Little League World Series Regionals 2017: North/South Dakota Shut Out Missouri

It is championship Saturday for the 2017 Little League World Series across the United States, as six teams will punch their tickets to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with victories in their respective regional title games. 

North Carolina and Texas already secured their spots in this year's Little League World Series. The rest of the U.S. field will be determined throughout Saturday. The winners from the day's games will compete with the rest of the world for a championship in Pennsylvania starting Aug. 17. 

Here are the results from each of Saturday's six regional title contests. 

Saturday Regionals Results

Midwest: North/South Dakota (Sioux Falls) def. Missouri (Webb City), 6-0

New England: Connecticut (Fairfield) def. Maine (South Portland), 10-0

Northwest: Washington def. Oregon, 4-3

Great Lakes: Michigan (Grosse Pointe Woods) def. Illinois (Hinsdale), 6-3

Mid-Atlantic: New Jersey (Holbrook) def. Maryland (Thurmont), 8-3

West: Southern California vs. Utah, 9 p.m.

Saturday Regionals Recap

New Jersey def. Maryland, 8-3

An early offensive barrage carried New Jersey to an 8-3 victory over Maryland in the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship game. 

Chris Cartnick got New Jersey on the board with a two-out solo home run in the first inning. That served as a warm-up act for the second inning when the team scored six runs on six hits, including Garrett Drew's two-run double and Tai Mann's two-run homer. 

With the offense putting up a quick seven runs, Mann and Chris Andrews kept Maryland's bats mostly at bay. Mann battled his way through 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Andrews was sharp in 2.1 innings of relief, giving up no runs on three hits. 

This is New Jersey's first trip to the Little League World Series since 2012. Last year's Mid-Atlantic champions, Maine-Endwell Little League from Maine, went on to win the championship by beating South Korea. 

Michigan def. Illinois, 6-3

Riding a five-run fifth inning and a terrific relief effort from pitcher Will Pflaum, Michigan defeated Illinois 6-3 to earn the Great Lakes spot in the 2017 Little League World Series. 

Pflaum took over in the third inning for starter Drew Hill with Michigan trailing 2-1. He gave up one unearned run on two hits with four strikeouts in four innings. 

With Pflaum posting zeroes, Michigan's bats came to life in the top of the fifth. Joseph Wisniewski and Jack Jones got the scoring started with consecutive RBI singles that put Michigan up 4-2. Jordan Arseneau capped off the inning with a two-run homer against Illinois pitcher Ben Oosterbaan.

Grosse Pointe Woods Little League is making its second trip to Williamsport in five years. The 2013 team went winless in the Little League World Series. 

Washington def. Oregon, 4-3

Washington held on to win a nail-biter against Oregon by the final score of 4-3, earning the state its first Little League World Series representative since 2014. 

Oregon threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Logan Williams doubled in a run with two outs to make it a one-run game. Following a brief consultation on the mound, Washington pitcher Carson Jones came back to strike out Noah Mcllmoil. 

With the pitching staff keeping Oregon's bats at bay, Washington's offense did all of its damage in the third inning. Keegan Weston started the scoring with an RBI single. Two more runs came around to score when a grounder off the bat of Caiden Thomsen was misplayed by Oregon's second baseman. 

Landon Welter's RBI groundout ended the scoring for Washington. Thomsen made it hold up by striking out eight over 3.1 innings. Jones scattered five hits in 2.2 innings of relief before closing things out. 

Connecticut def. Maine, 10-0

Connecticut put up three big innings and got outstanding pitching from Ethan Righter and Tyler Bauer to earn an easy 10-0 victory over Maine in the New England Regional championship. 

Righter scattered four hits over 4.1 innings, while striking out nine and walking just one, to earn the win. Bauer followed him on the mound by giving up just two hits and striking out two over the final 1.2 innings. 

After both teams put up zeroes in the first two innings, Connecticut finally broke through with three runs in the third. Michael Iannazzo got it started with a two-run double after Leo Randazzo and Righter opened the inning with back-to-back singles. 

Iannazzo drove in two more in the fourth inning with his second double of the day. He finished the game 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored. 

The win gives Connecticut its first trip to the Little League World Series since 2013. This is also the third trip to Williamsport for Fairfield American Little League since 2010, though it hasn't advanced past the third round in each of the past two appearances. 

North/South Dakota def. Missouri, 6-0

Timely hitting and an excellent pitching performance from Marcus Phillips carried North/South Dakota to a 6-0 victory over Missouri and a Midwest Regional championship. 

Phillips tossed 5.1 innings in the win, allowing just one hit with eight strikeouts and two walks. He was removed from the game due to reaching the pitch count limit. Jack Radel closed out the win by recording the final two outs. 

North/South Dakota only had four hits—all singles—in the win. All four hits came in the team's four-run third inning, including three in the span of four hitters. Phillips got the scoring started with an RBI single, and Bennett Dannenbring and Radel had back-to-back RBI singles after Ethan Bruns was walked to load the bases. 

The win gives North/South Dakota its first appearance in the Little League World Series since 2014 when Canyon Lake Little League advanced before being knocked out in the first round.