Tuesday Afterschool Special: World-Class Baseball

​A Big Little League World Series Catch Up

With the Olympics over, it’s time to turn our attention to that other great international sports tournament: the Little League World Series. It began on August 18 and passed the halfway point yesterday. So where do things stand?

In the United States Bracket, teams from Endwell, NY, and Bowling Green, KY, will play tomorrow for a spot in the US Championship game (taking place Saturday). The other half of that game is still being set: Johnston, IA, and Warick, RI, play at 3 p.m. today, while Chula Vista, CA, and Goodlettsville, TN, meet tonight at 7 p.m. The winner of the 3 p.m. game will play the winner of the 7 p.m. contest Wednesday, and the winner of that game will play a team to be determined, then the winner of that game plays for the US Championship. (The Little League World Series tournament structure can be a little confusing…)

On the International side, Japan was upset by Canada on Friday and ended up in Consolation Game B this morning where they defeated the team from San Antonio, TX. Japan will face Bend, OR, in the Consolation Game on Sunday morning. Still in the hunt: Australia and the Caribbean, who play today at 5 p.m.; the winner of that game will tomorrow face Mexico, who defeated Canada this afternoon; and Latin America and Asia-Pacific, which will play tomorrow for a spot in Saturday’s International Championship Game.

Phew. Got all that? As a reward for making it through all that, enjoy this incredible rally cap/cup photo:

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Great Moments in Coaching/Sports Parenting

With so many teams competing in the Little League World Series, we’re guaranteed to get at least a memorable examples of great sportsmanship and/or awwww-worthy interactions between coaches and players. And sure enough, we got one yesterday:

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When Sports Stars Were in Little League

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LLWS Time Machine: Conforto Edition

Photos: Gene J. Puskar/AP (baseball), Little League (softball)