California entered the Little League World Series looking like a title contender for the American side of the contest.
But in the third inning of Thursday’s game, the team was down 3-1 to Ohio, struggling to pitch and falling victim to short but timely hits.
Then the California loggers woke up. Brody Brooks and Louis Lappe hit back-to-back homers to give California a 4-3 lead, enough to beat Ohio when the game was called off after four innings and a 2½-hour rain delay.
With the victory in their first meeting over the Great Lakes representative, the El Segundo team fielded four, from a Western regional tournament that included Hawaii, the state where the champions of last year and where all regional representatives of the tournament since 2018.
The pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 edition.
California now has time. Their next game is scheduled for Monday, against the winner of this Friday’s game between North Dakota and Texas.
Pitchers Fan Chen-Jun, Chiu Tse-Wei and Cai Yuan-Hao struck out 14 of 18 to prevent the Canadians from reaching base. Thus, the team representing the Asia-Pacific region won 6-0.
Chen-Jun had nine of 14 strikeouts. The Taiwanese ace throws a fastball over 80 mph.
“It’s probably the first time I see guys throwing at 80mph, especially at 12 years old,” said Canadian manager Cole Warken. “It’s a phenomenal thing to see that.”
It was the eighth perfect game in Little League World Series history.
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Spencer Ripchik is a student at the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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