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Country's pride at stake Davenport, Bellaire advance at LL World Series
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) -- Two survivors with much to prove - Davenport, Iowa, and Bellaire, Texas - were left standing for the U.S. championship at the Little League World Series. "This is big for the cold-weather states that we come from," manager Matt Kolar said as Davenport became the first Central Region team to reach the U.S. final since pool play was introduced in 1992. Bellaire, meanwhile, had before never advanced past district play. "You always think about Williamsport and the Little League World Series, but you know it's a far-fetched, dream-come-true-type situation," Bellaire manager Terry McConn said. "We're here, living the dream." Bellaire is a Houston suburb. Davenport forced a three-way tie for first when it defeated Vancouver, Wash., 6-4 in the preliminary round finale on Wednesday night. That left three teams with 2-1 records, and left Vancouver the odd squad out for Thursday night's game under the complex tiebreaking formula. Bellaire - which lost 5-0 to Vancouver and beat Davenport 4-2 - clinched a berth because it wound up with the fewest runs allowed per inning by a margin of 0.059 less than Davenport. Davenport became the second seed by virtue of beating Vancouver. It was a disappointing end for Vancouver, which spent the week drawing upon the inspiration of Tyler 'TJ' Jacobs, the 6-year-old boy adopted by the team after he underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor last June. Washington manager Tom Peavey was proud of the way his squad competed. "I told them they played fantastic baseball," Peavey said. "They have a lot of fans back home, and they'll find that out when they get home." The International Pool finalists were decided Tuesday. Tokyo (3-0) faces Maracaibo, Venezuela (2-1), Thursday in a rematch of regions from last year's final won by Osaka, which went on to win the Series title. The pool winners meet for the title on Saturday. Already, a rivalry appears to be brewing on the U.S. side. "I'm really happy," said Bellaire pitcher Ross Haggard, likely to get the start. "We've already faced (Davenport), and we know what they're like. ... I think (Vancouver's) better than Central, so I'm glad." Davenport, meanwhile, is looking to reverse its loss to the Texas team. "I think we can beat them," said Dan O'Donnell, who pitched a five-hitter against Vancouver. "We didn't play our 'A' game when we played them before. If we do, we can beat them." Wednesday's game was worthy of a final. Although sloppy at times, it provided plenty of drama as both teams overcame two-run deficits before Davenport broke a 4-4 tie with a two-run fifth inning. Michael Schwartz's second hit of the night knocked in Dustin Evans for the go-ahead run, and Schwartz eventually scored the insurance run when reliever Jesse Boehm hit Chris Kolar with the bases loaded. It proved to be a week of firsts for the Little Leaguers from Davenport as their Series-opening victory over the East ended a three-year Central losing streak. "I guess we're making up for a lot of past sins," Matt Kolar said. Davenport first baseman Julian Vandervelde is confident the team can go beyond Thursday. "This is the third time we've lost a game and had to come back and play the exact same team," Vandervelde said. "And both times, we've beaten them - pretty bad, actually." The Bellaire team, which finished pool play on Tuesday, was forced to watch from the stands. "We're so happy, we can't stand it," Bellaire manager McConn said. "(The tiebreaking format) is kind of confusing and I don't want to go into that, but we're there in the United States championship game. We're happy as we can be." Earlier, Philip Hecht had three hits and drove in the winning run, lifting Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to a 3-1 win over Toronto in a game between the International Pool's two winless teams. The loss capped a week of heartbreak for Toronto, which lost its three games by a combined four runs. Hecht had three hits and finished the Series going 6-for-8, including two doubles.
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