Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC) American Little League from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, scored 90 runs and yielded only 17 on its way to the Europe Region Championship and the league’s fifth berth in the Little League Baseball World Series. The new Europe Champion captured the title today with a 7-0 win over Nord-Holland Little League from Alkmaar, Netherlands.
The eight-day, 12-team tournament was played at the Little League Baseball European Leadership Training Center in Kutno, Poland. The championship game was played at Ed Piszek Stadium.
KMC American Little League won Pool A with a 5-0 record outscoring its opponents, 56-13. In winning its final three games of the tournament to advance to the World Series, KMC American Little League pitchers tossed two shutouts with its 7-4 win over Kirovograd Center Little League from Kirovograd, Ukraine, in the semifinal, the closest game of the tournament.
Nord-Holland Little League, which was looking for its first World Series berth, was the No. 3-seed in Pool B but earned its spot in the title game with an 8-6 victory over Lazio (Italy) Little League in the other semifinal game. The lower seeded team won three of the four quarterfinal tournament games.
KMC American Little League previously earned a berth in the World Series in 2010, 2009, while in 1993 and 1992 the league qualified as KMC Little League. It is the seventh time a team from Ramstein Air Base has played in the World Series.
Teams from Germany that have advanced to the World Series, in most cases, have been comprised of children who are dependants of U.S. military personnel.
KMC American Little League joins Aguadulce Cabezera Little League from Aguadulce, Panama, the Latin America Region Champion; Kitasuna Little League from Tokyo, Japan, the Japan Region Tournament Champion; Asia-Pacific Region Champion, Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan County, Chinese Taipei; Pariba Little League from Willemstad, Curacao, the Caribbean Region Champion; Middle East & Africa Champion, Lugazi Little League from Lugazi, Uganda; and the Mexico Region Champion, Oriente Little League from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, in the 16-team Little League Baseball World Series field.
KMC American Little League will play its first game of World Series, Aug. 16, against the Asia-Pacific Region Champion, Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan County, Chinese Taipei.
The 66th Little League Baseball World Series, for 11-12-year-olds, will be played in South Williamsport, Pa., Aug. 16-26. Sixteen teams from around the world will vie for the coveted title of World Champion.
The World Series will use the same format as last year with the teams split into two eight-team brackets – a U.S. bracket and an International bracket.
The 2012 World Series is the sixth under an eight-year television contract with ESPN/ABC. All games of the World Series will be televised live, in high definition, on the ESPN family of networks or ABC. ABC will air the World Series championship game, Aug. 26 at 3 p.m., and the U.S. and International Championship games the previous day beginning with the International contest at 12:30 p.m. and the U.S. game to follow. For the second year, all 21 World Series games played at Lamade Stadium will air on ESPN 3D.
As has been the case since 1997, everyone can follow the road to South Williamsport for the squads from the U.S. with ESPN and its family of networks coverage of the Little League Baseball regionals. Live coverage of the semifinals and championship game at all eight regional sites begins August 7. In addition, the New England Sports Network (NESN) will televise four pool play games in the New England Regional, played at the A. Bartlett Giamatti Leadership Training Center in Bristol, Conn., and both semifinals.
A new addition this year to the television schedule will feature the televising of all pool play games of the Southwestern Region Little League Baseball Tournament in Waco, Texas, by the Longhorn Network, part of the ESPN family, Aug. 3-6.
The U.S. regional finals will be televised as follows (all times eastern U.S. time): Southwestern Region (Aug. 9, 9 p.m., Waco, Texas, ESPN2); Southeast Region (Aug. 10, 7 p.m., Warner Robins, Ga., ESPN); Great Lakes Region (Aug. 10, 1 p.m., Indianapolis, Ind., ESPN); New England Region (Aug. 11, 6 p.m., Bristol, Conn., ESPN); Northwest Region (Aug. 11, 4 p.m., San Bernardino, Calif., ESPN); Midwest Region (Aug. 11, 2 p.m., Indianapolis, Ind., ESPN); West Region (Aug. 11, 8 p.m., San Bernardino, Calif., ESPN); and Mid-Atlantic Region (Aug. 12, 5 p.m., Bristol, Conn., ESPN2).
The next berth in the Little League Baseball World Series is expected to be decided Aug. 9 when the champion in the Southwest Region Tournament will be determined, the first U.S. qualifier.
Ocean View Little League from Huntington Beach, Calif., captured the 2011 Little League Baseball World Series Championship scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 2-1 victory over Hamamatsu Minami Little League, the Japan Region Champion.
Follow every pitch of the Little League Baseball World Series on the Little League web site (www.LittleLeague.org).
Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.4 million players and 1 million adult volunteers in every U.S. state and scores of other countries.