Why Are There Still State Tournament Games Left? (July 28, 2013)

For some reason, there's still state tournament games to be played around the country. Why am I making a big deal out of that? Because the regionals start on Friday. Nobody should have to to regionals on short pitching rest. It's ridiculous. There's plenty of time all summer to leave four days off between tournaments. New Jersey could be in big trouble if they go to an "if" game. Illinois is guaranteed to go to at least Tuesday. Makes no sense. Here's what happened out there today.

Delaware

Newark National won its third straight state title. Having 11-year olds on uber-successful teams pays series dividends the following year. Newark National relied a lot of Matt Theodorakis and Clayton Hansen, who both played in the Mid-Atlantic regional tournament the year before. This year, it's Nate Hardcastle. The 6-foot tall Hardcastle was barely a bit player last year with NNLL but that experience coupled with obvious talent and athletic gifts has turned him into a force this year. He hit a monster home run and pitched four shutout innings in a mercy rule-shortened 12-0 victory over Millsboro. Joey Davis added a pair of home runs to give him four in his last two games. Eric Ludman also hit one out in the victory. Hardcastle gets his fastball into the mid-70s. If he doesn't pitch in the tournament opener, there's a good chance we see him against another fireballer from Maryland.

Connecticut

Westport won its first-ever state championship with another dominant pitching performance from one of its two aces. Harry Azadian struck out 11 batters in 4.2 innings in a 9-1 victory over Coginchaug. Coginchaug came into the state finals with a reputation for bashing home runs but Westport's dominant duo of Chad Knight and Azadian kept them more than in check. The two stars struck out 26 batters in 10 1/3 innings combined. The duo also hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to effectively put the game out of reach. Matt Brown hit a home run off the bench and leadoff man Chris Drbal blasted a homer in the victory as well.

Florida

The state championship game is set after semifinal victories by Sarasota American and Martin County North. Sarasota American withstood a menacing Northwest Leon lineup to pull out an 8-5 victory. Sarasota scored four runs in the second inning without recording a hit. Max Cohen pitched 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory. Martin County North took down defending state champion Plant City in their semifinal behind a grand slam from Dominick Thompson. He also pitched five innings allowing just two runs in the 8-4 victory. The two teams will play for the state title this morning.

Massachusetts

Newton SouthEast and Hanover each won their final game in pool play to set up a state championship game with each other on Monday night. Newton beat a tough Peabody Western team 5-3 behind some nifty pitching from Jackson Danford. Brandon Lee blasted a two-run home run in the victory. Newton will face Hanover, a 10-0 winner over Holden, in the state title game. Newton SouthEast beat Hanover 3-2 in their first meeting. Based on reading articles about these teams, I'm guessing Hanover is the team to beat.

Wyoming

In Wyoming, the district runner-up gets new life and advances to the state tournament in addition to the champion. For Cody LL, it paid off. The district runners-up advanced to the state championship game and beat their own district champions, Riverton, in the final, 13-11. It's the second straight state championship for Cody. Cody jumped out to 7-0 and 12-2 leads before Riverton battled all the way back behind its potent lineup, but it wasn't enough.

Montana

Big Sky Little League shocked the Little League world when it advanced to the United States championship game in 2011 and even had a 1-0 victory over eventual LLWS champions, Ocean View LL of Huntington Beach, California. Now the boys from Billings are back. Big Sky beat Mount Sentinel Little League of Missoula 9-0 in game 2 of the best-of-three series to win the title. Big Sky won game 1 13-4.

New York

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Little League won the first state title in league history with an impressive 5-1 victory over South Shore American Little League of Staten Island. Burnt Hills opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over SSA and then beat Pearl River 5-4 in the winners bracket final. Burnt Hills trailed Pearl River 3-0 before Jack Wyatt launched a three-run home run to tie the game before BHBL picked up the victory.

Northern California

Soooo watch out for Belmont-Redwood Shores. BRS lost 2-0 to Santa Cruz American's Javier Felix in the winner's bracket final earlier this week, but forced SCA to burn Felix for the remainder of the tournament. BRS, on the other hand, saved its pitching. That strategy proved to work as Nicholas Lopez and Sean Lee tossed 12 innings combined, allowed zero runs, just two hits, and struck out a ridiculous 29 batters in a 2-0 victory yesterday and a 9-0 victory in the "if" game on Sunday. Lee's fastball was being clocked at 74 MPH on Sunday.

Southern California

Maybe there's something in the water in Chula Vista. Back in 2009, Park View LL of Chula Vista made headlines with its ridiculous offensive numbers. Now, Eastlake LL is making its own noise with a dominant offense. Eastlake has only scored less than 10 runs in a game three times throughout the tournament (including its last two against a highly-touted Sherman Oaks Southern team).

State Champions List

WEST
Arizona- Chandler National South LL
Hawaii- Central East Maui LL
Nevada- Mountain Ridge LL (North Las Vegas)
Utah- Dixie LL (St. George)
Northern California- Belmont-Redwood Shores LL
Southern California- Eastlake LL (Chula Vista)

NORTHWEST
Washington- Eastlake LL
Idaho- Coeur d'Alene LL
Alaska- Abbott-O-Rabbit LL (Anchorage)
Oregon- Lake Oswego LL
Wyoming- Big Sky LL (Billings)

MIDWEST
Iowa- Urbandale LL
Nebraska- Kearney LL
Kansas- Girard LL
Minnesota- Coon Rapids/Andover American LL
North/South Dakota- Timberline LL (Rapid City)
Missouri- Webb City LL

GREAT LAKES
Indiana- Hagerstown LL
Kentucky- Knox County LL (Barboursville)
Michigan- Grosse Pointe Woods Shores LL
Wisconsin- Burlington LL
Ohio- Hamilton West Side LL
Illinois-

SOUTHWEST
New Mexico- Fairacres LL (Las Cruces)
Colorado- North Boulder LL
Texas West- Universal LL (Corpus Christi)
Texas East- Pearland Maroon LL
Louisiana- Bossier National LL
Arkanas- Malvern LL
Oklahoma- Tulsa LL
Mississippi- Ocean Springs LL

SOUTHEAST
Georgia- Columbus Northern LL
North Carolina- Myers Park/Trinity LL (Charlotte)
South Carolina- Northwood LL
Alabama- Jackson LL
West Virginia- Barboursville LL
Virginia- Tuckahoe American LL
Tennessee- South Nashville LL
Florida- Martin County North LL

MID-ATLANTIC
District of Columbia- Capitol City LL
Maryland- Berlin LL
Pennsylvania- Lionville LL
Delaware- Newark National LL
New York- Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake LL
New Jersey- East Greenwich LL

NEW ENGLAND
Rhode Island- Lincoln LL
New Hampshire- Rye LL
Vermont- South Burlington LL
Maine- Saco LL
Connecticut- Westport LL
Massachusetts- Newton SouthEast

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