League World Series

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Fifty years ago, the team was leaving the field when a few muffled murmurs in the stands turned into a deafening chant. "Let them play!" "Let them play!" The chant still resonates in the hearts and minds of the 1955 Cannon Street All-Stars today and brings that moment to life. It brings them back to a time when they would have given anything to play in the Little League World Series, but weren't given the chance because of the color of their skin. Six of the 14 Cannon Street Little Leaguers returned to the Little League World Series last week to be honored in a ceremony before Maitland, Fla., defeated Davenport, Iowa.

CLEVELAND -- Televisions in the Orioles' clubhouse have shown the Little League World Series recently, and the major leaguers have been paying attention. But no Orioles player may be more interested than 22-year-old second baseman Jonathan Schoop. This month marks the 10th anniversary of when Schoop's Pabao Little League club from his native Curacao beat Thousand Oaks, Calif., 5-2, to become the first Caribbean team to win the Little League World Series. Schoop picked up the save in that title game.

Whatever plans the residents of Preston and Federalsburg had for this coming weekend have likely gone out the window, as folks from the tiny Caroline County towns pack up and head for Williamsport, Pa., to watch their team play in the Little League World Series. "It's all been overwhelming, but everybody is really happy," said Tina Nagel, the mother of J.T. Nagel, an outfielder for the South Caroline team that beat Deep Run Valley of Hilltown, Pa., 4-1, Sunday in the Mid-Atlantic regional final in Bristol, Conn.

For a family event that involves baseball, outer space, parades (and is free), head out to Williamsport, Pa., this weekend to watch the 2010 Little League World Series, which has been hosted by the small Pennsylvania town as it has been since 1947. "Carl E. Stotz saw his nephews playing baseball and thought it would be nice if they had a team and a league to play on competitively," said Erin Kriner, a spokeswoman for the event, which begins Friday and continues throughout next week.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Boynton Beach, Fla., will have to be content with its U.S. Little League champion banner. Japan is the world champion, as it ended the final day of an extended season for Boynton Beach by winning yesterday's title game, 10-1. It was the third time in five years that a Japanese team has won the Little League World Series. Boynton Beach simply had no answer for Tokyo pitcher Yuutaro Tanaka, who got the first nine Boynton batters out on strikeouts and ended with 14 while allowing three hits.

PRESTON -- The 566 residents of this former railroad stop, which rises like an island in a sea of Eastern Shore corn and soybean fields, weren't kidding when they dubbed the place "the biggest little town in the U.S.A." Preston has a two-lane main drag, a blinking caution light, one restaurant, one pharmacy, two convenience stores and a giant home-grown car dealership. And now it has a team in the Little League World Series. There's hardly a soul around who wants to talk about anything except the odds that this group of 11- and 12-year-olds, which also has players from nearby Federalsburg, will win the 16-team tournament that begins this weekend.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- There is nothing so still as a baseball diamond after the last out of the last game of the last year of Little League. There will always be baseball, of course, maybe in high school or -- knock on a wooden bat -- the majors for a very few. But, after your 12th summer, it will never be Little League again.Here in the birthplace of Little League baseball, the stadium seems particularly still as the mist rolls off the mountains and play has ended for another day. Dan Burchfield is standing on a riser on the third-base side and staring silently at the empty diamond that glows under its bright lights.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - In every collective endeavor, there will be those who believe and those who need proof. In the case of the South Caroline (County) Little League team that has advanced to this weekend's World Series, count Hunter Bennett among the skeptical. Oh sure, this group of 11- and 12-year-olds had won a state title two years ago, but getting to the World Series seemed problematical for Hunter, who just happens to be the second baseman. "I thought we could win, but we had a lot of big heads that thought we were already going to win states," said Hunter.

BASEBALL Little League World Series 8 P.M. [ESPN]: The Hagerstown team that won the Mid-Atlantic region will play a team from Indiana in the first round of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- The young interpreter for the Venezuelan team at the Little League World Series was doing fine until the star pitcher used an unfamiliar term.Stumped, the interpreter pleaded for a clarification.Cesar Hidalgo, the 12-year-old right-hander with the 75-mph fastball, then ran his right thumb and right index finger downward alongside his ear, widening his fingers near the lobe."Oh," the interpeter said. "Sideburns. I know the word. For some reason, it just didn't come to me."

Douglas M. Mox, a food broker and baseball umpire, died Monday of multiple organ failure at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 52. "He had been on the heart transplant list since mid-January," said his wife of 30 years, the former Carol Miller, a real estate agent with NAI KLNB. Mr. Mox, the son of a Baltimore police officer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and spent his early years in Morrell Park. In 1970, he moved with his family to Arbutus, where he lived for the rest of his life.

BASEBALL Little League World Series 8 P.M. [ESPN]: The Hagerstown team that won the Mid-Atlantic region will play a team from Indiana in the first round of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Baltimore baseball fans have an internal clock that normally tells them to shut it down by this time of the summer and turn their rooting interest to the Ravens and the NFL. A decade of losing seasons at Camden Yards has had its effect, though the 2008 Orioles have done a better job of holding fans' attention. But there's certainly no postseason in the offing. However, before you pack away the diamond dreams for the season, you might want to check in on the Maryland representatives in the Little League World Series.

Folks in Salisbury figure their town is more than just a rest stop for beach-goers. They've got a baseball team to prove it. The kids from West Salisbury have reached the 2007 Little League World Series, which begins today in Williamsport, Pa. One of 16 teams in the international tournament, West Salisbury - the Mid-Atlantic champion - plays Chandler, Ariz., the West winner, in a first-round game at 3 p.m. tomorrow. The game will be televised on Channel 2 (ABC). It's the first trip to Williamsport for West Salisbury (16-4)

One by one, members of the Pabao Little League of Willemstad, Curacao, named their favorite baseball player for the TV broadcast of the 2005 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. "Andruw Jones." "Andruw Jones." "Andruw Jones." There was no deviation. No Roger Clemens or Alex Rodriguez thrown in for good measure. "Everybody said him," Atlanta Braves outfielder Brian Jordan said with a laugh. "But he does a lot for Curacao and the Little League there, so they have a good role model and it is good to see. He put them on the map."

BOBBY THOMSON has nothing on Michael Memea's dream moment. After his team rallied from a three-run deficit, the 12-year-old catcher from Ewa Beach hit a game-winning home run to defeat Curacao, 7-6, and win the Little League World Series on Sunday. It was the first extra-innings Little League World Series game in 34 years and left sportswriters on Oahu wondering if Michael's Kilauean smoking of a full-count pitch wasn't the biggest blast in Hawaii history. We know, we know. Holding a world championship for 11- and 12-year-olds -- and broadcasting it internationally -- sounds like a formula for disaster, an abuse of vulnerable pre-teens whose recreation shouldn't be taken so seriously.

BOBBY THOMSON has nothing on Michael Memea's dream moment. After his team rallied from a three-run deficit, the 12-year-old catcher from Ewa Beach hit a game-winning home run to defeat Curacao, 7-6, and win the Little League World Series on Sunday. It was the first extra-innings Little League World Series game in 34 years and left sportswriters on Oahu wondering if Michael's Kilauean smoking of a full-count pitch wasn't the biggest blast in Hawaii history. We know, we know. Holding a world championship for 11- and 12-year-olds -- and broadcasting it internationally -- sounds like a formula for disaster, an abuse of vulnerable pre-teens whose recreation shouldn't be taken so seriously.

Soviet athletes uncertain about futureThe overthrow of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev by Kremlin hard-liners left Soviet athletes abroad in limbo and those at home wondering if they will be able to compete in foreign events.The Canada Cup hockey tournament prepared for a possible Soviet withdrawal even after being told the Soviet squad still would participate. A Soviet track and field official questioned whether his team will make it to the World Championships in Tokyo.Soviets kept a low profile at the cycling world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, at the rowing world championships in Vienna and at the European Swimming Championships in Athens.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Fifty years ago, the team was leaving the field when a few muffled murmurs in the stands turned into a deafening chant. "Let them play!" "Let them play!" The chant still resonates in the hearts and minds of the 1955 Cannon Street All-Stars today and brings that moment to life. It brings them back to a time when they would have given anything to play in the Little League World Series, but weren't given the chance because of the color of their skin. Six of the 14 Cannon Street Little Leaguers returned to the Little League World Series last week to be honored in a ceremony before Maitland, Fla., defeated Davenport, Iowa.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Thousand Oaks, Calif., ended the summer-long pursuit of a world championship last night for Preston, Md., at the Little League Baseball World Series - but not before Preston put a scare into the U.S. West champions. Thomas Howe scored Ben LaNeve with a game-tying infield single in the fourth inning before the West champions scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings and pulled away for a 3-1 win in the U.S. semifinals at Lamade Stadium. Thousand Oaks (21-0) advances to tomorrow's U.S. championship to play Richmond, Texas, an 8-2 winner over Morganton, N.C., on Wednesday night.