2009 Little League World Series

The 2009 Little League World Series was the 63rd edition of the championship tournament for Little League baseball, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, from August 21 through August 30, 2009. Eight teams from the United States and eight from the rest of the world competed in the tournament. In the championship game, the United States champions, from Chula Vista, California, defeated the international champions from Taoyuan County, Taiwan. This was the first tournament in which a team representing Chinese Taipei reached the championship game since 1996, and the first championship for a team from the state of California since 1993.

2009 Little League World Series
DatesAugust 21–August 30
Teams participating16
ChampionPark View Little League
Chula Vista, California
Runner-upKuei-Shan Little League
Taoyuan County, Taiwan
Little League World Series
Howard J. Lamade Stadium during the 2009 Little league World Series

Activision released a video game in advance of the event, Little League World Series Baseball 2009.

Teams
Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D
Staten Island, New York
Mid-Atlantic Region
South Shore National Little League		 Peabody, Massachusetts
New England Region
Peabody Western Little League		 Willemstad, Curaçao
Caribbean Region
Pabao Little League		 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Europe Region
KMC American Little League
Mercer Island, Washington
Northwest Region
Mercer Island Little League		 Chula Vista, California
West Region
Park View Little League		 Chiba City, Chiba
Japan Region
Chiba City Little League		 Reynosa, Tamaulipas
Mexico Region
Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League
Warner Robins, Georgia
Southeast Region
Warner Robins American Little League		 San Antonio, Texas
Southwest Region
McAllister Park American Little League		 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
MEA Region
Arabian American Little League		 East Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada Region
Hastings Community Little League
Urbandale, Iowa
Midwest Region
Urbandale East Little League		 Russellville, Kentucky
Great Lakes Region
Logan County/Russellville Little League		 Maracaibo, Venezuela
Latin America Region
Coquivacoa Little League		 Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
Asia-Pacific Region
Kuei-Shan Little League

Results

Pool play

The top two teams in each pool moved on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 30 to play for the Little League World Championship. Teams marked in green qualified to the knockout stage, while the remaining teams were eliminated.

Ties were 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 was 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 was ranked first and advanced. Second place was determined by the head-to-head result of the other two teams. If the three-way tie was for second place, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio rule was used. The team with the lowest run ratio advanced; the other two teams were eliminated.[1]

United States
Pool A
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio
1 Georgia 3–0 8 18 0.444
2 New York 2–1 11 18 0.611
3 Iowa 1–2 22 18 1.222
4 Washington 0–3 18 18 1.000
Pool B
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio
1 Texas 3–0 4 16 0.250
2 California 2–1 6 17 0.353
3 Massachusetts 1–2 27 17 1.588
4 Kentucky 0–3 39 13 3.000

All times US EDT.

Pool Away Score Home Score Time (Venue)
August 21
A New York 10 Washington 2 1:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
A Georgia 11 Iowa 3 5:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
B Massachusetts 1 Texas 10 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 22
A Georgia 6 New York 3 3:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
B Kentucky 0 California 15 (F/5) 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 23
A Washington 3 Iowa 5 Noon (Lamade Stadium)
B Kentucky 0 Texas 12 (F/4) 2:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
B California 14 Massachusetts 0 6:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
August 24
A Georgia 3 Washington 2 4:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
A New York 8 Iowa 3 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 25
B Kentucky 3 Massachusetts 12 4:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
B Texas 6 California 3 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)

International
Pool C
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio
1 Curaçao 3–0 15 18 0.833
2 Japan 2–1 18 18 1.000
3 Saudi Arabia 1–2 9 16 0.813
4 Venezuela 0–3 12 16 0.750
Pool D
Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio
1 Mexico 3–0 3 17 0.176
2 Chinese Taipei 2–1 3 16 0.188
3 Canada 1–2 23 18 1.278
4 Germany 0–3 43 14 3.071

All times US EDT.

Pool Away Score Home Score Time (Venue)
August 21
D Chinese Taipei 16 Germany 0 (F/4) 3:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 22
D Canada 1 Mexico 2 (F/7) 11:00 am (Lamade Stadium)
C Venezuela 1 Curaçao 2 1:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
C Saudi Arabia 2 Japan 5 6:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
August 23
D Canada 0 Chinese Taipei 8 3:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
C Japan 11 Curaçao 12 8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
August 24
D Mexico 13 Germany 0 (F/4) Noon (Lamade Stadium)
C Venezuela 4 Japan 5 2:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
C Saudi Arabia 3 Curaçao 5 6:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
August 25
C Venezuela 3 Saudi Arabia 5 Noon (Lamade Stadium)
D Canada 14 Germany 13 2:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
D Mexico 3 Chinese Taipei 2 6:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)

Elimination round
 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
August 26 – 4:00 pm – Lamade
 
 
C2 Japan0
 
August 29 – Noon – Lamade
 
D1 Mexico6
 
 Mexico4
 
August 27 – 4:00 pm – Lamade
 
 Chinese Taipei9
 
D2 Chinese Taipei5
 
August 30 – 3:00 pm – Lamade
 
C1 Curaçao2
 
 Chinese Taipei3
 
August 26 – 8:00 pm – Lamade
 
 California6
 
A2 New York1
 
August 29 – 7:00 pm – Lamade (F/4)
 
B1 Texas4
 
 Texas2
 
August 27 – 8:00 pm – Lamade
 
 California12 Third place
 
B2 California11
 
August 30 – 11:00 am – Volunteer
 
A1 Georgia10
 
 Mexico5
 
 
 Texas4
 

The United States championship game on August 29 was originally scheduled for 3:00 pm US EDT. After a pair of lengthy rain delays in the international championship game, maintenance required to repair the field for the next game, and to make sure the field was dry enough to play on, it was rescheduled for later that night.

2009 Little League World Series Champions
 
Park View Little League
Chula Vista, California

Champions Path

The Park View Little League won 18 games and lost 2 games to reach the Little League World Series.[2][3][4] Overall, their record was 23–3. Their three losses came against Sweetwater Valley LL, Torrance LL (both from California), and McAllister Park American LL (from Texas). Park View became the ninth team and most recent from San Diego County to qualify for the Little League World Series as the last one was Vista, California in 2005. They also were the third team from San Diego County in the past nine years to qualify for the Little League World Series.[5] During the West Regional the team hit 34 home runs in total and was accused of cheating. A Little League Official looked into the allegations but found no evidence to back them up.[6]

RoundOppositionResult
District 42
Winner's Bracket Quarterfinals Luckie Waller LL16–0
Winner's Bracket Semifinals Imperial Beach LL17–1
Winner's Bracket Finals Sweetwater Valley LL8–1
District 42 Championship Sweetwater Valley LL7–10
District 42 Championship Sweetwater Valley LL8–2
Section 7
Section 7 Group Stage Brawley LL8–5
Section 7 Group Stage Rancho San Diego LL9–1
Section 7 Group Stage Lemon Grove LL5–3
South California Divisional
Winner's Bracket Semifinals Corona National LL14–4
Winner's Bracket Finals Rancho Santa Margarita LL5–4 (7 inn.)
South Sub-Divisional Championship Rancho Santa Margarita LL16–1
South Championship Torrance LL0–18 (4 inn.)
South Championship Torrance LL7–6
South Championship Torrance LL19–12
West Regional
Group Stage Cedar American LL27–1 (4 inn.)
Group Stage Central East Maui LL15–2 (4 inn.)
Group Stage Arrowhead LL20–1 (4 inn.)
Group Stage Legacy LL10–5
Semifinals Legacy LL15–2 (4 inn.)
West Region Championship Lakeside LL11–4

Legacy
President Barack Obama poses for a picture while holding up a jersey given to him by members of the Little League World Championship team from Chula Vista, Calif., in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The City of Chula Vista organized a celebration parade for the team with the team riding on a fire engine which led them to a rally at Southwestern College. They received a congratulations from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[7] The team also met President Barack Obama in Washington D.C. and gave him a team jersey, team plaque and the key to the City of Chula Vista.[8] A book was written about the Chula Vista team called The Blue Bombers: The True Story of the 2009 Little League World Champions, written by San Diego County Residents.[9] A memorial wall was proposed to commemorate the team in Chula Vista.[10] The team also appeared on The Tonight Show hosted by Conan O'Brien.[11] The team was honored at San Diego Padres and Chargers games.[12][13]

References
  1. Sconnolley. "Microsoft Word – pool play-general.doc" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  2. "Southern California District Tournament Results". Unpage.com. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  3. "Southern California Divisional Tournament". Unpage.com. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  4. "West Region Tournament". Unpage.com. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  5. "Chula Vista team wins shot at Little League World Series". signonsandiego.com. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  6. "Official: Park View home runs are legit". signonsandiego.com. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  7. "Hero's Welcome Greets Chula Vista Little League Champs". 10news.com. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  8. "Park View All-Stars Visit White House, Meet Obama". 10news.com. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  9. "New book out on Park View Little League champs". signonsandiego.com. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  10. "Champions Wall proposed". thestarnews.com. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  11. "Park View Little league Homecoming celebration tonight in Chula Vista". sdentertainer.com. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  12. "Hundley draws bases-loaded walk in 10th to lift Padres over Rockies". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  13. "World champs enjoy day with Chargers". chargers.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
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