Whalley Little League’s Intermediate all-star team is in Livermore, California today for the first game of the Intermediate World Series.
They will play their first game today (Tuesday), just four days after they claimed the Canadian championship with an 8-2 win over Ontario at the six-team national tournament in Calgary.
Whalley dominated the opposition in Calgary, winning all seven games played while outscoring their opponents by an average of 18-3. After scoring 95 runs in five round robin games, B.C. defeated Quebec 13-3 in a semifinal game to qualify for Friday’s final against Ontario.
In the championship game, Whalley led 1-0 after one inning and 4-0 after two. Winning pitcher Winston Wong held Ontario to just three hits, and two runs which were scored in the bottom the the seventh inning. Wong struck out 10 Ontario batters.
Sean Sasaki led the Chiefs offensively with a pair of hits. He, Adam Inouye and Evan Alexander had two RBIs each.
In the semifinal game against Quebec, Whalley scored six times in the bottom of the first inning. After Quebec cut the difference in half at 6-3, Whalley put up another five runs in the bottom of the third frame to put the game well out of reach.
Inouye had three hits against Quebec, while Sasaki drove in four RBIs.
Sasaki finished with a tournament-best .684 batting average in the five round robin games, leading all batters with 13 RBIs. Andy Kliewer was second among all batters with a .588 average.
Other members of the Whalley team are Marcus Garcia, Christian Raytek, Bailey Chiasson, Rey John Fortaleza, Sherman Lin, Braden Scott, Matthew Slater and Jacob Mahon.
The World Series is comprised of two double-knockout tournaments, one for the six teams from the U.S.A. and another for the five international teams. The U.S.A. winner will play the international champion for the World Series banner on Monday (Aug. 4).
– Whalley will send a second all-star team to a Little League national championship next weekend in Valleyfield, Quebec.
Whalley’s Senior Little League team won their provincial championship, and will be the B.C. representative at the national tournament that begins Friday.
On their way to a B.C. championship, Whalley defeated North Vancouver Central 9-0 in the quarterfinal round, topped Mt. Seymour 5-2 in the semifinals, then topped Coquitlam 6-2 in the final.
The national champion will advance to the Senior League World Series in Bangor, Maine.
