2009 Little League World Series


The 2009 Little League World Series was the 63rd edition of the championship tournament for Little League baseball, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, from August 21 through August 30, 2009. Eight teams from the United States and eight from the rest of the world competed in the tournament. In the championship game, the United States champions, from Chula Vista, California, defeated the international champions from Taoyuan County, Taiwan. This was the first tournament in which a team representing Chinese Taipei reached the championship game since 1996, and the first championship for a team from the state of California since 1993.
Activision released a video game in advance of the event, Little League World Series Baseball 2009.

Teams

Pool APool BPool CPool D
Staten Island, New York
Mid-Atlantic Region
South Shore National Little League		 Peabody, Massachusetts
New England Region
Peabody Western Little League		 Willemstad, Curaçao
Caribbean Region
Pabao Little League		 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Europe Region
KMC American Little League
Mercer Island, Washington
Northwest Region
Mercer Island Little League		 Chula Vista, California
West Region
Park View Little League		 Chiba City, Chiba
Japan Region
Chiba City Little League		 Reynosa, Tamaulipas
Mexico Region
Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League
Warner Robins, Georgia
Southeast Region
Warner Robins American Little League		 San Antonio, Texas
Southwest Region
McAllister Park American Little League		 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
MEA Region
Arabian American Little League		 East Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada Region
Hastings Community Little League
Urbandale, Iowa
Midwest Region
Urbandale East Little League		 Russellville, Kentucky
Great Lakes Region
Logan County/Russellville Little League		 Maracaibo, Venezuela
Latin America Region
Coquivacoa Little League		 Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei
Asia-Pacific Region
Kuei-Shan Little League

Pool play

The top two teams in each pool moved on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 30 to play for the Little League World Championship. Teams marked in green qualified to the knockout stage, while the remaining teams were eliminated.
Ties were broken based on records in head-to-head competition among tied teams. In the event of a three-way tie for first place, the tie was broken by calculating the ratio of runs allowed to defensive innings played for all teams involved in the tie. The team with the lowest runs-per-defensive-inning ratio was ranked first and advanced. Second place was determined by the head-to-head result of the other two teams. If the three-way tie was for second place, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio rule was used. The team with the lowest run ratio advanced; the other two teams were eliminated.

United States

RankRegionRecordRuns AllowedDefensive InningsRun Ratio
1 Texas3–04160.250
2 California2–16170.353
3 Massachusetts1–227171.588
4 Kentucky0–339133.000

All times US EDT.

International

RankRegionRecordRuns AllowedDefensive InningsRun Ratio
1 Mexico3–03170.176
2 Chinese Taipei2–13160.188
3 Canada1–223181.278
4 Germany0–343143.071

All times US EDT.

Elimination round

The United States championship game on August 29 was originally scheduled for 3:00 pm US EDT. After a pair of lengthy rain delays in the international championship game, maintenance required to repair the field for the next game, and to make sure the field was dry enough to play on, it was rescheduled for later that night.
2009 Little League World Series Champions

Park View Little League
Chula Vista, California

Champions Path

The Park View Little League won 18 games and lost 2 games to reach the Little League World Series. Overall, their record was 23–3. Their three losses came against Sweetwater Valley LL, Torrance LL, and McAllister Park American LL. Park View became the ninth team and most recent from San Diego County to qualify for the Little League World Series as the last one was Vista, California in 2005. They also were the third team from San Diego County in the past nine years to qualify for the Little League World Series. During the West Regional the team hit 34 home runs in total and was accused of cheating. A Little League Official looked into the allegations but found no evidence to back them up.

Legacy

The City of Chula Vista organized a celebration parade for the team with the team riding on a fire engine which led them to a rally at Southwestern College. They received a congratulations from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The team also met President Barack Obama in Washington D.C. and gave him a team jersey, team plaque and the key to the City of Chula Vista. A book was written about the Chula Vista team called The Blue Bombers: The True Story of the 2009 Little League World Champions, written by San Diego County Residents. A memorial wall was proposed to commemorate the team in Chula Vista. The team also appeared on The Tonight Show hosted by Conan O'Brien. The team was honored at San Diego Padres and Chargers games.