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 Japan socks U.S. for title Sumiyama pitches Osaka past Phenix City with shutout
Posted: Tuesday September 14, 1999 11:48 PM
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (CNN/SI) -- A year ago Japan lost in the finals of the Little League World Series. This year, a youngster named Kazuki refused to let that happen. Kazuki Sumiyama struck out nine Saturday as Osaka, Japan, beat Phenix City, Ala., 5-0 in the championship game of the World Series. Sumiyama got ahead of Phenix City's hitters early and often, starting off the game by striking out three of the first four batters. The young righthanded pitcher, a soft-spoken 12-year-old whose favorite U.S. player is Mark McGwire, had a total of 19 strikeouts in his two appearances. And he can hit, too, batting .615 in the two wins. "He was hard to hit off of," said Phenix City shortstop Brandon Monk, who was 0-for-3 with a strikeout. "He would hide the ball really well with his hand, and it was hard to pick up. Plus, he throws really hard." "The kids were coming back to the dugout and saying, 'The ball's just jumping out at us,'" Phenix City manager Tony Rasmus said. U.S. teams have won only six of the last 20 Little League series. Only Zach Martin and Cory Rasmus got hits, both singles, off Sumiyama, who throws a fastball and variations his teammates call the "Kazuball" and the "Thunderball." His coaches say he is shy even back home in Osaka and that he is already being recruited by Japanese high schools. He was not bashful about keeping runners off base. The 5-foot-7, 122-pound Sumiyama, or "Sumi" to his friends, did not allow a run in 11 innings at the series. His father was home in Osaka running the family liquor store Saturday, but his mother made the trip to Williamsport along with seven other parents of team members. "I imagined that I was pitching someplace else," Sumiyama said through interpreter Bill Lundy. In the second, Kazutoshi Adachi scored the first run of the game from third on catcher Rasmus' throwing error on a steal attempt. Martin threw four straight balls to Adachi to start the inning after getting two strikes on him before about 42,000 fans at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Phenix City manager Tony Rasmus, who quit his job as a coach at a private school to stay with the team through the series, had to use Martin, his No. 3 pitcher, after both his son, Colby, and 5-foot-4 curveball specialist Bryan Woodall pitched in the U.S. championship victory over defending champion Tom Rivers, N.J., a game that was stretched over Thursday and Friday by rain. In the fourth, Osaka got a run on consecutive doubles by Kazunori Morishita and Kazuya Yamasaki, and Yamasaki scored when a low pitch squirted off Rasmus' glove for a 3-0 lead. Osaka had a two-run fifth as well before a crowd that included celebrities such as Tommy John, Kenny Rogers and Brian Sipe. Fans showered the field with paper plates after the game. The Hirakata Little League of Osaka, managed by former Hanshin Tigers outfielder Tsutomu Kameyama, becomes the fourth Japanese team to win the series, joining the Chofu Little League of Tokyo (1976), the Wakayama Little League (1968) and the West Tokyo Little League (1967). A team from Kashima, Japan, lost 12-9 in last year's championship game to Toms River. At the invitation of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, the Phenix City team will board a bus at 7 a.m. Sunday and watch the Seattle Mariners-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium, then dine at the All-Star Cafe. "I told them last night, 'Hey, if we don't win tomorrow, no big
deal. It's been a super run,'" said Tony Rasmus, a former player
in the California Angels organization.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||
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