The annual Little League World Series gets underway next week in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Among the teams looking to punch their ticket into the 16-team field is the Michigan representative, Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League.
And on Saturday, this particular Little League program will have an opportunity to make it a second straight trip to Williamsport when they play in the Great Lakes Regional championship game.
Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores will play Indiana in tomorrow's Great Lakes Regional championship game. Woods-Shores routed Indiana last time out.
Game is at 5 on ESPN.
Winner heads to Williamsport.
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) August 10, 2018
Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores has had themselves a pretty dominant run this summer, carrying a perfect 13-0 record into Saturday’s contest. It all started back in early July when they rolled through the District No. 6 tournament in which they hosted, collecting four wins and outscoring the opposition by a score of 49-5. Then it was on to the state tournament where the 16 best Little League teams in Michigan met up in St. Clair for a week-long event.
The kids from Grosse Pointe again had little to no troubles getting through that field. They picked up a second consecutive state crown, doing so in emphatic fashion. They outscored their five opponents (six games total) 72-17.
Then it was off to the Great Lakes Regional in metro Indianapolis, where other state champions from around the region (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin) gathered for a chance to punch their ticket for Williamsport. The Michigan-made team won their first three games by a combined score of 33-4 and they will take on the Indiana-based club in the championship game on Saturday, a team they run-ruled 14-2 on Wednesday.
In terms of stats, Grosse Pointe is hitting .461 as a team in their three Great Lakes Regional contests thus far along with a scorching 1.389 OPS. Among the big contributors have been Jaren Purify, who is 8 for 9 in the regional with six RBI and all but one of his hits going for extra bases; Brennan Hill, who is only 3 for 5 but leads the team with seven RBI and is tied with two homers and three walks; and Reggie Sharp, the other multi-homer standout who is also tied for the team lead in runs scored with seven.
Should they emerge victorious again over New Albany LL on Saturday, it will be the 10th time a team from Michigan has gone on to play in the Little League World Series. It will also mark the second straight year and fourth time overall that Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores (formed in 1954) has sent a team to Williamsport. In fact, they are the only Little League team from Michigan to record multiple appearances in the LLWS.
The Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League squad will take on their counterparts from New Albany, Indiana on Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m. ET. The game will take place in Westfield, just outside of Indianapolis, and can be seen on ESPN.
[Feature image courtesy of Terry Schaefer from the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Facebook Page; Team and player stats courtesy of GameChanger]
