The 2007 Little League World Series was a baseball tournament held August 17 through August 26 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Eight teams from the United States and eight from throughout the world competed to decide the winner of the 61st installment of the Little League World Series. On August 26, the U.S. champion from Warner Robins, Georgia, defeated the international champion from Tokyo, Japan, 3–2 in 8 innings, on a walk-off home run by Dalton Carriker. This was the second straight year that a team from Georgia won the championship.
The series was marked by dramatic finishes. The championship final was the third elimination game in the tournament to end with a walk-off homer. In the international bracket, one of the semifinals ended with the team from Willemstad, Curaçao, defeating the team from Maracaibo, Venezuela, on a three-run, come-from-behind walk-off shot in the 7th inning. The Curaçao team became the victim of a come-from-behind walk-off grand slam in the international final two days later.
The tournament was televised on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. Games were held in the two stadiums located at Little League headquarters in South Williamsport: Howard J. Lamade Stadium — the main stadium, opened in 1959, with seating for 10,000 in the stands and hillside terrace seating for up to 30,000 more Little League Volunteer Stadium — a newer facility, opened in 2001, that seats slightly over 5,000, primarily in the stands
Groups
Between five and sixteen teams competed in regional tournaments to progress to the Little League World Series, which varied from straight-knockout competitions (Japan) to the group/elimination format used in the United States. 2007 was the first year that Japan received its own regional playoff, with the Asia (Japan's former home) and Pacific regions merging to create the new Asia-Pacific group.
Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D Walpole, MassachusettsNew England RegionWalpole American Little League Salisbury, MarylandMid-Atlantic RegionWest Salisbury Little League Willemstad, CuraçaoCaribbean RegionPabao Little League Mexicali, Baja California Mexico RegionSeguro Social Little League Lake Oswego, OregonNorthwest RegionLake Oswego Little League Chandler, ArizonaWest RegionChandler National Little League Tokyo Japan RegionTokyo Kitasuna Little League Taichung, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)Asia-Pacific RegionLi-Shing Little League Warner Robins, GeorgiaSoutheast RegionWarner Robins American Little League Lubbock, TexasSouthwest RegionLubbock Western Little League Surrey, British Columbia Canada RegionWhite Rock/South Surrey Little League Apeldoorn, NetherlandsEurope, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) RegionWindmills Little League Hamilton, OhioGreat Lakes RegionWest Side Little League Coon Rapids, MinnesotaMidwest RegionCoon Rapids National Little League Dhahran, Saudi ArabiaTransatlantic RegionArabian American Little League Maracaibo, Venezuela Latin America RegionLa Victoria Little League Taiwan participates under the name Chinese Taipei in many sporting events, including Little League Baseball (LLB).
Results
Pool play The top two teams in each pool move on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 26 to play for the Little League World Championship. Teams marked in green qualified to the knockout stage, while the remaining teams were eliminated.
Ties are 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 is 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 is ranked first and advances. Second place is determined by the head-to-head result of the other two teams. If the three-way tie is for 2nd place, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio rule is used. The team with the lowest run ratio advances, the other two teams are eliminated.
United States +Pool A Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio 1 Southeast 2–1 15 0.8822 Northwest 2–1 10 0.588 3 New England 1–2 11 0.647 4 Great Lakes 1–2 11 0.647
+Pool B Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio 1 Southwest 2–0 1 0.083 2 West 2–1 13 0.722 3 Midwest 1–2 18 1.000 4 Mid-Atlantic 0–2 20 1.667
All times US EDT
PoolHomeScoreAwayScoreTime (Venue) August 17A Great Lakes2 New England32:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)A Southeast9 Northwest48:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 18B Mid-Atlantic6 West163:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)B Southwest6 Midwest06:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)A Great Lakes10 Southeast28:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 19B West1 Southwest5Noon (Volunteer Stadium)A Northwest1 New England03:30 pm (Lamade Stadium)B Mid-Atlantic3 Midwest48:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 21A Great Lakes1 Northwest63:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 22A New England1 Southeast811:00 am (Volunteer Stadium)B West9 Midwest24:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)B Southwest Mid-AtlanticCanceled
International +Pool C Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio 1 Japan 2–0 4 0.333 2 Caribbean 2–1 12 0.667 3 Canada 1–2 18 1.059 4 Saudi Arabia 0–2 15 1.500
+Pool D Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Run Ratio 1 Latin America 3–0 4 0.222 2 Asia-Pacific 2–1 5 0.300 3 Mexico 1–2 16 1.000 4 EMEA 0–3 43 3.909
All times US EDT PoolHomeScoreAwayScoreTime (Venue) August 17C Caribbean3 Japan104:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)D Latin America2 Asia-Pacific16:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium) August 18C Saudi Arabia5 Canada1311:00 am (Lamade Stadium)D Mexico11 (F/4) EMEA11:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 19D EMEA1 Asia-Pacific11 (F/5)4:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)C Saudi Arabia0 Caribbean27:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium) August 21C Canada1 Japan71:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)D EMEA2 Latin America21 (F/4)4:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium) August 22D Asia-Pacific4 Mexico2Noon (Lamade Stadium)C Caribbean6 Canada22:00 pm* (Volunteer Stadium)C Japan Saudi ArabiaCanceledD Latin America11 Mexico17:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
Elimination round
2007 Little League World Series Champions Warner Robins American Little LeagueWarner Robins, Georgia
Television coverage For the first time, all 32 games of the tournament, from the opening pitch to the final out, were scheduled for a live telecast in the United States. All but one of the broadcasts were to be on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. (The remaining game, the August 19 Pabao vs. Arabian-American game, was to be shown online on ESPN360, then shown the next day on ESPN2, but the rebroadcast on ESPN2 was canceled and replaced by live coverage of the rain-delayed NASCAR 3M Performance 400, and part of the game was shown live on ESPN due to a rain delay in the scheduled St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs game). ABC was to have its most comprehensive coverage ever, with games on both weekend days in the preliminary rounds, as well as both semifinals and the championship game for a total of five games. ESPN had 15 games scheduled for broadcast, while ESPN2 had 11. A number of games (yet to be announced) were to be shown in high-definition.
The expanded coverage was part of a new eight-year contract between ESPN, Inc. and the Little League organization that started with this series.
No international broadcast plans were available, but possible outlets included ESPN International and TSN (Canada).
Although the Western region champion came from the Phoenix media market, its local affiliate, KNXV, did not show Chandler's first round-robin game on August 18. Instead, ESPN interrupted its normal feed on Cox Communications and other local cable providers to air the game live in that area. KNXV was then to show the game on tape delay at 4:30 p.m. local time. Similarly, the game was also not seen on KTRK-TV in Houston, ironically an owned and operated station. Both KTRK and KNXV instead showed the National Football League preseason game between the Houston Texans and the Arizona Cardinals.
Rules change The 2007 Series was the first to feature a new rule limiting a pitcher to 85 pitches a game and extending rest periods. Little League Baseball hoped that the rule would diminish stress put on pitchers' arms. The rest requirements are as follows:New pitch-count rules have changed Series strategy 85 pitches1 - Maximum allowed for a single game 61 or more pitches - Three calendar days of rest. 41–60 pitches - Two calendar days of rest. 21–40 pitches - One calendar day of rest. 20 pitches or fewer - No rest required.
1 If a pitcher reaches the limit while facing a batter, the pitcher may continue to pitch until that batter reaches base or is out.
Noteworthy events
Notable sportsmanship The walk off home run by Dalton Carriker that won Warner Robins the LLWS was followed by the team coming over to embrace and comfort the losing Tokyo team. This event was given considerable press coverageLittle Leaguers find spotlight brings demands, responsibilities and was considered a breath of fresh air in a summer that saw the spotlight focused on the misdoings of Michael Vick and Barry Bonds.
Measles outbreak One of the players on the runner-up Tokyo Kitasuna team was reported to have contracted measles before coming to Williamsport. The player, whose identity was not made public, contracted the virus from a sibling back in Japan in late July and was infectious while traveling. As a result, six people across three states were infected. The boy directly infected four people: a friend from Japan, an airport officer in Detroit, a woman who sat near the boy on the flight from Detroit to Baltimore, and a sales representative in Pennsylvania. The man subsequently infected two Houston-area college students."Multistate Measles Outbreak Associated with an International Youth Sporting Event --- Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Texas, August--September 2007" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. February 22, 2008 / 57(07);169-173
Coon Rapids handshake incident Two players on the Coon Rapids, Minnesota club reportedly spit on their hands following their elimination from the tournament during pool play. Upon hearing of the incident, which took place as they got ready to shake hands with the victorious Chandler, Arizona, club and was televised throughout the US on ESPN, manager Mark Lowe apologized for the incident.
Notable players Cody Bellinger, a member of the 2007 Chandler North Little League team, became the first player from the 2007 LLWS to play in Major League Baseball, when he was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers in April 2017. He was named National League Rookie of the Year that season and the National League MVP in 2019.
Cooper Hummel, a member of the Lake Oswego team, currently plays on the Houston Astros.
Champions path The Warner Robins American LL went undefeated on their road to the LLWS, winning all twelve of their games. In total record was 17–1, their only loss coming against Hamilton West Side LL (from Ohio). RoundOppositionResultGeorgia State TournamentGroup Stage Cedartown LL 10–0Group Stage Decatur Belvedere LL 7–3Group Stage Elbert County LL 17–6Group Stage Toccoa National LL 22–4Semifinals Oconee County American LL 9–2 (4 inn.)Championship Buckhead Piedmont LL 6–3Southeast RegionalGroup Stage Mobile Westside LL 6–5Group Stage Wren LL6–0Group Stage Tullahoma American LL5–1Semifinals SYA East LL3–2Southeast Region Championship Mobile Westside LL10–9
Notes
References
External links 2007 official results via Wayback Machine