Taipei
sends Hastings tumbling to 0-2
East Van squad needs
help from other teams to advance at Little League World Series
By David Karp, Vancouver SunAugust
24, 2009
The Hastings Little League All-Stars couldn't hold off
the juggernaut from Chinese Taipei at the Little League World Series on
Sunday.
Hastings, from the east side of Vancouver, lost 8-0 to the Kuei-Shan
Little League team from Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei at the baseball tournament
for 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds. Hastings now sits at 0-2 for the tournament,
after losing its opening match against Mexico 2-1 in extra innings on
Saturday.
With that record, it's very unlikely that Hastings will advance to the
knockout stage of the tournament. However, if Mexico loses its two remaining
matches and Hastings wins its next game, Hastings would advance to the
knockout round of the tournament if it allows fewer runs per inning than
both Germany and Mexico.
"I guess we have an outside chance -- I don't know how the mathematics
works. But we definitely need some help," said Hastings coach Jeff Matsuda.
But despite the losses, the Hastings kids are thoroughly enjoying their
first World Series appearance.
"They're having a great time," said Matsuda. "They're like rock stars.
They are signing autographs and girls are following them everywhere."
Hastings knew it would have its hands full with the Chinese Taipei team,
which easily dispatched the Germans 16-0 in their opening match on Friday
before the mercy rule ended the game after four innings.
But Hastings managed to last the full six innings against the Chinese
Taipei, holding their opponents off the scoreboard through the first two
innings.
"We weren't caught off guard," said Matsuda, who said Kuei-Shan was the
best team Hastings has ever played against.
After two scoreless innings, Chinese Taipei powered up in the bottom of
the third, when Wen Hua Sung connected on an offering from Hastings starting
pitcher Matteo Vincelli and blasted a two-run homer over the centre-field
wall of Volunteer Stadium.
After that, the onslaught continued in front of 9,200 fans, in a game
that was televised on TSN2, ESPN and in bits and pieces on ABC.
Huang Yuan Lin added a solo home run for the Chinese Taipei in the bottom
of the fourth before Taz Burman was brought in to relieve Vincelli.
Burman gave up five runs in the fifth inning, including a two-run double
to pinch hitter Hsin Han Tseng.
"Usually, if you're a good hitting team -- which they are -- the second
time you look at a pitcher, you're going to start hitting the ball," said
Matsuda, explaining why he made the pitching move. "Really, Vincelli pitched
a great game. He only had maybe two bad pitches, and they capitalized on
them."
Hastings managed just two hits -- a double from Vincelli and a triple
from Ian Creamore -- off the Chinese Taipei pitchers.
Hastings' final match of the round robin stage is Tuesday at 11 a.m.
against Germany, and will be televised on TSN2.
Hastings
hits a high in final game
All-Stars overcome Germany's 11-run inning to eke out
first World Series win
By Ian Walker, Vancouver SunAugust
26, 2009
Talk about drama.
With nothing more than pride on the line, the Hastings Little League
all-stars beat Germany 14-13 in their final game of the Little League World
Series in Williamsport, Pa., on Tuesday.
Hastings led 10-2 at one point, but needed a four-run, sixth-inning rally
to secure their lone win in the prestigious tournament for 11- and
12-year-olds.
"Everyone's just ecstatic -- what a roller coaster of emotions," said
Hastings coach Jeff Matsuda. "I can't say enough about the resiliency of the
kids. The mood was pretty low after giving up 11 runs in the fifth, but they
never quit. We told them 'one hit at a time' and that's what they did. I'm
very proud of each and every one of them."
Trailing 13-12 with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth and final
inning, Katie Reyes stroked a two-run single into right field to cap the
comeback in front of 6,240 fans at Volunteer Stadium. Matthew Woo was just
as instrumental in the victory, taking two straight balls to set the stage
for Reyes, who became just the 14th girl to take to the field in Little
League World Series history.
"I was excited," Reyes told reporters after the game. "I was shaking I
was so nervous."
Reyes, who plays first base, also recorded the final out after a
brilliant play by Christian Cullen. Hastings' second baseman made a diving
stop to his right before firing a strike from his knees to end the game. It
was only fitting, as Cullen had a ball go off his face during Europe's
11-run, fifth-inning rally.
"What a play by Christian that was," said Matsuda. "That would have been
the tying run if it got by him."
Hastings entered the game knowing it had no chance of advancing to the
next round of play. Mexico's 13-0 win over Germany on Monday officially
eliminated the Canadian representatives.
"Just getting here puts us on the map," said Matsuda. "I would imagine
our registration will double next year."
It was a remarkable run for Hastings, which had never won a Canadian
title before this year. It was the first Vancouver team to make it to the
Little League World Series since Little Mountain Little League did it in
1953.
Hastings opened the World Series with a 2-1 loss to Mexico and an 8-0
loss to Taiwan to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record, good enough for
third in Pool D.
Pitcher Ryan Matsuda recorded the win on Tuesday, retiring the final two
batters after giving up a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth. Matsuda
replaced starting pitcher Anthony Cusati one inning earlier, who gave up
nine runs -- five of which were earned.
"That was tough to watch," said Jeff Matsuda, who had a front row seat
for his son's worst nightmare. "The players are a tight knit group so there
was a lot of consoling on the bench."
Not that it matters now. By the time the younger Matsuda has kids of his
own, all that will matter is he got a win on little league baseball's
biggest stage. There aren't many Canadian kids who can say that.
Hastings
back to washing dishes
Kids wrap up World
Series with 14-13 win
By Terry Bell, The ProvinceAugust
26, 2009
The Hastings Community all-stars will take a lot of
lasting memories from their first appearance at the Little League World
Series.
Anthony Cusati, Katie Reyes, Ryan Matsuda and the rest of B.C.'s "little
team that could ... and did" won a game Tuesday that the few who saw it are
soon likely to forget.
The Vancouver team scored four times in a do-or-die sixth inning rally to
beat Europe 14-13 and finish the tournament with a 1-2 record. Europe is
0-3.
But that rally is just part of the story from Williamsport, Pa.
Leading 10-2, the 11-,12- and 13-year-old battlers from Hastings saw
Europe -- represented by Germany's Ramstein Air Force Base -- score 11 times
in the fifth inning to take a 13-10 lead. Incredibly, Hastings came back
with four runs of their own -- two on a monster homer by Cusati and two on
Reyes's clutch, two-out single to right field that gave them back the lead.
"It was an amazing game," Reyes, 12, said in a phone interview. "I was
surprised because we came back. I don't think I've been in a game like
that."
"I was just jumping for joy," she said of her game-winning hit, which
fell just inches in front of the right fielder's glove. "I was shaking [at
bat]."
Reyes was a media darling at Williamsport. She did an ESPN pre-game
interview and has been grilled constantly by reporters since Hastings won
the Canadians earlier this month in Quebec and made her just the 14th girl
to play at Williamsport.
"It's been amazing," her mom Rachel Reyes said. "There'll be a couple
days more of this and then she'll go back to her normal life. I'll have her
in the kitchen washing dishes."
After the dishwasher-to-be's heroics, Ryan Matsuda, who'd relieved Cusati
in that frightful fifth, allowed a one-out double in the bottom of the
sixth, but remained composed enough to get the next two hitters and the win.
The game finally ended when gritty second baseman Christian Cullen moved
to his right, caught a grounder and threw out Tylour Daubert at first.
Cullen had taken a ball off the cheek on a bad hop grounder in the fifth.
Said Matsuda, 13: "We just needed those clutch hits at the end. It was
fun. We learned never to give up."
At 0-2, neither team had a chance of advancing. But that hardly mattered.
They went at like warriors.
Errors, walks, wild pitches and some timely hits helped Canada build the
big lead. But Europe chipped away and then, trailing 10-7, Chris Houba's
grand slam finally rewarded their resilience with an 11-10 lead. A two-run
shot by Matt Zembraski built the lead to 13-10.
But Canada brought some rally caps too. Cullen walked to start the sixth.
Matsuda flied out but Cusati followed with the homer, his second of the
game, to make it 13-12.
Matteo Vincelli then singled and was replaced by pinch runner Ryan Wong.
Taz Burman singled and both runners advanced a base on a passed ball.
Nicholas Carusi bunted but Wong was thrown out at the plate.
Matthew Woo walked to bring Reyes to the plate. She lined her third
single of the day, scoring Burman and Carusi for the 14-13 lead.
- Canadians have been opening their hearts to the Hastings Little
Leaguers.
Now organizers for the kids baseball league are hoping somebody can open
a wallet.
Hastings, which has just three teams in its 11-13 division, wants to
build on the interest and register more players. But Hastings has been
trying unsuccessfully to raise about $200,000 to address drainage issues at
its home park near the PNE.
"We desperately want to grow," said Hastings Community Little League
president Dave Jenkins Jenkins. "We've seen the calibre [of team] that we
can produce with limited numbers."
The league -- its website is www.hcll.ca -- deserves registration numbers
as big as its heart.
The New York Times
LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES
Game-Winning Hit by 13-Year-Old Girl Could Be a First
By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published:
August 25, 2009
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Katie Reyes
hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth to help Vancouver, British
Columbia, rally for a wild 14-13 victory Tuesday over Ramstein Air Force
Base, Germany, in the Little League World Series.
Carolyn
Kaster/Associated Press
Katie Reyes had three
hits and three R.B.I. on Tuesday.
The Little League
president, Stephen Keener, and other longtime tournament officials said they
could not recall a girl having the winning hit before in a World Series
game.
“I was excited. I was
shaking,” Reyes, 13, said about going to the plate for her big hit. She
finished with three hits and three runs batted in.
Playing first, Reyes
also caught the last out. She joined her happy teammates jumping on the
mound after Canada won its last game of the series. Both teams had already
been eliminated entering Tuesday.
Canada rallied in the
sixth, when Anthony Cusati hit his second homer of the game, a two-run shot
that cut the deficit to 13-12. After loading the bases, Reyes drove in the
winning runs.
Fifteen girls have
played in the Series since 1984, when Victoria Roche of Belgium became the
first in the event.
Cyber buzz sweeps
up Hastings' Reyes
Girl's winning swing
triggers web frenzy
Vancouver SunAugust
27, 2009
Forget Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Michelle Wie and Danica Patrick.
For one day, at least, the cyber darling of the sports world was a
13-year-old girl from East Vancouver.
Katie Reyes made headlines on Tuesday when she hit the game-winning,
two-RBI single for Hastings Little League in a 14-13 win over Germany at the
Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
"For those folks who didn't know that girls can play in the Little League
World Series, here's another revelation that might come as bit of a shock.
The ladies can win games for their teams, too," wrote Kevin Kaduk on the
Yahoo! Sports blog Big League Stew. "Youth baseball has a new leading lady."
The story was the most "buzzed" entry on Yahoo! Sports for part of
Wednesday afternoon. Reyes could be found in sports sections and on websites
throughout the U.S., including the New York Times and ESPN.com, which posted
video of her winning hit.
Reyes, 13, wasn't the first girl to play in the World Series. Since 1984,
15 girls have taken part, including another this year: Bryn Stonehouse of
Saudi Arabia. The two were roommates in Williamsport. But Little League
officials say they can't recall another girl logging a game-winning hit.
Reyes, who also made the final out at first base, was 3-for-4 with three RBI
in Tuesday's game.
Said Reyes: "I was excited. I was shaking."
Those who've met her weren't surprised by her heroics. "She's a
hard-working person who always tries her best," teammate Ryan Wong said.
Canada team host Frank Lupacchino was asked by a Williamsport TV station
how Reyes compares with the boys. "She can beat most of them in arm
wrestling, so she intimidates some of them I think. They back away from
her."
Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:30 am EDT – Yahoo blogs
By 'Duk
 For
those folks who didn't know that girls can play in the Little League World
Series, here's another revelation that might come as bit of a shock.
The ladies can win games for their teams, too.
In what tournament organizers said was most likely a LLWS first, Katie
Reyes
hit a game-winning two-RBI single in Canada's 14-13 win over Germany on
Tuesday afternoon in Williamsport, Pa.
Fifteen girls have played in the LLWS since 1984, but apparently none had
logged the game's top highlight until Reyes had three hits and three RBIs on
Tuesday. She also caught the game's final out at first base.
Move over,
Amanda Whurlitzer.
Youth baseball has a new leading lady.
"I was excited. I was shaking," the quiet, 13-year-old girl told the
Associated Press.
Reyes wasn't the only girl to make the trip to this year's LLWS. Bryn
Stonehouse of Saudi Arabia also participated in the games and the two girls
teamed up as roommates.
The last time that two girls were in the LLWS was 2004. For a few more
facts about girls reaching the biggest stage in Little League, continue
below ...
• Reyes began playing baseball about six years ago after watching her
brother and she's never played softball. She hit
a game-winning home run in the British Columbia provincial championships
earlier this summer.
• Reyes' team from "hardscrabble streets of Vancouver's east side"
made national headlines in Canada, partly because traditional Canadian
Little League powers come from what the Globe and Mail describes as "leafier
locations."
• As you might be able to tell by her name, Stonehouse
isn't a native Saudi Arabian. She was born in Texas and moved to the
Middle East with her family four years ago.
• Kathryn Johnston is generally regarded
as the first girl to play Little League baseball. Back in 1950, she
tucked her hair under her hat, adopted the nickname "Tubby" and joined the
Kings Dairy Little League team in Corning, N.Y.
• In 1984, Belgium's Victoria Roche became the first girl to play in the
LLWS.
• Sadly, Reyes and Stonehouse are done with their history-making turns in
Williamsport. Both Canada and Saudi Arabia were eliminated during pool play
and are headed home.
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