Iowa Team Loses a Heartbreaker At the Little League World Series
In what has probably been the most exciting game of the little league world series tournament so far, the Southeast, Iowa, team almost pulled off an incredible comeback win. The game yesterday between Southeast, Iowa, and Hagerstown, Indiana, got off to a late start. The original game time was set for 2 p.m but bad weather pushed back the start of the game to about 4 o'clock.
When I say one of the best games of the little league world series, I mean it had all of the dramatics fans can enjoy in a baseball game. Indiana started off hot by scoring 4 runs in the first and then adding another 3 runs in the second, starting the game out with a 7-1 lead over Southeast. Not exactly how our home team drew it up... but then the kids from Iowa went to work.
Southeast scored 4 times in the 3rd inning and then tied it up in the 4th with a close play at home. The play was so close, that they used instant replay to review the call and it was decided the umpire got it right.
For the first time in the game, neither team scored a run in the 5th inning. Southeast's, Ballinger, struck out all 3 Indianna batters he faced, and he did it in only 10 total pitches for the inning. Southeast was unable to score in the top of the 6th which gave Indiana a chance to win the ballgame... and they did just that.
The good news for Iowa little league fans is Southeast still has a chance. According to Sporting News "Each team will play at least three games, with the losing teams from each round going in the elimination bracket and the winning teams from each round advancing in the winner's bracket."
Southeast will take on the Northwest team on Saturday, at 2 p.m, on ABC. Good luck to the boys from Iowa! It was a great comeback and a tough way to lose but they'll learn from it and hopefully come out swinging on Saturday.