Sunday, October 19, 2014

Little League World Series

This summer, I got a chance to visit Willamsport, PA, where the Little League World Series takes place every year. I honestly hasn't paid much attention to LLWS except when Danny Almonte from Bronx was dominating and became a big deal among the Yankee fans (he was revealed later that he was actually too old to play.) But this year I decided to go because a Korean team was in it (first time since 1985) and I was only a two hour drive away from it. And it was much better than I thought. Kids were playing hard (and well,) many people came and were cheerful, and the Korean team won! Instead of sharing pictures of my 21st stadium (which will be the Target Field,) I decided to share pictures from Williamsport.



A map of the site. The game was played at the Lamade Stadium.



Passing by the museum at the front, there was Lamade Stadium down the hill. The game was delayed about an hour and a half due to rain as you can see the tarp on the field.


A lot of people came, definitely more than I expected.


This kid who sat next to me was reading an article about Pedroia (I also bought the program, which I seldom do at MLB stadiums.) He said his name was Logan, 15 years old but playing for u-19. I asked him if he wanted to play for the Yankees later but he said he was a Red Sox Fan. Boo.


Many Koreans came to cheer for the team (I'm assuming some of them are friends and families of the players?) I see huge Korean flags. I was heard Chan Ho Park also came to Williamsport to watch LLWS, but not that day.


I walked around the stadium while the game was being delayed. This sign was interesting and fitting because it was the Little League "World" Series.


Nice pictures on the wall of the stadiums.




Japanese players and fans. I was waiting for Korean team but didn't get to see them.



Korean players were warming up. They were good!


Starting pitcher Takuma Takahashi for the Japanese team. He struck out the side both in the first and the second innings. Perfect game was broken when the seventh hitter reached on a base after being struck out.




Takahashi hit well, too! He hit a double in his first at-bat.


Hae Chan Choi who started for the Korean team also pitched well. Japanese team had a chance in the bottom of the second against him but couldn't score, and Hae Chan hit a two run homerun against Takahashi who was almost perfect til then. It was nice to see the Korean bench being hyped up and all coming out to greet him as if he hit a walkoff hit.


Japanese fans rooting for their team. Fans seemed like a good idea. They tied the game in the bottom of the third with a sac fly and a wild pitch.



Hero of the night was Jae Yeong Hwang, who hit a home run in the top of the 6th, which ended up being the winning run. I learned that the LLWS's games were 6 inning games and "Take me out to the ball game" song normally sung before the bottom of the 7th was sung before the bottom of the 4th. The Korean team added one more run to win it four two.

There were many events other than the game itself. I felt like there were more kids than usual MLB games (maybe because the players are of their age?) and there were many things that they can enjoy.


Kids lining up to spin the wheel to win gifts.


Familiar mascot from one of my favorite cereals.



Some kids were sledding down the hill with cardboard boxes while other kids were runing around, throwing baseballs and/or playing football.


Mighty Casey from a poem. I actually didn't know who he was when I was taking a picture of the statue but read about him later.


Even more people came for 7:30 game. One reason is that a team from Philly is playing but more importantly, tehy probably came to see Mo'ne Davis pitching, a girl who throws a 70 mph fastball.




The Little League games were all free and the umps were volunteers, too. You might need to line up to get a ticket for night games, but even those you don't need a ticket if you want to sit at outfield. It was packed. I heard 34,000 people came (more than attendance at Citizens Bank Park that day.) I don't know how true that is, but there were indeed many people. Some brought fishing chair, some brought mat and/or blanket and it seemed like many families came out to have fun together. It was like going on a picnic on a nice day, and I would love to come back again next year or in the near future.

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