So You've Seen It All, Eh?

I've been covering the Little League World Series for SumnerSports.com, a sports website in Sumner County, TN.  Goodlettsville is located in Sumner County, and their team played for the US Championship tonight, and will play for the overall Little League World Championship tomorrow.  Before you ask -- here's the story I posted tonight.  For those of you who think you have seen it all, I will continue to disavow you of that type of thinking.  Here's the current installment of that "disavowing."

Butler’s 3 home runs, 9 RBIS lead Goodlettsville to United States Championship
By Herm Card

 Williamsport, PA - In what will be remembered as the most incredible US Championship game ever played – probably the most incredible LLWS game ever played, Goodlettsville outlasted Petaluma, CA 24-16 in 7 innings that took 3 hours thirteen mnutes. 

Herm Card Photo

Brock Myers

                                                                                                                                                                                  It looked as though Brock Myers’ first inning  home run, his fourth of the Series, put Goodlettsville ahead to stay, but it took far more than that to secure the win  in a game that featured 40 runs,  seven home runs, 35 hits,  a nine run and a ten run inning, and another hero, Lorenzo Butler,  who hit three HRs and drove in nine, for the offensive performance of the series.  As it turned out,  Myers did put them ahead to stay, but not until the top of the seventh.

  Second baseman Butler blasted a three run homer in the top of the third to help push G’ville’s lead to 8-2, but the team from Petaluma, CA,  closed the gap to 8-5 in the bottom of the inning.  Butler’s second three run shot in the top of the fourth put the Tennessean’s on top 12-5.  Butler had secured their 4-3 win over Texas with his glove, but did his best work with his bat today. His third appearance with two on resulted in his third home run of the game and gave him the Little League World Series record with nine RBIs in the game.  It was also the record breaking 65th team total home run of the series and pushed the score to 15-5. 

Herm Card photo

Lorenzo Butler

  Starting pitcher Myers left the mound in the sixth after reaching his 85 pitch limit and Petaluma charged back, cutting the gap to 15-9 with the bases loaded and  none out.   Luke Brown  relieved Ryan Lyle, and got the first out on a fielders choice grounder to Butler to make it 15-10.  An infield hit made the score 15-11.  A running catch by Jayson Brown in center made it two out.  California’s leading hitter Bradley Smith then doubled in the seventh run of the inning to make it 15-12.  Kempton Brandis’ two run homer plated the ninth  run  and Hance Smith tied the game at 15 with a homer to dead center.

A fly out to center stranded the winning run at first and sent the game into extra innings.

Most teams would have nothing left at this point, but Goodlettsville clearly had something big left.  In the top of the seventh, Jake Rucker and  Jayson Brown singled to left   to put two men on in front of  Brock Myers.  Myers then hit a screaming liner over the leftfielder’s head for a two run double  to put G’ville back on top 17-15.  Luke Brown’s single to center chased home Myers and it was 18-15.   Cole Carter singled in Brown to make it 19-15.  Lorenzo Butler (batting with only one on) walked, and both runners moved up on a passed ball.  Ryan Lyle plated run number 20 on a ground out to second.  Andrew Snyder then grounded out to drive in Butler.  Jonathan Seals was hit by a pitch and Rucker doubled him in before Jayson Brown crushed a two run homer to make it 24-15.  Brock Myers then popped out to end the nine run inning.

The bottom of the seventh was relatively anticlimactic, but an incredible relief to the Goodlettsville fans.  Two infield ground outs and a walk, followed by a double made it 24-16, but a called strikeout made Luke Brown the winning pitcher and Goodletttsville  the US Champions.

Goodlettsville meets Japan at 3:00 Sunday for the Little League World Championship.
 

                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  R     H    E

Goodlettsville, TN   2  0  6     4  0   3       9         24   21    3

Petaluma, CA           1  0  4     0  0 (10)    1         16    14   2