Little League WS Championship
Stan Macasieb
Zamboanga City, Philippines d. Epyguerrero, Santo Domingo 5-1
Zamboanga City wins International Championship
Long Beach, CA d. Hamilton Square, NJ 1-0
Long Beach wins US Championship
Saturday's Game
Zamboanga City, Philippines vs Long Beach, CA, 3:00 pm CDT
WS NOTES:
Roberto Placious pitched a brilliant ball game for the Filipinos, sending
the first 15 batters down in order before giving up a line drive through
the mound w/ no outs in the sixth. Placious also hit a homer in the top
of the sixth to help seal the victory. The Filipinos scored four runs
in the fourth thanks to some uncharacteristically shoddy defense by the
Dominicans. This win avenges the 8-1 loss to the Dominicans on Wednesday
in round robin play.
Too bad Placious won't be able to pitch more than an inning Saturday. He
had full command of his curveball and breaking pitch and was able to
keep the hard-hitting Dominicans on their heels all game long. The
comment made by Jeff Burroughs, manager of Long Beach and a former
American League MVP in 1974, was that Placious has the poise of a pitcher
in high school or college. For a boy of 12 years!
There is an ABC special, "The Road to the Little League World Series"
hosted by Bill Fagenbakke of "Coach", at 11:30 am CDT Saturday for
30 minutes. ABC's Wide World of Sports coverage begins at 2:30 pm, with
the game beginning at 3:00 pm.
If you enjoyed Brent Musburger and Jim Palmer butchering Pinoy last names
on the ESPN tape delay yesterday, you'll really get a kick out of this
live broadcast.
IMHO, Zamboanga City has far exceeded everyone's expectations going into
tomorrow's game. They are the Far East champs, carrying the mantle of
other great Far East reps of past years from Japan and Taiwan. However,
the Philippines are their own team, mixing a brand of pitching, defense,
and blazing team speed that is on par with the best major league teams.
Sure, I only watched one game, but I was impressed not only as a Filipino,
but as a baseball fan. Long Beach is long on talent and experience, with
Burroughs behind the bench. But Zamboanga City has nothing to lose now.
Boys, you've done your country proud already. The title would be nothing
more than lace trim on a Cinderella season. Go for it!
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--Stan Macasieb (st...@comm.mot.com) | Zamboanga City,
--Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector | Philippines: 1992 Little
--Schaumburg, IL (just another suburb of Chicago) | League WS Int'l Champs
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~~The opinion expressed in this post is not | "You got a problem
~~necessarily those of this corporation. | with that?"
~~Copyright 1992, all rights reserved. | -- Roger Clemens
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