SEATTLE — A team from Seattle representing the Northwest in the 2023 Little League World Series (LLWS) lost to representatives from the West on Thursday afternoon, taking them out of the running for the championship.
Northeast Seattle lost 2-1 to representatives from the West, hailing from El Segundo, Calif., which will advance to the U.S. Championship Game on Saturday.
El Segundo will play representatives from the Southwest, a team from Needville, Tenn., who beat Northeast Seattle 1-0 on Wednesday in the semifinals of the U.S. side of the bracket.
After the loss to Needville, Northeast Seattle had one more chance to get to the championship.
Up until their loss on Wednesday, the Northeast Seattle Little League team was dominant in the LLWS, winning 10-0 over the New England region and 6-2 over the Southeast region to qualify for the semifinal.
In order to get into the annual LLWS in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Northeast Seattle had to advance out of the Northwest Regional, which was held earlier this month in San Bernardino, Calif. Northeast Seattle went undefeated in that tournament and advanced past teams from Alaska, Idaho and Oregon.
The winning team from the U.S. Championship will face the best international squad from the other side of the bracket. The two teams playing for the championship in the international tournament are Curacao (Caribbean Region) and Chinese Taipei (Asia-Pacific Region).
"I could live here," said Brooks Shewey, the coach's son and the team's centerfielder told KING 5 when the team first arrived for the tournament in Williamsport. "It's so great,"
"Even the practice fields are great," Shewey said. "The batting cages. We get so much free stuff. I could've come here empty handed and I would've been perfectly fine."
How many innings are in a Little League World Series Game?
As opposed to Major League Baseball's nine-inning games, little league baseball is six innings. Given the age of the participants, there are limitations on how many pitches a player can throw in consecutive days.
The Little League World Series is played on a much smaller field than a standard Major League Baseball field like T-Mobile Park.