Alvey cranks homer, sets three pitching records(USA wins Little League World Series)

AP via ESPN ^ | 8/25/02 | AP

[Diddle E. Squat]

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Aaron Alvey homered and set two pitching records as Louisville, Ky., beat Sendai, Japan, 1-0 Sunday night to win the Little League World Series.

With one out in the top of the first, Alvey sent the first pitch he saw 250 feet -- the outfield wall is 205 -- to center field to put Louisville in front. He then struck out 11 on his way to setting World Series records for strikeouts (44) and scoreless innings (21), and tying the mark for consecutive no-hit innings (12).

Louisville is the first U.S. team to win the title since Tom's River, N.J., beat Kashima, Japan, 12-9 in 1998.

"Me and my teammates worked really hard since it started,'' Alvey said. "Me and my teammates are really, really happy that this happened."

Alvey experienced shoulder pain midway through the game, and received heat treatments in the dugout.

"My shoulder starting hurting a little bit ... then it started feeling good,'' he said. "I went back out there to do my thing.''

Alvey walked Yoosuke Katoh with two out in the sixth inning, putting Tatsuhiko Numakura -- who had three home runs in the series -- at the plate. But Numakura's line drive was caught by first baseman Casey Jordan to end the game.

When Jordan caught the ball, Alvey blew out a huge sigh of relief.

Alvey struck out Yoshinori Satoh in the second to break the 31-year-old record for strikeouts. Mu-Hsu Chin of Tainan City, Taiwan, struck out 36 in two games in 1971, including 22 in nine innings in Tainan City's 12-3 championship victory over Gary, Ind.

Alvey tied the record with 12 consecutive no-hit innings -- one against Clemmons, N.C., nine against Fort Worth, Texas, and the first two against Japan. Sean Burroughs also had 12 consecutive no-hit innings in 1993 for champion Long Beach, Calif.

On Wednesday night, Alvey threw a no-hitter through nine innings in Louisville's 2-1, 11-inning victory over Fort Worth in the U.S. semifinals. Although Little League rules required that Alvey be replaced in the 10th inning, his performance was recorded as a no-hitter, the longest no-hitter in Little League history.

Before Yuuki Chiba's line drive to center field to lead off the third, the last hit Alvey allowed was Andrew Biancardi's infield single leading off the sixth inning for Aptos in Louisville's Aug. 17 series opener.

The last run Alvey allowed scored on Biancardi's RBI double in the first. Burroughs had shared that record with Art Deras, who pitched for Hamtramck, Mich., in 1959.

Chiba finished with two of Japan's three hits, and Katoh had 10 strikeouts.

In the third-place game, Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles beat Worcester, Mass., 9-1.

It was the second consecutive year Curacao played in the consolation game. Last year, Curacao lost 9-1 to the Bronx, but later was awarded third place when the New York City team forfeited because pitcher Danny Almonte was too old to play.

Hairo Polonius hit a two-run double, and Dennis Neuman struck out nine for Curacao.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Way to go, Louisville!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Well I guess I should apologize for clogging up Breaking News on such a busy Sunday night. Was thinking these kids winning the Little League World Series was a rather unusual occurance, a nice and unusual win for the United States. Given all the rancor on some of the threads the last few days, it seemed like a good article for many to enjoy and experience some commonality as Americans. We have seemed to unify around the occasional unique sports threads, such as the Olympics, Tour de France, World Series, Superbowl, especially when it was the USA against another country.

Sorry to have imposed such a burden on you.

[eddie willers]

Little Louisville Sluggers.
Ya gotta love it.

[Weirdad]

It's great that those boys won.

However, you want to see a really amazing American accomplishment, check out what the GIRLS from Woodway & Hewitt Texas, about 15 miles away from President Bush's Crawford home, have been doing for the last decade PLUS: they have won 9 of the last 11 World Series in Softball, including this year. (The Midway senior girls also won this year.)

From: http://www.softballworldseries.com/champs.htm

2002 SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Midway Little League, Waco, Texas

 

 

Home of the LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES
Alpenrose Field, Portland, Oregon

WILLIAMSPORT

World Series
Big League WS
 

Past World Series Champions

YEAR	CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
2002	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
2001	Rosario Paoli, Maunabo, Puerto Rico
2000	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1999	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1998	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1997	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1996	Countryside Little League, Clearwater, Florida
1995	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1994	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1993	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1992	Midway Little League, Waco, Texas
1991	Greater Naples Little League, Naples, Florida
1990	Foothill Little League, Glendale, California
1989	Greater Naples Little League, Naples, Florida
1988	Greater Naples Little League, Naples, Florida
1987	Tampa Bay Little League, Tampa Bay, Florida
1986	Tampa Bay Little League, Tampa Bay, Florida
1985	National Little League, Brookfield, Illinois
1984	Albuqueque Little League, Albuqueque, NM
1983	Greater Naples Little League, Naples, Florida
1982	76er Little League, Glendale, California
1981	Gresham Little League, Gresham, Oregon
1980	Glendale Little League, Glendale, California
1979	N.Providence West Little League, N.Prov, RI
1978	Shippensberg Little League, Shippensburg, PA
1977	American Little League, Salinas, California
1976	Salinas Little League, Salinas, California
1975	National Little League, Medford, Oregon
1974	Wellswood Little League, Tampa, Florida

 

[Weirdad]

bump

[RonPaulLives]

see related thread ----> Kentucky Little Leaguers Win World Series

[RonPaulLives]

Oops. Let's try this again, shall we:

see related thread ----> Kentucky Little Leaguers Win World Series

[blam]

Boys Compete 'For The Sake Of It'

[PGalt]

Hooray Louisville! Watched part of the game and it was more enjoyable than watching the Detroit Tigers.

[Movemout]

Louisville Sluggers! I love it. I hope young Alvey doesn't burn out. I look forward to watching his professional career if a strike doesn't contaminate baseball for all time.

[elephantlips]

This AP relase missed a most important piece of news: will this young boy be back next year or is he too old to continue?

[Diddle E. Squat]

Wow, that IS impressive. Congrats to all those young ladies on a job well done!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Thanks for the link. I knew their had to have been a prior thread, but couldn't find it on the search. "little league" fails to produce that article. Guess I shoulda used "world series".

Anyway, nice win for the young men.

[RonPaulLives]

This AP release missed a most important piece of news: will this young boy be back next year or is he too old to continue?

No, neither Osbourne nor Alvey (the two excellent pitchers/home run hitters in this tournament) will be eligible next year. The Little League World Series, at least the version that DisneyABCESPN spends the most time covering is a division for boys 10-12 years of age. Of Valley Sports' twelve boys this year, only one (the one affectionately known as "Peanut") will be eligible next year; He is 11 yrs old and the eleven remaining players are all 12 yrs old.

I umpired games for Valley Sports Little League in 1990 and 1991, and assuming the league requirements haven't changed, they go like this:

"T-Ball" = 5-7 years old (boys AND girls)
"Minor League" = 8-9 years old
"Major League" = 10-12 years old
"Senior League" = 13-15 years old

[elephantlips]

A big thanks!