2012 Little League World Series

The 2012 Little League World Series was won by the Japanese team from Tokyo, Japan's second title in three years.

Lugazi becomes the first team from [[Africa] to play in the LLWS, while Kearney, NE became the first representative from Nebraska. Future major leaguer Ceddanne Rafaela played for the Willemstad team.

Participants[edit]

United States Teams			International Teams
Region	City	League	Region	City	League
Great Lakes	New Castle, IN	New Castle Little League	Asia-Pacific	Taoyuan County	Kuei-Shan Little League
Mid-Atlantic	Parsippany, NJ	Troy East Little League	Canada	Vancouver, BC	Hastings Little League
Midwest	Kearney, NE	Kearney Little League	Caribbean	Willemstad	Pariba Little League
New England	Fairfield, CT	Fairfield American Little League	Europe	Ramstein Air Force Base	KMC American Little League
Northwest	Gresham, OR	Gresham National Little League	Japan	Tokyo	Kitasuna Little League
Southeast	Goodlettsville, TN	Goodlettsville Little League	Latin America	Aguadulce	Aguadulce Cabezera Little League
Southwest	San Antonio, TX	McAllister Park National Little League	Mexico	Nuevo Laredo	Oriente Little League
West	Petaluma, CA	Petaluma National Little League	Middle East-Africa	Lugazi	Lugazi Little League

Tokyo 7, Willemstad 0. Kotaro Kiyomiya and Noriatsu Osaka strike out 14 while allowing one hit in an opening win for Japan.
Petaluma, CA 6, Fairfield, CT 4. Bradley Smith hits a 2-run homer and Austin Paretti adds a two-run single for California.
Taoyuan County 14, Ramstein Air Force Base 1. Li-Wei Chiang hit a 3-run homer and Feng Chen drove in 3 as Taiwan cruises to a win over Germany.
Goodlettsville, TN 14, Kearney, NE 1. Ryan Lyle, Brock Myers and Jake Rucker all go deep as Tennessee pulls off a rout.

Aguadulce, Coclé 9, Lugazi 3. Uganda becomes the first African team in the Little League World Series with a loss to Panama, but they do get a 2-run homer from Daniel Alio.
San Antonio, TX 5, Parsippany, NJ 2. Jordan Cardenas hits a home run in the first and then pitches 2 1/3 hitless relief innings to give Texas an opening win.
Vancouver, BC 13, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas 9. The two teams bang out 27 hits but Canada turns a couple defensive gems, including a nice grab by OF Thomas Neal that prevented an extra-base hit.
New Castle, IN 4, Gresham, OR 0. Cayden Smekens (New Castle) and Greg Mehlhaff (Gresham) trade goose eggs for four innings before New Castle breaks through.

Fairfield, CT 12, Kearney, NE 0. Matt Kubel tosses a gem as Fairfield eliminates Kearney and keeps their own hopes alive.
Willemstad 14, Ramstein Air Force Base 2. Christopher Koeiman hits a 3-run homer and Germany makes four errors in a 8-run first as the Netherlands Antilles stays alive.
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas 12, Lugazi 0. Three Mexican hurlers combine on a perfect game, while Jose Turrubiates drives in 3 for the winners.
Parsippany, NJ 10, Gresham, OR 4. Oregon is eliminated as Emil Matti homers twice for New Jersey.

Tokyo 2, Taoyuan County 0. The two teams combine for 30 strikeouts in a pitcher-dominated game that goes extra innings. Japan loads the bases with one out in the 8th but fails to score off Cheng-Kai Hu. In the 9th, Hajime Motegi hits the decisive 2-run homer.
Goodlettsville, TN 9, Petaluma, CA 6. Jayson Brown hits a 2-run triple and Brock Myers a 2-run homer to break a 5-5 tie in favor of Tennessee.
San Antonio, TX 13, New Castle, IN 3. Jordan Cardenas and Zachary Sanchez homer for the victors while Hunter McCubbins smacks a 2-run shot in a losing cause.
Aguadulce, Coclé 8, Vancouver, BC 3. James Gonzalez drives in six and goes deep twice as Panama remains unbeaten.

Kearney, NE 17, Ramstein Air Force Base 1. Jared Wegner drives in 5 as Nebraska cruises to victory in a consolation game. Nebraska tallies 15 runs in the second to set a LLWS record.
Willemstad 4, Vancouver, BC 3. Curacao edges Canada despite trailing 3-1 after four. In the 5th, the islanders get two men in scoring position for Christopher Koeiman, who hits a long fly that is caught by Carter Kada-Wong in left. Kada-Wong falls on the play, though, allowing both runners to score on a 2-run sacrifice fly. Mychelson Jansen homers to break the tie and give Willemstad the win.
Petaluma, CA 5, Parsippany, NJ 4. Danny Marzo breaks the extra-inning tie with an 8th-inning homer.
Fairfield, CT 4, New Castle, IN 0. Will Lucas goes the distance for a no-hitter and Matt Kubel adds a home run as Connecticut eliminates Indiana.
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas 4, Taoyuan County 3. Taiwan is eliminated with a 3-run third that included a 2-run error and a RBI single by Fernando Benavides. Omar Cervantes and Chun-En Lin both homered in the first.

Lugazi 3, Gresham, OR 2. In a consolation game, Uganda becomes the first African team to win a LLWS game, edging out Oregon. Daniel Alio goes 2 for 2 with a walk and a run and gets the win on the hill.
Petaluma, CA 5, Fairfield, CT 0. Hance Smith hits a 3-run homer and Quinton Gago strikes out 7 as Connecticut is eliminated.
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas 6, Willemstad 2. Ramon Ballina drills a 3-run home run and then allows one hit in three relief innings for the save as Mexico staves off elimination.

Tokyo 4, Aguadulce, Coclé 1. Ryuji Osada strikes out 7, Noriatsu Osaka got the save and Kotaro Kiyomiya homers as Tokyo moves on to the semifinals.
Goodlettsville, TN 4, San Antonio, TX 3. Down 3-2, Goodlettsville ties it on an error then Cole Carter delivers the winning single.

Aguadulce, Coclé 2, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas 1. Edisson Gonzalez strikes out 11 and James Gonzalez hits a 2-run homer to send Panama to the semifinals.
Petaluma, CA 11, San Antonio, TX 1. Hance Smith hits a grand slam in the first and adds another home run later, while Danny Marzo whiffs 11 to send Petaluma to the US title game.

Goodlettsville, TN 24, Petaluma, CA 16. Down 15-5, Petaluma scores 10 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Tennessee then has its own explosive inning with 9 runs in the extra-inning 7th to win it. Lorenzo Butler sets a LLWS single-game record with nine RBI and ties the record of 3 home runs (held by 3 others previously).
Tokyo 10, Aguadulce, Coclé 2. Japan clubs five homers, two by Kotaro Kiyomiya, in an easy win as the country advanced to its fifth Little League World Series finale in seven years, beating Panama for the second straight game. Yuta Ishida and two relievers combined on the win.

Petaluma, CA 12, Aguadulce, Coclé 4. Bradley Smith hits a RBI double to start California's scoring in the first then adds a 2-run double in the second as the team cruises to a third-place finish.
Tokyo 12, Goodlettsville, TN 2. Noriatsu Osaka hits 3 home runs and a triple in a romp while Kotaru Kiyomiya gives up only two hits (both homers, one apiece to Brock Myers and Lorenzo Butler).