Little League Champions

Rebecca+Katzman

With more than 22，000 baseball fans watching， New York defeated South Korea 2-1 in the Little League World Series on August 28. The game， which took place at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport， Pennsylvania， marked New Yorks first victory since Staten Island won the title in 1964.

The Endwell， New York， team set the stage for its win in the bottom of the fourth inning， when infielder Jude Abbadessa scored the games first run on third-baseman Conner Rushs single. “I was just thinking get it in play any way you can，”Rush said. “Once that happens， you never know what can happen.” In the same inning， Ryan Harlost scored the second run for Endwell. But tension grew at the top of the fifth inning， when Yoomin Lee hit a home run for South Korea that narrowed New Yorks lead.

In the top of the sixth inning—the final inning for a Little League game—chants of “U-S-A， U-S-A” echoed through the stadium as Harlost stepped up to the mound and warmed up. “I was a little nervous at first in front of a lot of people，” Harlost told the Associated Press. “But its just another game and I felt confident going in.” Harlost had reason to be confident. He helped the team to win by pitching eight strike-outs anda limiting South Korea to only five hits in six innings.

“Its just been amazing，” Abbadessa said. “Just coming here would be amazing and then our team doing well is even more amazing. Its been fun the whole week and were glad that it turned out this way.”

Vocabulary

inning n.（棒球的）一局

infielder n. 內野手

third-baseman n. （棒球）三垒手

mound n.（棒球运动中的）投球区土墩

strike-out n. 出局（球）

（Have you watched the intense competition？）