LLWS Final

Submitted by HelloHeisman91 on

The USA isrepresented by the team from Pennsylvania and Japan in representing the international half of the bracket.  It's currently airing on ABC and in the bottom half of the first inning with Penn taking an impressive early lead 7-2 with 2 outs.  Almost 50k in attendance!

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Baseball/Softball

Michigasling

August 30th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^

for something else.  Guess I timed it right. 

So I signed on here, knowing someone may be paying attention and could tell me if it's the team with the Michigan coach.  Guess it's not, since you didn't mention it.  But they seem to be doing pretty well.

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

rjkgoblue

August 31st, 2015 at 1:20 AM ^

LLWS was fun to watch and all the kids should be proud. Hats off to Pearland Texas LLWS team. Their coach, the Michigan Alum Andrew Solomon, was my roommate freshman year 1983 and remains a close friend! I drove 5 hours from CT yesterday to attend the U.S. Championship Game they lost in the bottom of the 6th to PA. Incredible atmosphere and crowd. Great comeback today against Mexico with 3 run two out homer in the top of the 6th to pull out the come from behind win 6-4 IMG_7907.jpg

Joined: 08/31/2015

MGoPoints: 3

MGoGrendel

August 30th, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^

When I coached in Little League, the fences were 200' out and around 4' high.  One year my 12U boys hit 5 home runs with the next best team only hitting 1.  The park dimensions allowed for the outfielders to hold a runner to a double on a ball to the gap.  So, the field is fit for the style of play.

Put the best players from a top league together, and you will hit a lot more home runs.  Plus, the faster pitchers on an All Star team will add to the distance a ball travels, further increasing the likelihood of home runs.  Here, the pitchers are tired from a long tournament and their "fastball" is a little slower and easier to follow with a hard swing.  This many home runs in a final is not commen, but hitting is very contagious!

I coached a 9U All Star team (Dizzy Dean) and saw two boys hit homers on fences that were 215' and 8' high.  The metal bat technology is ridiculous.

Joined: 01/21/2013

MGoPoints: 70225

Steve in PA

August 30th, 2015 at 8:14 PM ^

Little League still uses juiced bats.  It drives me crazy to watch because most of those kids have some real issues with swing mechanics that are being covered up with juiced bats.  In high school they go to BBCOR bats which are very-very close to wood bats as far as 'pop'.  The best BBCOR bat is not even nearly as good as the old BESR bats.  

My son moved to HS ball when they switched to BBCOR an the difference was amazing.  Upper classmen on his team that hit 10+ hr for the year before struggled.  I think the highest was 4.

On a sidenote, I'm really happy to see the attendance so high.  My kids' school has a concession stand in right field that funds the athletic program.  Even though my son graduated my daughter still goes there.  It's also a nice alumni event as many come from all over to work the stand.

 

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 6327

MGoBender

August 30th, 2015 at 9:47 PM ^

Agree mostly.  Also, don't forget that these kids are using light bats.  Some of these kids that have hit their growth spurts early and have high school bodies are still swinging -10 bats.  Some of the swings I saw this year were great looking swings, so it's not just that the bats are juiced, but also that they are light in the hands of kids who are ready to move up to heavier bats, but haven't yet.

It's a little annoying seeing half-swing homers, but I thought there were some legit looking homerun swings this tourney, even if there were too many.  And these are the best (most physically mature) of the best, so there's going to be many, many more homeruns in the LLWS and regional tournaments than there are in the regular season play.

I'd still be for bumping the fences back another 20 feet in the LLWS.  

Joined: 03/26/2010

MGoPoints: 15128

jordraph

August 30th, 2015 at 4:54 PM ^

I'm loving this. Very exciting if nothing else. My fiancée is Japanese, so these youngsters have my bragging rights on the line. C'mon kiddos!

Joined: 01/31/2011

MGoPoints: 160

KingRJ

August 30th, 2015 at 5:15 PM ^

This is as pure as it gets. Seeing these kids leave it all on the field is amazing. It's a good reminder of what playing just for the love a sport is all about.

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 2174

getsome

August 30th, 2015 at 7:44 PM ^

at least its not chinese tapei.  they used to make the finals every year, usually along with some team from cali.  but lately there appears to be a little more international flavor in finals

Joined: 09/07/2013

MGoPoints: 7385