Little League expanded the World Series participants from 8 to 16 total back in
2001 giving twice as many teams the Williamsport experience. 2001 happens to be
the first year I traveled to Bristol, Connecticut for the Mid-Atlantic and New
England region tournaments. Together, it’s still known as the East Region
tournament despite two teams advancing.
In the past 11 years, there have been some amazing baseball games, teams, and
talent. The best year, in my opinion, was 2006. Portsmouth, New Hampshire won
the New England region and Mid-Island LL from Staten Island won the
Mid-Atlantic region that year, but the story lies in the talent of almost every
team that made it to Bristol. After a couple days of the tournament, most
people can get a feel for who the best team or best couple teams are. Good
years have three teams worthy of the championship, and great years have four.
In 2006, the New England region had FIVE teams that would’ve been a great representative
for the LLWS. The Mid-Atlantic was no slouch either with a couple great teams
and a one of the best pitchers I’ve ever seen.
I’m known for always sitting on my blanket in the third base bleachers and also
keeping a notebook with the scorecard for every single game in Bristol.
Referring to my 2006 notebook, here’s the picture I can paint for you about
that great year.
The first game of the tournament was a Mid-Atlantic pool play game between
Capitol City Little League and South Caroline, Maryland. Coming into the
tournament, Maryland’s Brandon Nelson had a reputation of being a power
pitcher. This was an understatement. Using a radar gun at the field, Nelson was
clocked as high as 78 MPH and consistently threw 73-75 MPH. He tossed a complete game shutout giving up
one hit, striking out 17, and walking just one batter. It was remarkable. South
Caroline won 4-0.
Peabody Western, Massachusetts blew out Yarmouth, Maine 15-0 in the next game.
They smacked six homeruns including three in a row at one point. Their top
pitcher, Sean Glabicky, also topped 70 MPH. He struck out eight in just three
innings. In Game 3, New York was down 9-4 to Naamans, Delaware in the fifth
inning before storming back to win 10-9 behind a grand slam from 11-year old
Chris Goetz. The day didn’t slow down at all in the night cap. Glastonbury
American, Connecticut beat Lincoln, RI 4-3 in seven innings behind a walkoff
homerun from Steve Michalek. Michalek also struck out 14 in six innings.
After one of the craziest days of games ever, it didn’t stop
on day two. Portsmouth, NH and Colchester, VT had their first of two battles
and Jordan Bean put his hat in the ring for best pitcher in the region. Bean
threw a complete game 1-hiter with all outs via strikeout, 18 of them in total.
Vermont’s Josh Place did a valiant job matching Bean zero for zero after giving
up a first inning run.
On day three, Massachusetts and Rhode Island battled, and RI (now 0-2) was in
yet another extra-inning game. This time they came out on the right end of it
when Ryan O’Dell blasted a tenth-inning homerun to walkoff with a 3-1 victory.
If ten innings and four runs were too much pitching for you, New York played
another barnburner, this time beating Maryland 20-10 with 20 hits. Vermont
continued its pitching prowess with a shutout of Connecticut and blasted three
homeruns in the first inning to prove they were the best Vermont team in
history, quite possibly.
Maryland got back in the win column with Nelson on the mound as hit fired off
14 more strikeouts, but gave up his first run. He had 31 strikeouts in 12
innings at that point. Colchester continued to pitch well, but lost another
tough one, this time to Massachusetts. Glabicky struck out ten in a complete
game 1-hitter and Matt Tehan and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homeruns in the
fourth to do all the scoring.
Lincoln, Rhode Island finished pool play 1-3 and out of
contention despite going to extra innings three times. The third and final time
was against New Hampshire. It was 1-1 through six and yet another pitcher’s
duel. Bean gave up an unearned run in the sixth and struck out 14 batters. He
had 32 strikeouts in 12 innings. O’Dell struck out 10 batters in six innings
before Portsmouth unloaded in the seventh inning off Rhode Island’s relievers.
Back in the Mid-Atlantic, Livingston American, New Jersey
was proving to be the best team in the region and bolstered that claim with
ANOTHER extra inning game. New Jersey beat New York 8-6 in seven innings giving
them an unblemished record heading into the semifinals. The loss by New York
forced them to have to face Nelson in the semifinals.
New Jersey felt all but assured the regional championship
with the semifinals matchups. Nelson and Maryland should take care of New York,
the second best team in the region, and then they could easily handle Maryland’s
weak back end pitching. Not so fast. Nelson led off the semifinals with a long
homerun, and didn’t allow a hit for five innings. Down 1-0 in the sixth against the most
dominant pitcher in the region, New York squeezed two hits off Nelson to score
the game-tying run. Nelson finished with 14 strikeouts in six innings, but was
done for the day due to the six inning pitch rule. 11-year old Chris Goetz did
his part for New York by not allowing another hit after the Nelson homerun
(intentionally walking Nelson twice in the process). He struck out 12. In the
bottom of the seventh though, Matt Davis belted a walk-off homerun to shock
Maryland and enter the Mid-Atlantic championship game.
The game that followed is responsible for many rule changes in Little League,
specifically, the fact that a mandatory play violation doesn’t result in a forfeit
anymore.
Vermont, which hadn’t hit well for most of the tournament, blasted three
homeruns against New Hampshire and took a 9-7 lead into the sixth and final
inning. The Vermont manager realized that he hadn’t put in a sub, so he did the
only thing he could do to try and make sure his team had a chance to play in
the championship. He instructed his players to walk everyone on New Hampshire.
This would allow New Hampshire to tie the game and give Vermont a chance to get
their player in the game.
New Hampshire recognized the problem obviously and their manager instructed his
players to swing at the balls which were purposely being thrown the backstop.
Players on the field were crying, nobody knew what to do. It was a mess. Little
League got involved. Told the managers they were making a mockery of the game
and Vermont forfeited a game they were winning in the sixth inning. New
Hampshire went on to the World Series behind 13 more strikeouts from Jordan
Bean and another shutout. He had 45 strikeouts in 18 innings during the
tournament. He finished the entire tournament run leading to Williamsport with
91 strikeouts in 40 innings. In Williamsport he added 26 more strikeouts in 12
innings for a grand total of 125 strikeouts in 52 innings.
Back in the Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey and New York played
another game for the ages this time in the regional championship. New Jersey
took a 1-0 lead when 11-year old Nick Ebert blasted a solo homerun in the
fourth inning, but New York got the run back in the fifth on an error. In the
bottom of the sixth with the score still tied 1-1, Frank Smith drove a walk-off
homerun and sent Mid-Island Little League to the World Series. It was the second
walk-off homerun in a row for New York.
I’m not sure the drama of the games, the quality of the
pitching, or the overall talent on the field can ever be topped in Bristol
again, but no matter what I’ll never forget those ten days in 2006.
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