Ryan Harlost has led Endwell, New York, to the Little League World Series title, striking out eight and limiting South Korea to five hits in six innings in a 2-1 victory.
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Endwell snapped a five-year championship drought for US teams on Little League’s biggest stage and gave NY its first title since 1964.
NY didn’t get its first hit until the bottom of the fourth inning when Jude Abbadessa got a single.
This had been an incredible summer for Maine-Endwell, which won the Mid-Atlantic Championship before going 4-0 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania to win the USA title.
South Korea answered back in the top of the fifth inning with a Yoomin Lee solo home run to cut the lead in half to 2-1. South Korea’s Junho Jeong delivers during the first inning of the Little League World Series Championship baseball game against Endwell, N.Y., in South Williamsport, Pa., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016.
Ryan Harlost threw a four-hitter as M-E topped global champion South Korea 2-1 on Sunday in the championship game of the Little League World Series before an announced attendance of 23,211 at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. He later came around to score the first run of the game on an RBI bloop single by Conner Rush.
“I think it has helped that they’re friends”, manager Scott Rush said after his team’s win over Tennessee, per Rob Centorani of the Press & Sun-Bulletin.
The Endwell, New York, pitcher admitted it made him uneasy.
“It’s just the best”, Harlot said in a LLWS release.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jude Abbadessa lined a one-out single, and he went to third on Harlost’s single up the middle. Harlost followed with a base hit to right, and when the cut-off man threw late to third, he advanced to second.
South Korea threatened in the final inning.
It took a while, but NY finally solved South Korea starter Junho Jeong, a sidewinding righty who threw hard with a wicked breaking ball.
Most of New York’s players had been on other teams together before. South Korea had played in three previous championships, in 1984, 1985 and 2014, and won all three.
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Hooper Road was lined with people as the team and the World Series trophy came home.
