.
Northwest: Both Washington (Auburn LL) and Oregon (Murrayhill LL) showed yesterday why they're the favorites to represent the Northwest in Williamsport with a 6-1 win over North Boise and 14-3 win over Billing's Boulder Arrowhead (MT) respectively. Given the magic of we saw between Ric Ramirez and his son Luke from Park View to win last year's world championship, you've gotta wonder if Oregon has the same advantage leading up to Saturday's final game.
West: Huntington Beach's Ocean View LL had the day off giving Hawaii a chance to catch up with a 4-1 win over Napa National from NoCal off of two, two-run homeruns. North Scottsdale got it's first victory with a 11-4 win over Washington LL from Utah.
Canada: Windsor South Canadian LL from Ontario swung for the fences today and apparently succeeded with an incredible 19-6 win over Glace Bay from Nova Scotia. Little Mountain LL from BC continues it's bombing run with 11 runs to 1 against Ancaster, the host city in Ontario. That gives them 25 runs against opponents in 2 games with just 3 runs scored against them. Calgary Rocky Mountain finally got a win over NDG from Quebec 13-6. (NOTE: Incorrect Headline. Windsor can be eliminated in tournament play that continues until 8/14 Championship Game).
New England: Fairfield American from Conn. put a dent in Vermont's dreams of a World Series spot by beating Shelburne 7-4. Rhode Island's Cumberland National is the only team in the region with a 2-0 record with their 8-6 victory over Portsmouth (NH).
Mid-Atlantic: New York is SMOKEN! Stony Point shuts down and beats down Capital City 10-0. That's 21 runs in 2 days. Council Rock Newtown from Penn also scored 10 runs against Tom's River National from New Jersey. NY first team with 2-0 record in the region.
Southeast: Holy moly! Biggest margin of victory so far in all national tournament play is Virginia's SYA East
humiliating Spring Hill (Tenn) 18-1 making Viera/Suntree out of Melbourne, FL's 14-1 victory over W Virginia's Ripley look tame in comparison. Winston-Salem squeaked by Huntsville (AL) 4-3 while Columbus Northern from Georgia won the pitching duel against Caroline Center Community Forest (SC) 2-1. Note: Virginia won their tournament slot by mercy ruling over their rivals 12-2! Power Bats.
Great Lakes: Big story is West Side from Hamilton, Ohio scores 18 runs against just 3 runs for Moline National from the Land of Lincoln. This gives West Side 2-0 record. Terre Haute North had 12 runs against Owensboro, Kentucky's 5 runs. Burlington (Wis) is the other team to go 2-0 with their 13 run win over Richmond, Michigan. Ohio and Wisconsin's power offenses don't face off until Monday.
Midwest: Grandview Iowa came out swinging to defeat Kearney Nebraska's team 11-1. Minn's Plymouth/New Hope did about the same damage to Canyon Lake from S. Dakota 12-1. Daniel Boone American from Missouri was evenly matched against Riverston Area from Kansas winning by just one run 7-6.
Southwest: Texas showed a lot of strength yesterday as both teams won their games. Most impressive victory wen to Pearland White with a 12-2 win over Lincoln Parish from Ruston LA putting Texas East up 2-0 in the standings. Eagle Pass American, the 'other TX team' beat Ocean Springs from Miss 5-4. Orchard Mesa from Grand Junction, Colorado is also undefeated in two showings with a 6-3 win over Altamont from Albuquerque who is the only team so far to lose both it's games.
Northwest: Laramie got some vindication from yesterday's defeat by beating Sarah Palin's Gastineau Channel team 13-7. No word if the mother grizzlies sense something was wrong with the team's lineup.
West: my pick to win the West, Huntington Beach's Ocean View squeaked by likely their strongest rival, Waipio from Waipah'u Hawaii, 2-1. A pitching duel, the game ended with a throw out at home plate. With a surprise showing of strength out of the gate, Utah's Washington LL beat Vegas' Mountain Ridge team 11-6. Napa National gave the wine country a victory beating Scottsdale 6-4. Ocean View is the only team with a 2-0 record so far while Mountain Ridge has a mountain to climb after loosing their first two games.
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