2007 Little League World Series

The 2007 Little League World Series was a baseball tournament held August 17 through August 26 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Eight teams from the United States and eight from throughout the world competed to decide the winner of the 61st installment of the Little League World Series. On August 26, the U.S. champion from Warner Robins, Georgia, defeated the international champion from Tokyo, Japan, 3–2 in 8 innings on a walk-off home run by Dalton Carriker. This was the second straight year that a team from Georgia won the championship.

2007 Little League World Series
DatesAugust 17–August 26
Teams participating16
ChampionWarner Robins American Little League
Warner Robins, Georgia
Runner-upTokyo Kitasuna Little League
Tokyo, Japan
Little League World Series
Warner Robins, Georgia Little League team, champions of the 2007 Little League World Series.

The series was marked by dramatic finishes. The championship final was the third elimination game in the tournament to end with a walk-off homer. In the international bracket, one of the semifinals ended with the team from Willemstad, Curaçao, defeating the team from Maracaibo, Venezuela, on a three-run, come-from-behind walk-off shot in the 7th inning. The Curaçao team would be the victim of a come-from-behind walk-off grand slam in the international final two days later.

The tournament was televised on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. Games were held in the two stadiums located at Little League headquarters in South Williamsport:

  • Howard J. Lamade Stadium — the main stadium, opened in 1959, with seating for 10,000 in the stands and hillside terrace seating for up to 30,000 more
  • Little League Volunteer Stadium — a newer facility, opened in 2001, that seats slightly over 5,000, primarily in the stands
  • Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles Dodgers) Outfielder/1st Baseman played for Chandler, Arizona

Groups

Between five and sixteen teams competed in regional tournaments to progress to the Little League World Series, which varied from straight-knockout competitions (Japan) to the group/elimination format used in the United States. 2007 was the first year that Japan received its own regional playoff, with the Asia (Japan's former home) and Pacific regions merging to create the new Asia-Pacific group.

Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D
Walpole, Massachusetts
New England Region
Walpole American Little League		 Salisbury, Maryland
Mid-Atlantic Region
West Salisbury Little League		 Willemstad, Curaçao
Caribbean Region
Pabao Little League		 Mexicali, Baja California
Mexico Region
Seguro Social Little League
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Northwest Region
Lake Oswego Little League		 Chandler, Arizona
West Region
Chandler National Little League		 Tokyo
Japan Region
Tokyo Kitasuna Little League		 Taichung, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
Asia-Pacific Region
Li-Shing Little League
Warner Robins, Georgia
Southeast Region
Warner Robins American Little League		 Lubbock, Texas
Southwest Region
Lubbock Western Little League		 Surrey, British Columbia
Canada Region
White Rock/South Surrey Little League		 Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Region
Windmills Little League
Hamilton, Ohio
Great Lakes Region
West Side Little League		 Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Midwest Region
Coon Rapids National Little League		 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Transatlantic Region
Arabian American Little League		 Maracaibo, Venezuela
Latin America Region
La Victoria Little League

Results

Pool play

The top two teams in each pool move on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 26 to play for the Little League World Championship. Teams marked in green qualified to the knockout stage, while the remaining teams were eliminated.

Ties are broken based on records in head-to-head competition among tied teams. In the event of a three-way tie for first place, the tie is broken by calculating the ratio of runs allowed to defensive innings played for all teams involved in the tie. The team with the lowest runs-per-defensive-inning ratio is ranked first and advances. Second place is determined by the head-to-head result of the other two teams. If the three-way tie is for 2nd place, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio rule is used. The team with the lowest run ratio advances, the other two teams are eliminated.

United States
Pool A
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio
1 Southeast 2–1 15 0.882
2 Northwest 2–1 10 0.588
3 New England 1–2 11 0.647
4 Great Lakes 1–2 11 0.647
Pool B
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio
1 Southwest 2–0 1 0.083
2 West 2–1 13 0.722
3 Midwest 1–2 18 1.000
4 Mid-Atlantic 0–2 20 1.667

All times US EDT

Pool Home Score Away Score Time (Venue)
August 17
A Great Lakes 2 New England 3 2:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
A Southeast 9 Northwest 4 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 18
B Mid-Atlantic 6 West 16 3:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
B Southwest 6 Midwest 0 6:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
A Great Lakes 10 Southeast 2 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 19
B West 1 Southwest 5 Noon (Volunteer Stadium)
A Northwest 1 New England 0 3:30 pm (Lamade Stadium)
B Mid-Atlantic 3 Midwest 4 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 21
A Great Lakes 1 Northwest 6 3:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 22
A New England 1 Southeast 8 11:00 am (Volunteer Stadium)[lower-alpha 1]
B West 9 Midwest 2 4:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
B Southwest Mid-Atlantic Canceled[lower-alpha 2]

International
Pool C
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio
1 Japan 2–0 4 0.333
2 Caribbean 2–1 12 0.667
3 Canada 1–2 18 1.059
4 Saudi Arabia 0–2 15 1.500
Pool D
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio
1 Latin America 3–0 4 0.222
2 Asia-Pacific 2–1 5 0.300
3 Mexico 1–2 16 1.000
4 EMEA 0–3 43 3.909

All times US EDT

Pool Home Score Away Score Time (Venue)
August 17
C Caribbean 3 Japan 10 4:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
D Latin America 2 Asia-Pacific 1 6:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
August 18
C Saudi Arabia 5 Canada 13 11:00 am (Lamade Stadium)
D Mexico 11 (F/4) EMEA 1 1:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 19
D EMEA 1 Asia-Pacific 11 (F/5) 4:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
C Saudi Arabia 0 Caribbean 2 7:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
August 21
C Canada 1 Japan 7 1:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
D EMEA 2 Latin America 21 (F/4) 4:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
August 22
D Asia-Pacific 4 Mexico 2 Noon (Lamade Stadium)
C Caribbean 6 Canada 2 2:00 pm* (Volunteer Stadium)
C Japan Saudi Arabia Canceled[lower-alpha 2]
D Latin America 11 Mexico 1 7:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)

Elimination round
 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
August 23 – Noon - Volunteer (F/7)
 
 
 Latin America2
 
August 25 – 12:30 pm - Lamade
 
 Caribbean4
 
 Caribbean4
 
August 23 – 5:00 pm - Volunteer (F/10)
 
 Japan7
 
 Japan4
 
August 26 – 3:30 pm - Lamade (F/8)
 
 Asia-Pacific3
 
 Japan2
 
August 23 – 3:00 pm - Lamade
 
 Southeast3
 
 Southwest8
 
August 25 – 3:30 pm - Lamade
 
 Northwest2
 
 Southwest2
 
August 23 – 7:30 pm - Lamade (F/5)
 
 Southeast5 Third place
 
 Southeast16
 
August 26 – Noon - Volunteer
 
 West6
 
 Caribbean0
 
 
 Southwest1
 
2007 Little League World Series Champions
 
Warner Robins American Little League
Warner Robins, Georgia

Television coverage

For the first time, all 32 games of the tournament, from the opening pitch to the final out, were scheduled for a live telecast in the United States. All but one of the broadcasts were to be on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. (The remaining game, the August 19 Pabao vs. Arabian-American game, was to be shown online on ESPN360, then shown the next day on ESPN2, but the rebroadcast on ESPN2 was canceled and replaced by live coverage of the rain-delayed NASCAR 3M Performance 400, and part of the game was shown live on ESPN due to a rain delay in the scheduled St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs game). ABC was to have its most comprehensive coverage ever, with games on both weekend days in the preliminary rounds, as well as both semifinals and the championship game for a total of five games. ESPN had 15 games scheduled for broadcast, while ESPN2 had 11. A number of games (yet to be announced) were to be shown in high-definition.

The expanded coverage was part of a new eight-year contract between ESPN, Inc. and the Little League organization that started with this series.

No international broadcast plans were available, but possible outlets included ESPN International and TSN (Canada).

Although the Western region champion came from the Phoenix media market, its local affiliate, KNXV, did not show Chandler's first round-robin game on August 18. Instead, ESPN interrupted its normal feed on Cox Communications and other local cable providers to air the game live in that area. KNXV was then to show the game on tape delay at 4:30 p.m. local time. Similarly, the game was also not seen on KTRK-TV in Houston, ironically an owned and operated station. Both KTRK and KNXV instead showed the National Football League preseason game between the Houston Texans and the Arizona Cardinals.

Rules change
  • The 2007 Series was the first to feature a new rule limiting a pitcher to 85 pitches a game and extending rest periods. Little League Baseball hoped that the rule would diminish stress put on pitchers' arms.[1] The rest requirements are as follows:[2]
    • 85 pitches1 - Maximum allowed for a single game
    • 61 or more pitches - Three calendar days of rest.
    • 41–60 pitches - Two calendar days of rest.
    • 21–40 pitches - One calendar day of rest.
    • 20 pitches or fewer - No rest required.

1 If a pitcher reaches the limit while facing a batter, the pitcher may continue to pitch until that batter reaches base or is out.

Noteworthy events

Notable sportsmanship

The walk off home run by Dalton Carriker that won Warner Robins the LLWS was followed by the team coming over to embrace and comfort the losing Tokyo team. This event was given considerable press coverage[3][4] and was considered a breath of fresh air in a summer that saw the spotlight focused on the misdoings of Michael Vick and Barry Bonds.[5]

Measles outbreak

One of the players on the runner-up Tokyo Kitasuna team was reported to have contracted measles before coming to Williamsport. The player, whose identity was not made public, contracted the virus from a sibling back in Japan in late July and was infectious while traveling. As a result, six people across three states were infected. The boy directly infected four people: a friend from Japan, an airport officer in Detroit, a woman who sat near the boy on the flight from Detroit to Baltimore, and a sales representative in Pennsylvania. The man subsequently infected two Houston-area college students.[6]

Coon Rapids handshake incident

Two players on the Coon Rapids, Minnesota club reportedly spit on their hands following their elimination from the tournament during pool play. Upon hearing of the incident, which took place as they got ready to shake hands with the victorious Chandler, Arizona club and was televised throughout the US on ESPN, manager Mark Lowe apologized for the incident.[7]

Notable players

Cody Bellinger, a member of the 2007 Chandler North Little League team, became the first player from the 2007 LLWS to play in Major League Baseball, when he was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers in April 2017. He was named National League Rookie of the Year that season.

Champions Path

The Warner Robins American LL went undefeated on their road to the LLWS, winning all twelve of their games.[8][9] In total record was 17–1, their only loss coming against Hamilton West Side LL (from Ohio).

RoundOppositionResult
Georgia State Tournament
Group Stage Cedartown LL10–0
Group Stage Decatur Belvedere LL7–3
Group Stage Elbert County LL17–6
Group Stage Toccoa National LL22–4
Semifinals Oconee County American LL9–2 (4 inn.)
Championship Buckhead Piedmont LL6–3
Southeast Regional
Group Stage Mobile Westside LL6–5
Group Stage Wren LL6–0
Group Stage Tullahoma American LL5–1
Semifinals SYA East LL3–2
Southeast Region Championship Mobile Westside LL10–9

Notes
  1. The Southeast vs. New England game started at 6:00 pm EDT on August 21, and was suspended due to rain with two outs in the top of the 2nd inning with Southeast leading 2–0. The game was resumed at 11:00 am on August 22.
  2. Due to rain, two games that would have had no effect on pool standings were canceled in order to allow other games to be played: Southwest vs. Mid-Atlantic in Pool B and Japan vs. Transatlantic in Pool C. However, the games counted in determining pitching eligibility.
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References
  1. Armas, Genaro C (2007-08-12). "World Series Arms Race on Hold". New York Daily News. p. 58.
  2. New pitch-count rules have changed Series strategy
  3. Little Leaguers find spotlight brings demands, responsibilities
  4. "FOX Sports on MSN - MLB". Archived from the original on 2007-12-29. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  5. Rock, Brad (September 12, 2007). "Little kids made it a moving moment". Deseret News. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  6. "Multistate Measles Outbreak Associated with an International Youth Sporting Event --- Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Texas, August--September 2007" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. February 22, 2008 / 57(07);169-173
  7. "MN Little League Club: Sorry For Spitting Players". WCCO-TV. 2007-08-25. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  8. "Georgia State Tournament Results". Unpage.com. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  9. "Southeastern Region Tournament". Unpage.com. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
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