Georgia team tops Japan for Little League World Championship

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/15384363.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Columbus coach Richard Carter ran on the field.
He found manager Randy Morris. He hugged him. He then picked him up.
He then found his son, Kyle Carter, and picked him up.
Richard wasn't quite finished yet. Next, he located Cody Walker.
Richard carried him about 10 feet.
It was the perfect-ending for Richard - who coached his last Little League game Monday night - winning a Little League World Championship.
And all those that he hugged played a major part in Columbus Northern's 2-1 victory against Kawaguchi, Japan, in Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pa.
Walker hit a two-run home run to right field in the third inning - the only two runs Columbus scored.
Kyle struck out 11 and won his fourth game of the tournament, setting the record for most wins. He allowed one run on four hits.
And Morris was the one that guided Columbus to victories in 20 of the 21 games.
There was only one problem about Richard's celebration. It's all a blur to him.
"I don't remember it," he said about 30 minutes after it happened.
"It's over. My coaching of Little League is done. What a way to go out."
In the beginning it appeared that the game might go scoreless.
The pitchers dominated at the start before Japan was able to score in the third inning. After a strikeout, Seigo Yada singled to center field.
Yada advanced to second on a groundout and scored on Go Matsumoto's two-hop single up the middle.
That run was the first earned run that Carter allowed in tournament.
"He is a fantastic pitcher," Japan manager Shigeru Hidaka said through interpreter Bill Lundy. "He was absolutely dominating with that inside pitch. I have nothing but respect for him."
While Carter allowed only one hit in the first two innings, Matsumoto didn't allow any. Matsumoto recorded six strikeouts in the first two innings.
Columbus got its first hit when Carter singled to right field in the third. Standing on second after a wild pitch, Carter tried to score on Josh Lester's single to center field. He was thrown out at the plate by Yada.
On the next pitch, Walker hit the home run to give Columbus the lead.
"Before the game, I didn't hit that well," Walker said. "I was focused on just hitting the ball."
It worked, and it gave Columbus the momentum in the game.
"That kid has a phenomenal arm, so we were trying to stop him," Morris said about Kyle getting thrown out at home. "But he made it close. It's easy to say that could have been a three-run home run, but they could have pitched him differently."
Carter shut out Japan in the final three innings. In the fourth and fifth, he recorded a strike out for five of the six outs.
"I knew I was going to hold them," Carter said. "I thought we could score more, but I knew that was enough."
Despite five straight balls to start the sixth, it was enough.
With a runner on, Matsumoto's grounder over third base would have tied the game, but it was just foul. Carter went on to strike him out. Carter finished the game with another strike out.
 
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