Pitching Dominant in New England and Great Lakes Region Championship Games

Print

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Aug. 13, 2006) – Jordan Bean struck out 13 batters and allowed only three hits in a 3-0 triumph by Portsmouth (N.H.) Little League in the New England Region championship game on Sunday at Breen Field in Bristol, Conn., while David Hearne was equally impressive in the Great Lakes Region championship game at Stokely Field in Indianapolis, surrendering two hits and striking out 11 in Lemont (Ill.) Little League’s 3-0 win.

Keegan Taylor provided all of the offense Portsmouth (N.H.) Little League would need in its victory over Glastonbury (Conn.) American Little League. The New Hampshire state champions opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning when Taylor hit a solo home run off of Glastonbury American Little League starter Mike Mainuli. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Taylor (3-for-3, 3 RBI) came through again, connecting for a two-run double.

Earning his third win in the regional tournament, Bean recorded the first six outs of the game by strikeout and finished the regional with 45 strikeouts.

Portsmouth Little League, 15-1 overall, earned a berth in the 2006 Little League Baseball World Series by finishing the six-team tournament with a 5-1 record, and avenging its only regional tournament loss.

Teams from New Hampshire have reached the Little League Baseball World Series three times, most recently in 2000 when a team from Goffstown qualified. New Hampshire has never been represented in the Little League Baseball World Series championship game.

In the Great Lakes Championship game, New Castle Little League’s Devin Nickelson scattered five hits and struck out 10, but gave up a double to Hearne leading off the second inning. Austin Mastela followed with a run-scoring triple. Errors later in the inning accounted for the other two runs.

Lemont Little League finished the six-team regional tournament with a 4-2 record, which included an extra-inning loss to New Castle Little League earlier in the tournament.

Teams from Illinois have reached the Little League Baseball World Series 13 times, most recently in 1992 when a team from South Holland Little League qualified. Illinois has reached Little League Baseball World Series championship game on three occasions (Kankakee Little League -1958 and 1962; North Roseland Little League - 1967), but has never won the world championship. This will be Lemont Little League’s first World Series appearance.

Lemont Little League and Portsmouth Little League join Ahwatukee Little League of Pheonix, Ariz.; Daniel Boone National Little League of Columbia, Mo.; Whalley Little League of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada; South Lake Charles Little League of Lake Charles, La.; Columbus Northern Little League of Columbus, Ga.; Arabian American Little League of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Brateevo Little League of Moscow, Russia; Cardenales Little League of Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela; Pabao Little League of Willemstad, Curacao; Matamoros Little League of Taumalipas, Mexico; Kawaguchi City Little League of Kawaguchi City, Japan; and Saipan Little League from Saipan, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), as participants in the 2006 Little League Baseball World Series.

The Little League Baseball World Series for 11-12-year-olds will be played in Williamsport, Aug. 18-27. Sixteen teams from around the world will take part.

ABC will televise the Little League Baseball World Series U.S. championship game on Aug. 26, at 3:30 p.m. The world championship game of the Little League Baseball World Series can be seen live on ABC at 3:30 p.m., on Aug. 27. Twenty-seven other World Series games will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2 for a total of 29 games on national television. Eleven World Series games also will be televised on ESPN Deportes. For the second straight year, all 32 games of the Little League Baseball World Series tournament will be on television.

The next berth in the 60th Little League Baseball World Series will be decided on Sunday when the Northwest Region Tournament is scheduled to end.

The remaining U.S. region finals, which will be televised live on ESPN2, are: Northwest (San Bernardino, Calif., Sunday, 10 p.m.) and Mid-Atlantic (Bristol, Conn., Monday, 8 p.m.). Game times are Eastern U.S. time.

For more information on the 2006 Little League Baseball World Series log on to: www.littleleagueworldseriesonline.org