Little League World Series 2012: Top Teams to Watch in Williamsport

The 2012 Little League World Series begins play on Thursday, with two teams hoping to navigate their way through the 16-team, nine-country tournament and meet in the World Championship.

It’s been long and arduous road for all of these young men to make it to the LLWS Mecca—Williamsport—and it only promises to get tougher as the best of the best get set to collide.

Let’s take a look at three teams to keep an eye on during the tournament.

Parsippany, NJ – Mid-Atlantic Region 

New Jersey had a solid 3-1 record in pool play and advanced to the regional final with a convincing 9-4 win over the best Pennsylvania had to offer. However, the team struggled against Delaware in the finals, but managed to snag a 1-0 victory.

Now they are looking to ride their momentum deep into the tournament and become an underdog victor.

It won’t be easy and pitching ace Emil Matti will have to be perfect if Parsippany wants to advance past this next squad.

San Antonio, TX – Southwest Region 

This team has been nothing short of dominant during preliminary play leading up to Williamsport. San Antonio was 3-0 in group play and didn’t give up a single run against New Mexico or Lufkin in the knockout rounds.

It’s not hard to see why, as six pitchers gave up a combined two runs in 26 innings pitched (0.46 ERA!).

If the Southwestern boys can get their bats going, expect San Antonio to make a run to the championship contest.

Tokyo, Japan – Japan Region

This battle-tested team had to go through a gauntlet to wind up in the field at the LLWS. In the 16-team tournament, Tokyo gave up just six total runs in four contests and outscored their opponent by 37 runs in that same span.

There is no doubt that Japan is an elite baseball country and these kids are the best of the best.

They will certainly represent well and should be a favorite to win the international bracket.