Best Baseball Game of the Year

The best baseball game that I have seen all year took place today. It wasn't in the Cardinals and it definitely was not the Cubs! The game was between Canada and Germany at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

I have been keeping track of both teams throughout there time in Williamsport. I knew that they were both 0-2 and would not be moving out of pool play. I tuned into this game because I knew that both teams would be giving everything they had to get 1 win before returning home.

The game was everything I had hoped it would be. Both teams came out with a lot of energy but made many mistakes early. Team Canada took advantage of some errors from Germany and jumped out to a 10-2 lead. You could see the look of disappointment on the faces in the dugouts. As the camera closed in on the players from Germany, you could see their frustration with every error. Their frustration and disappointment was not from losing, it was from playing poorly. This was a good team that had fought to beat a lot of teams to come out to represent Europe.

Although frustration and disappointment was in their eyes, they never once gave up. I kept watching because I knew the game had a lot more excitement. Any professional game that is 10-2 with 2 innings left is not any fun to watch. It really doesn't matter who you are cheering for because both teams are just going through the motions. This is not the case with the Little League World Series.

Although I expected Germany to still have a little fight in them, I did not expect what I was about to see. Germany came out in the bottom of the 5th inning and gave everything they had. They pushed 5 players across the plate to bring the score to 10-7 when one of their players stepped up and blasted a go ahead home run. They would tack on 3 more to take a 13-10 lead going into the final inning. That is right...they scored 11 runs in the second to last inning.

The top of the 6th brought Canada their final chance. Having just seen their 8 run lead turn into a 3 run deficit, Canada should have folded. I do not know many teams in any league that would not have folded. Canada was one of those teams. They battled back to within 1 run when Katie Reyes stepped up to the plate. The score was 13-12 in Germany's favor. The bases were loaded with 2 outs when Katie slashed a single into right field scoring 2 runs. Katie had gone hitless in her time in Williamsport before a 3-4 day at the plate. She drove in the game winning run and gave Canada it's one and only win in this year's Little League World Series. Oh and did I mention she had an excellent day in the field?

I don't know if much will be said about this game but it is one I will remember for a long time. There are a lot of things wrong with baseball today, but the Little League World Series is not one of them!