Cartersville Little League Wins Senior League Baseball World Series

Editor’s note: Complete scores from all the games can be found here at http://www.littleleague.org/series/2007divisions/slbb/series.htm

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BANGOR, Maine – Cartersville, Ga., Little League captured the 2007 Senior League Baseball World Series title with a 9-0 win over defending champion Falcon, Venezuela at Bangor, Maine’s Mansfield Stadium.

Chris Huth, who up until this game had allowed only one hit in 12 World Series innings, held Venezuela to just one hit. Huth had no-hit host Brewer/Orrington Little League from Maine’s District 3 in a five-inning, 11-1 win earlier in the series.

Despite shutting out Venezuela, it wasn’t easy for Cartersville. The team lost its first two games of the series (5-0 to Hilo, Hawaii; and 5-4 to Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

The South Region champions needed to win a three-way tiebreaker to advance to the semifinal round from Pool A. Cartersville; Saipan; and Whalley Little League form Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, finished pool play with 2-2 records. Since none of the three teams had beaten the other two, Cartersville advanced based on the lowest runs allowed ratio.

Cole Montgomery hit a three-run home run over the right field scoreboard in the fourth inning against Venezuela to break the game open for Cartersville, giving Georgia a 4-0 lead. Batting eighth in the lineup, Montgomery had been 1-for-11 in the Series before the big blow. He did it in front of a national audience, as ESPN it was ESPN’s first broadcast of a Senior League Baseball World Series game from Bangor.

Montgomery’s homer was the last of nine hit at Mansfield Stadium in the Series. Before 2007 the most home runs hit in a Series was four.

Overall, this year’s Series featured wild finishes and stunning comebacks. In the semifinals, Pearl City, Hawaii, and Venezuela needed nine innings to determine a winner. The teams were tied after seven innings when Venezuela scored two runs in the top of the eighth to take a 4-2 lead. Pearl City answered with two runs of its own to send the game into the ninth. Venezuela scored one more run in the ninth inning to secure the victory.

In pool play, CNMI and Maine’s District 3 battled for nine innings in a slugfest that saw CNMI come out on top, 17-12, after nine innings. The host needed to score five runs in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings, tied 12-12, before CNMI came up with five unanswered runs in the ninth.

Hilo (Hawaii) American Little League had the comeback win of the Series overcoming a five-run deficit in the seventh inning to defeat Canada, 6-5. Down 5-1 entering the top of the seventh, Pearl City scored five runs with two outs. The key hit was a three-run double by Keaka Blaine Pilayo.

At the plate, Freehold Township (N.J.) Little League’s Anthony Cirillo hit .750 (9-for-12). Kolten Wong from Hilo American Little League slugged 1.308, going 7-for-13 (.538) with two home runs, two doubles, and a triple.