Cartersville came back from 0-2 for 2007 title

Cartersville, Ga., did the seemingly impossible in winning the 2007 Senior League World Series. Not only did the boys from Georgia shutout a powerful Falcon, Venezuela, lineup to win the world title 9-0 in front of a worldwide television audience and a capacity crowd at Mansfield Stadium, they did what no team in a Bangor World Series had done before: win the title after losing their first two games of the series.

It was the first time ESPN had televised a Senior League Baseball World Series game, as the game aired on ESPNU.

Cartersville needed to win a three-way tiebreaker with Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Surrey, British Columbia, to reach the semifinals. The three teams each finished with a 2-2 record, with none of the three having beaten the other two. Using the runs allowed per defensive innings played tiebreaker, Cartersville got the berth, allowing 0.478 runs per inning to Canada’s 0.704 and CNMI’s 1.593.

Chris Huth got the complete game win in the championship game, allowing just one hit to the defending world champs from Venezuela. Huth had no-hit Maine District 3 entry Brewer in a five-inning game in pool play shortened because of the 10-run rule.

Georgia and Hawaii each hit four home runs as a team in the series, as there were nine home runs hit overall. Before last year, the most home runs hit in a series had been four, with three by Guam catcher Alejandro Diaz, in 2005.

Overall, the series featured wild finishes and stunning comebacks. In the semifinals, Hilo, Hawaii, which returned for the first time since winning the world title in 2003, battled Venezuela until the ninth inning, losing 5-4. Hawaii had to score two runs in the bottom of the eighth to send the game into the ninth after Venezuela broke a 2-2 tie.

In pool play, Maine District 3 and CNMI battled for nine innings in a slugfest that saw CNMI come out on top 17-12 in nine innings. The host needed to score five runs in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings, tied 12-12. The game lasted just short of 3 ½ hours after starting in bright sunlight and ending under the stadium lights.

Hawaii had the comeback win of the series, though, when it beat Canada 6-5 in pool play after being down 5-1 entering the top of the seventh inning. Hawaii scored all five of its runs in the inning with two outs, dashing Canada’s hopes of advancing to the semifinal round for the first time since the World Series came to Bangor in 2002.

Maine District 3, in Pool A, and Vilnius, Lithuania, in Pool B, finished the series without any wins. Despite going winless, Maine District 3 did take CNMI to nine innings and played Hawaii tough on the last day of pool play, losing 6-4. Lithuania lost only 4-1 to Freehold Township, N.J., on the first day of pool play and was holding its own against Venezuela with a 4-3 lead before a series of unfortunate balk calls caused the pitching staff to collapse and give up 15 runs in the seventh inning of what ended up being a 22-4 loss.

Cartersville’s Huth led all pitchers in the series with his 12 innings of shutout, one-hit ball. At the plate, Freehold Township’s Anthony Cirillo hit .750 (9-for-12). Hilo’s Kolten Wong slugged 1.308, going 7-for-13 (.538) with two home runs, two doubles, and a triple. Maine District 3’s Billy Bissell had the second-highest batting average in the series among players with 10 or more plate appearances, hitting .583 (7-for-12).

2007 alumni who went on to play professionally included Hilo’s Blake Amaral, drafted in 2012 by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Kolten Wong, drafted in 2011 by the St. Louis Cardinals; Vilnius’s Dovydas Neverauskas, signed as a free agent in 2009 by the Pittsburgh Pirates; and Paraguana’s Leonardo Rojas, drafted in 2012 by the San Francisco Giants. Wong was the first Bangor World Series alumnus to be drafted in the first round (22nd overall pick). Neverauskas was the first Europe-Middle East-Africa player to go pro.