2002 Little League World Series

The 2002 Little League World Series was the 56th Little League World Series. Teams were Regina, SK, Willemstad, Agana, Sendai, Miyagi, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Moscow, Dhahran, Valencia, Carabobo, Aptos, CA, Waipio, HI (per Hawaiian newspapers; some sources listed Waipahu, HI), Louisville, KY, Worcester, MA, Webb City, MO (the first LLWS team from Missouri), Harlem, NY, Southwest Forsyth (Clemmons, NC) and Fort Worth, TX.

The Series saw a record 36 complete games and 12 shutouts. There were three no-hitters: Reimus Roosburg (Willemstad) blanked Moscow (4 inning mercy rule), Yuuji Nakae (Sendai) against Monterrey (4 Inn) and Yoshinori Sato (6 Inn) against Moscow. Sendai pitched a record six complete games and tied the record of four shutouts while posting a 0.38 ERA. Dennis Neuman (Willemstad) allowed no earned runs in 12 innings and threw a record three complete games.

Louisville set a record with 78 strikeouts. Three pitchers fared very well: Aaron Alvey set records for IP (22), consecutive shutout innings (20, the old high being 12), consecutive hitless innings (12, tying Sean Burroughs' record) and K (44, 8 more than the old record), Zach Osborne allowed 0 ER in 13 IP and Frank Flynn pitched a record three complete games. For Fort Worth, Walker Kelly allowed no earned runs in 15 innings. Louisville and Fort Worth got into a dramatic pitching duel between Alvey and Kelly. Kelly struck out 21 in 9 innings (one shy of the record) and Alvey had a nine-inning no-hitter when he left with a 0-0 tie; neither pitcher had allowed a hit in the regulation six innings. Michael Valdez fanned five in relief of Kelly in a 2-1 Louisville win in 11 innings. There were 49 strikeouts that game, shattering the LLWS record of 37 set in 1950.

In the finale, a pitching duel was little surprise given the way things had been going. Alvey homered off Yosuke Koto in the first and neither team scored again, Alvey (11 K, 2 BB, 0 R in 6 IP) and Koto (10 K, 2 BB, 1 R in 6 IP) each flinging three-hitters. Alvey got two of Louisville's hits while RF Yuuki Chiba got two of Sendai's hits.

Sources: 2012 LLWS Media Guide, 2003 Baseball Almanac

Participants

United States Teams				International Teams
Region	City	League		Region	City	League
Great Lakes	Louisville, KY	Valley Sports American Little League		Asia	Sendai	Sendai Higashi Little League
Mid-Atlantic	New York, NY	Harlem Little League		Canada	Regina, SK	North Regina Little League
Midwest	Webb City, MO	Webb City Little League		Caribbean	Willemstad	Pariba Little League
New England	Worcester, MA	Jesse Burkett Little League		Europe-Africa	Moscow	Khovrino Little League
Northwest	Waipio, HI	Waipio Little League		Latin America	Valencia	Los Leones Little League
Southeast	Clemmons, NC	Southwest Forsyth Little League		Mexico	Monterrey	Contry de Monterrey Little League
Southwest	Fort Worth, TX	Westside Little League		Pacific	Hagåtña	Central Guam Little League
West	Aptos, CA	Aptos Little League		Transatlantic	Dhahran	Arabian American Little League

Results

Game Results

Pool Play

August 16

• Waipio, HI 3, Worcester, MA 2
• Dhahran 3, Regina, SK 2 (7 inn.)
• Fort Worth, TX 1, Webb City, MO 0

August 17

• Valencia 11, Hagåtña 1 (5 inn.)
• Louisville, KY 4, Aptos, CA 1
• New York, NY 9, Clemmons, NC 3
• Willemstad 10, Monterrey 1
• Sendai 7, Moscow 0
• Worcester, MA 2, Webb City, MO 1

August 18

• Aptos, CA 11, Clemmons, NC 8
• Fort Worth, TX 8, Waipio, HI 0
• Hagåtña 9, Dhahran 6
• Louisville, KY 2, New York, NY 0
• Monterrey 4, Moscow 3

August 19

• Willemstad 13, Moscow 0 (4 inn.)
• Worcester, MA 6, Fort Worth, TX 0
• Sendai 11, Monterrey 0
• Valencia 9, Regina, SK 3
• Waipio, HI 2, Webb City, MO 1

August 20

• Sendai 5, Willemstad 0
• Hagåtña 12, Regina, SK 7
• New York, NY 5, Aptos, CA 2
• Dhahran 6, Valencia 5
• Louisville, KY 4, Clemmons, NC 2

Finals

August 21

• Sendai 10, Hagåtña 0 (4 inn.)
• Louisville, KY 2, Fort Worth, TX 1 (11 inn.)

August 22

• Willemstad 3, Valencia 0
• Worcester, MA 5, New York, NY 2

August 24

• Sendai 4, Willemstad 1
• Louisville, KY 4, Worcester, MA 0

August 25

• Willemstad 9, Worcester, MA 1 (Consolation game)
• Louisville, KY 1, Sendai 0

Bracket

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
		Sendai	10
		Hagåtña	0
							Sendai	4
							Willemstad	1
		Willemstad	3
		Valencia	0
												Sendai	0
												Louisville, KY	1
		Louisville, KY	2
		Fort Worth, TX	1
							Louisville, KY	4
							Worcester, MA	0
		Worcester, MA	5
		New York, NY	2