The 2009 Little League World Series was the 63rd edition of the Little League World Series, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, from August 21 through August 30, 2009. Eight teams from the United States and eight from the rest of the world competed in the tournament. In the championship game, the United States champions, from Chula Vista, California, defeated the international champions from Taoyuan County, Taiwan. This was the first tournament in which a team representing Chinese Taipei reached the championship game since , and the first championship for a team from the state of California since .
Activision released a video game in advance of the event, Little League World Series Baseball 2009.
Teams
Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D Staten Island, New YorkMid-Atlantic Region South Shore National Little League Peabody, MassachusettsNew England Region Peabody Western Little League Willemstad, Curaçao Caribbean Region Pabao Little League Kaiserslautern, GermanyEurope Region KMC American Little League Mercer Island, WashingtonNorthwest Region Mercer Island Little League Chula Vista, CaliforniaWest RegionPark View Little League Chiba City, Chiba Japan Region Chiba City Little League Reynosa, Tamaulipas Mexico Region Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League Warner Robins, GeorgiaSoutheast Region Warner Robins American Little League San Antonio, TexasSouthwest Region McAllister Park American Little League Dhahran, Saudi Arabia MEA Region Arabian American Little League East Vancouver, British Columbia Canada RegionHastings Community Little League Urbandale, IowaMidwest Region Urbandale East Little League Russellville, KentuckyGreat Lakes Region Logan County/Russellville Little League Maracaibo, Venezuela Latin America Region Coquivacoa Little League Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)Asia-Pacific Region Kuei-Shan 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 moved on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 30 to play for the Little League World Championship. Teams marked in green qualified to the knockout stage, while the remaining teams were eliminated.
Ties were 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 was 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 was ranked first and advanced. Second place was determined by the head-to-head result of the other two teams. If the three-way tie was for second place, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio rule was used. The team with the lowest run ratio advanced; the other two teams were eliminated.
United States +Pool A Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio 1 Georgia 3–0 8 18 0.444 2 New York 2–1 11 18 0.611 3 Iowa 1–2 22 18 1.2224 Washington 0–3 18 18 1.000
+Pool B Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio 1 Texas 3–0 4 16 0.250 2 California 2–1 6 17 0.353 3 Massachusetts 1–2 27 17 1.588 4 Kentucky 0–3 39 13 3.000
All times US EDT.
PoolAwayScoreHomeScoreTime (Venue) August 21A New York10 Washington21:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)A Georgia11 Iowa35:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)B Massachusetts1 Texas108:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 22A Georgia6 New York33:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)B Kentucky0 California15 (F/5)8:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 23A Washington3 Iowa5Noon (Lamade Stadium)B Kentucky0 Texas12 (F/4)2:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)B California14 Massachusetts06:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium) August 24A Georgia3 Washington24:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)A New York8 Iowa38:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 25B Kentucky3 Massachusetts124:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)B Texas6 California38:00 pm (Lamade Stadium)
International +Pool C Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio 1 Curaçao 3–0 15 18 0.833 2 Japan 2–1 18 18 1.000 3 Saudi Arabia 1–2 9 16 0.813 4 Venezuela 0–3 12 16 0.750
+Pool D Rank Region Record Runs Allowed Defensive Innings Run Ratio 1 Mexico 3–0 3 17 0.176 2 Chinese Taipei 2–1 3 16 0.188 3 Canada 1–2 23 18 1.278 4 Germany 0–3 43 14 3.071
All times US EDT. PoolAwayScoreHomeScoreTime (Venue) August 21D Chinese Taipei16 Germany0 (F/4)3:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 22D Canada1 Mexico2 (F/7)11:00 am (Lamade Stadium)C Venezuela1 Curaçao21:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)C Saudi Arabia2 Japan56:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium) August 23D Canada0 Chinese Taipei83:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)C Japan11 Curaçao128:00 pm (Lamade Stadium) August 24D Mexico13 Germany0 (F/4)Noon (Lamade Stadium)C Venezuela4 Japan52:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)C Saudi Arabia3 Curaçao56:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium) August 25C Venezuela3 Saudi Arabia5Noon (Lamade Stadium)D Canada14 Germany132:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)D Mexico3 Chinese Taipei26:00 pm (Volunteer Stadium)
Elimination round
The United States championship game on August 29 was originally scheduled for 3:00 pm US EDT. After a pair of lengthy rain delays in the international championship game, maintenance required to repair the field for the next game, and to make sure the field was dry enough to play on, it was rescheduled for later that night.
2009 Little League World Series Champions Park View Little LeagueChula Vista, California
Champions path The Park View Little League won 18 games and lost 2 games to reach the Little League World Series. Overall, their record was 23–3. Their three losses came against Sweetwater Valley LL, Torrance LL (both from California), and McAllister Park American LL (from Texas). Park View became the ninth team and most recent from San Diego County to qualify for the Little League World Series as the last one was Vista, California in 2005. They also were the third team from San Diego County in the past nine years to qualify for the Little League World Series. During the West Regional the team hit 34 home runs in total and was accused of cheating. A Little League Official looked into the allegations but found no evidence to back them up. RoundOppositionResultDistrict 42Winner's Bracket Quarterfinals Luckie Waller LL 16–0Winner's Bracket Semifinals Imperial Beach LL 17–1Winner's Bracket Finals Sweetwater Valley LL 8–1District 42 Championship Sweetwater Valley LL 7–10District 42 Championship Sweetwater Valley LL 8–2Section 7Section 7 Group Stage Brawley LL 8–5Section 7 Group Stage Rancho San Diego LL 9–1Section 7 Group Stage Lemon Grove LL 5–3South California DivisionalWinner's Bracket Semifinals Corona National LL 14–4Winner's Bracket Finals Rancho Santa Margarita LL5–4 (7 inn.)South Sub-Divisional Championship Rancho Santa Margarita LL16–1South Championship Torrance LL0–18 (4 inn.)South Championship Torrance LL7–6South Championship Torrance LL19–12West RegionalGroup Stage Cedar American LL 27–1 (4 inn.)Group Stage Central East Maui LL15–2 (4 inn.)Group Stage Arrowhead LL20–1 (4 inn.)Group Stage Legacy LL10–5Semifinals Legacy LL15–2 (4 inn.)West Region Championship Lakeside LL11–4
Legacy
The City of Chula Vista organized a celebration parade for the team with the team riding on a fire engine which led them to a rally at Southwestern College. They received a congratulations from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The team also met President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., and gave him a team jersey, team plaque and the key to the City of Chula Vista. A book was written about the Chula Vista team called The Blue Bombers: The True Story of the 2009 Little League World Champions, written by San Diego County Residents. A memorial wall was proposed to commemorate the team in Chula Vista. The team also appeared on The Tonight Show hosted by Conan O'Brien. The team was honored at San Diego Padres and Chargers games.
References
External links 2009 official results via Wayback Machine