Tennessee vs. Japan: Score, Highlights and Analysis for LLWS 2012 Championship
The kids from Goodlettsville, TN have nothing to be ashamed of. They had an outstanding run, but on Sunday, the team from Kitasuna in Tokyo, Japan were the better team.
They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, and they never looked back from there. Japan won handily 12-2.
Kitasuna's leadoff hitter, Noriatsu Osaka, was the catalyst for the victory. Within the first two innings, he was already 2-for-2 with two runs scored, and a RBI.
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He would hit three home runs in the game.
On the mound, Kitasuna's six-foot, 206-pound pitcher/first baseman, Kotaro Kiyomiya, was dominant.
Goodlettsville didn't get their first hit off of him until the fourth inning. Kiyomiya was not only nasty on the mound, he also drove in his teams first run.
It was a masterful performance all around, and it left no question who the best Little League baseball team in the world is.
Here is an ESPN recap of the rout:
Here are a few of the key moments from the game:
Kiyomiya Strikes Out Two In The Top of First Inning
The Japanese ace was about business from the very beginning of the game. He easily dispatched Jake Rucker, Jayson Brown and Brock Myers to set the tone for the game.
He sat Brown and Myers down on strikes, and he sent a message with his presence.
He is an intimidating sight on the mound, and coming out in the first inning with these results only affirmed his superiority.
Every year I watch the LLWS I see a few kids that give me the feeling that they could play professionally in the future. Kiyomiya is certainly one of those kids.
Kiyomiya Does it With The Bat Too
After Osaka led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, Kiyomiya drove him in with a single. Two strikeouts, a hit and a RBI isn't a bad inning of work.
The fact that he is so comfortable at the plate is a plus as well.
He has a big-time power-hitters presence at the plate. As a left-handed bat with tremendous power, he dwarfed Goodlettsville's pitcher Justin Smith.
Myers Homers Off Kiyomiya in The Top of Fourth Inning
The kids from Tennessee didn't have much to cheer about, but Myers did become just the third player in Little League history to hit five HRs in five consecutive games.
The other two are now Major Leaguers: A.J. Pierzynski and Mike Napoli.
The dinger was his team's first hit of the game. Despite the blow-out loss, this was quite an accomplishment for Myers. After the sting of the defeat dies down, he'll look back and be proud of his performance.
Going deep off of Kiyomiya has to add more luster to the feat as well.
Bottom Line
Kitasuna did score 12 runs in this game, but throughout the Little League World Series, it was the arms that set them apart.
The pitching was just too strong from Japan. That quality pushed them passed every opponent, including a very good Goodlettsville team on Sunday.
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