Read Yesterday's Post: Day 1 Recap
Read Our First Post: Parade & Predictions
Read the complete LLWS Preview: Little League World Series 2013 Preview
Game 5: Chinese Taipei (Taoyuan Chung-Ping) 10, Canada (Ottawa East Nepean) 2
The teams that aren't typically strong in the international side have really stepped up this year. I was expecting a great LLWS this year, but the talent is even better than expected. East Nepean was not the best team in Canada this year, but they represented very well.
Chinese Taipei was relentless. They play great defense, had good pitching, and two big bats in the middle of the lineup. Huai-Chien Lan and Shih-Che Chou each hit a blast, a double, and walked. Chou's was of the intentional variety.
Canada's Angus Adams (great name!) hit one of the longer home runs in Volunteer Stadium with a towering shot to dead center field right at the oversized flag pole. It cut the Chinese Taipei lead to just 5-2 at the time in the fourth inning. Canada's pitching just couldn't hold up after going deep into its rotation to save guys for the losers bracket.
Chinese Taipei vs. Japan will be awesome on Sunday night.
Game 6: California (Chula Vista Eastlake) 3, Michigan (Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores) 0, 7 innings
Well this game certainly lived up to the billing with the pitching matchup. A one-hitter through six innings for Michigan's Chad Lorkowski and an amazing extra-inning complete game no-hitter from Grant Holman of California. He was a lone walk away from a perfect game. The game was trending nationally because of its super-sized duel on the mound between 6-foot-4 Holman and 6-foot-3 Lorkowski. Are those their true heights? I don't know. They were both listed at 6-foot-2 in the regionals.
Lorkowski gave up a leadoff hit to the very awesome Micah Pietila-Wiggs and then retired 18 in a row (minus the two walks and hit batter). Lorkowski barely used a breaking ball, but different arm angles, slots, and release points coupled with his size and 71-mph fastball made him tough to hit. Holman with his flawless mechanics dominated with his downhill fastball and nice breaking ball. It was a really fun game to watch. Pietila-Wiggs had a web gem at second base.
Lorkowski finished with 12 strikeouts in six innings. Holman had 13 strikeouts in seven innings.
Once Lorkowski left the game, the highly-touted bats of California woke up. Giancarlo Cortez started it with a single, Rennard Williams added another hit, and then Patrick Archer came through with a big hit back up the middle to score two runs. Pietila-Wiggs added an RBI single for an extra run.
Michigan is going to have a hard time battling back, but should be able to handle Iowa to start.
Game 7: Japan (Musashi Fuchu) 7, Czech Republic (Brno) 3
What a great performance from Czech Republic! Europe always struggles at the World Series, especially when its a new native country. They didn't back down from the always favored Japanese champions. Fuchu used six different pitchers, but the Czechs weren't embarrassed at the plate by any means. They only had two hits, but one of them was a two-run blast to left field. Eliska Stejskalova, the only female player at this year's LLWS, had an RBI on a bunt (and I thought was good enough for a single, but official scorers only gave her a sacrifice. The bunt also caused Japan to throw the ball around (when do you hear that?!).
My favorite player in the tournament, Sho Miyao, brought his bat with him and had three hits. He only had one chance in the field defensively and fielded it flawlessly. I'm telling you he's the best SS there is. Japan had eight extra-base hits overall and really smacked the ball around. Because the international side can be so up-and-down, it's tough to tell who the favorite currently is. Sunday is going to be a great day.
Game 8: Delaware (Newark National) 6, Iowa (Urbandale) 3
Talk about starting with a bang. Delaware scored five runs in the first inning on six hard hit balls. Eric Ludman had an RBI double, Jack Hardcastle had a run-scoring single, Jared Owens hit a two-run single, and Ryan Miller ripped an RBI triple in the decisive inning.
Delaware started Joe Davis instead of Nate Hardcastle and the move paid off. Davis struggled in the first inning with his control, but settled down and made it through 4 2/3 innings allowing just two runs on one hit. He struck out seven. Hardcastle got the four-out save with four strikeouts, but it didn't come easy. Two walks and a single allowed a run to score in the sixth and Delaware was visibly frustrated, but came through.
Iowa's Brady Roberts did a great job in relief and stopped the bleeding big time. He didn't allow a hit in two innings of work.
Hardcastle made one of the best plays of the week with a stop in the hole on his knees and threw a seed across the diamond. It short-hopped Ludman at first, but a long stretch and a scoop finished the play.
The U.S. has four teams left in the winners bracket now with four aces on the mound. California and Connecticut may be twos on their teams or 1Bs, but they're aces for anyone else. It's going to be a pair of great matchups.
World Series Rankings After Day 2
1. Panama
2. Chinese Taipei
3. California
4. Japan
5. Connecticut
6. Mexico
7. Delaware
8. Tennessee
9. Washington
10. Puerto Rico
11. Texas
12. Michigan
13. Canada
14. Czech Republic
15. Australia
16. Iowa
Random Thoughts: Crispness is still the story to me. The defense has been awesome. Nine of the last 10 teams to take the field haven't had an error. The one team in the last five games to commit an error? Japan of all teams! The extraordinary plays seem to be up as well. Very impressive. I think the heights and weights are a little inflated on ESPN and it's taking away from the game. Social media is buzzing about the size of the players instead of the talent as if that's the lone reason they're here. If a kid is 6-foot-4, then fine he's that tall, but I don't think Holman is 6-foot-4, is he?
Home Run Meter: 11
Prediction Record: 4-0 (7-1 Overall)
Saturday's Predictions: Puerto Rico over Australia 6-0, Tennessee over Texas 5-3, Canada over Czech Republic 7-2, Michigan over Iowa 4-1.
You can listen to Little League Insider Radio from Sunday for a bit of an initial LLWS preview. I also did an interview on WRAK radio in Williamsport and discussed all the teams and their chances at winning some first round games. That interview isn't available for replay, but will be on WRAK a few times during the week. I'm hoping to get a schedule.
Listen to previous episodes of Little League Insider Radio
Episode 1
Episode 2
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