Eight teams will play to keep their dreams alive today in the 39th annual Junior League Baseball World Series at Taylor’s Heritage Park.
It’s a must-win day at the tournament for baseball players ages 13 and 14 from around the globe. Each team playing today has one loss. Once a team loses a second time, it is eliminated from contention for the world championship.
Tuesday’s game schedule:
11 a.m. Medicine Hat, Canada (0-1) vs. Reynosa, Mexico (0-1)
2 p.m. Tulsa, Oklahoma (1-1) vs. Berlin, Maryland (0-1)
5 p.m. Bologna, Italy (0-1) vs. Perth, Western Australia (0-1)
8 p.m. Taylor, Michigan (0-1) vs. Johnston, Iowa (0-1)
Four other teams have the day off and will resume play on Wednesday. They are Guayama, Puerto Rico (2-0); Fullerton, California (1-0); Melbourne, Florida (2-0) and Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei (2-0). Teams from Chinese Taipei have won the last six Junior League World Series.
The Junior League World Series is the “older brother” of the more famous Little League World Series, a tournament for 12-year-olds held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The tournament was founded in 1981 in Taylor, Michigan, and has been hosted by Taylor volunteers ever since.
The games in Taylor are open to the public. Admission is only $5 per carload per game or $15 for a week’s pass. Both prices include parking.
After today’s games, eight teams will remain in the 12-team field. Four more games will be scheduled for Wednesday:
11 a.m. Canada or Mexico vs. Italy or Australia
2 p.m. Oklahoma or Maryland vs. Michigan or Iowa
5 p.m. Puerto Rico vs. Chinese Taipei
8 p.m. California vs. Florida
Two games are scheduled for Thursday at 4 and 7 p.m. At that point, four teams will remain in contention. Two teams will play in the International championship game at 3 p.m. Friday, followed by the USA title game at 6 p.m. The world championship game is set for noon next Sunday, August 18.
For the first time in JLWS history, all 21 games will be shown on the ESPN family of networks. Games will be streamed on ESPN+. The world championship game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Fans can sign up for ESPN+ through the ESPN App or at the website www.espnplus.com for $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year and can cancel at any time.
Mondays Results
Guayama, Puerto Rico 15, Bologna, Italy 4: The Radames Lopez Little League junior all-stars from Puerto Rico defeated the Europe-Africa regional champions from the Emilia Romagna Little League, 15-4. Yahir Fonseca and Jose Ortiz hit home runs for the Puerto Rican national champions. Ortiz went 4-for-4, scored four runs and knocked in two. Miguel Morales had three hits, scored a run and had two RBI. Nathan Marinez scored twice and knocked in three runs. Nicola Spagnola homered and had two hits for Italy.
Melbourne, Florida 7, Johnston, Iowa 1: The Viera Suntree Little League of Melbourne, Florida, scored two runs in the first inning and three in the second and went on to defeat the USA Central champions from Johnston, Iowa, 7-1. Cole Smith went 3-for-5 – a home run, double and a single – for the USA Southeast champions. He also scored three runs and had three RBI.
Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei, 7, Reynosa, Mexico 4: The Asia-Pacific champions from Chinese Taipei scored a come-from-behind 7-4 win over the Latin America champs from the Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The Mexico national champs went up 4-0 in the first inning on a Samuel Juarez grand slam. Chinese Taipei cut the lead in half in the second inning and the score remained 4-2 until the Asia-Pacific champs scored three runs in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh. Ming-Lun Tien pitched one-hit ball over the last 5 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out six, to earn the victory. Teammate Lee Hsun-Chieh went 2-for-2 and walked twice. Mexico’s Cesar Monjaras and starting pitcher Isaac Miranda had two hits apiece.
Fullerton, California 6, Tulsa, Oklahoma 2: The USA West regional champions from the Golden Hill Little League in Fullerton, California, defeated the Southwest champions from the Tulsa National Little League in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Southern California state champions scored four runs in the first inning and had 11 hits in the game, two each by Conor Sunderland, Kyle Kim and Sean Gonnella. Tulsa had six hits, two each by Avery Ortiz and Camden Knutson.