Juvenil de Guatemala captures 1st world title
Lemon Grove runs out of lives

Juvenil de Guatemala celebrates its 6-3 world title game win over Lemon Grove.

Juvenil de Guatemala Little League, Guatemala City, Guatemala, won the 2012 World Series with a 6-3 win over Lemon Grove L.L., Lemon Grove, Calif. It was the first World Series title ever in any division of Little League for Guatemala.

Juvenil de Guatemala used strong pitching on its way to a perfect 5-0 record in the series. The team’s 10-0, no-hit win over Canada’s Notre-Dame-de-Grace L.L., Montreal, Quebec, in the team’s first game was an indicator of things to come. Emilio Seijas pitched 5.2 innings as the starting pitcher, throwing 70 pitches – 45 for strikes. He struck out seven and walked two. Carlos Martinez (0.1 innings pitched, one strikeout) and Ricardo Alvarado (1 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) backed him up on the mound.

The no-hitter was the third in Bangor World Series history, with the others thrown by Hilo L.L., Hilo, Hawaii, in 2003 against Khovimo L.L., Moscow, Russia, and Bangor East/West L.L.’s (Bangor, Maine) in 2006.

Juvenil de Guatemala’s earned run average for the series was 1.48 as it limited opposing hitters to a record-low .131 batting average. The pitching staff’s 0.91 walks and hits per innings pitched ratio was also a record for a Bangor World Series.

The Latin America team had a good chance to become the fourth team in Bangor series history to go 6-0, but a rain out against Maine District 3 champ Hampden-Newburgh L.L. on the last day of pool play prevented the Guatemalans from joining the ranks of Paraguana L.L., Falcon, Venezuela (2006), North Cumberland L.L., Upper Deerfield, N.J. (2008), and Hilo (2011).

While Juvenil de Guatemala’s pitchers consistently held opponents’ bats at bay, the series featured four last-inning comebacks, with three of them resulting in improbable wins.

Lemon Grove’s Deandre Simpson points to the sky as his teammates mob him after his two-out, three-run, walk-off double against South Beaches/West Melbourne on opening day.

On opening day, U.S. Southeast champ South Beaches/West Melbourne L.L., Brevard County, Fla., had a seemingly solid 3-1 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning against U.S. West champ Lemon Grove L.L., Lemon Grove, Calif. But Lemon Grove, down to its last strike, got a three-run double from Deandre Simpson for a shocking 4-3 win.

Taking a cue from Lemon Grove, U.S. Central champ Western L.L., Grand Rapids, Mich., scored five two-out runs later in the day en route to a 7-6 walk-off win of its own, beating U.S. East champ Auburn L.L., Auburn, Mass. Kyle Mroz and Nick McNamara were the main heroes, as Mroz singled home the tying run with two outs and McNamara singled home the winning run.

Western almost found itself on the other end of a last-inning comeback in its next game, against Hampden-Newburgh. Up 8-1 heading into the top of the seventh inning, Western gave up four runs, but escaped with an 8-5 win, stranding two Hampden-Newburgh runners on base.

After defeating Asia-Pacific champ Bayside Westhaven L.L., Auckland, New Zealand, easily (15-2 in five innings) in its second game of the series, Lemon Grove needed to repeat its opening day comeback, this time against Europe-Middle East-Africa champ Emilia L.L., Emilia, Italy.

Emilia scored a run in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead. Lemon Grove countered with a run in the bottom of the third. Emilia regained the lead with a run in the fifth, but Lemon Grove responded quickly in the bottom of the inning with a run of its own. The score remained tied through seven innings. In the eighth, Emilia scored twice to take a 4-2 lead.

Juvenil de Guatemala’s Emilio Seijas tied a Bangor World Series record for pitchers, limiting opponents to a .029 batting average.

Before last year’s series, the biggest upset in Bangor World Series history was Georgia YMCA’s (Tbilsi, Republic of Georgia) 2-1 win over Activo L.L., Santiago, Veraguas, Panama, in the 2005 series. If Emilia could hold onto its two-run lead over Lemon Grove, it could claim the biggest upset in Bangor World Series history, as the U.S. West region entered last year’s series with a 35-5 record, with Europe-Middle East-Africa teams at 9-31.

Lemon Grove tied the score at 4-4 with a two-out single, scoring a runner from third. With two outs and Dominik Sawyer on third after doubling in the first run and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt, Ray Peterson singled Sawyer home. Emilia intentionally walked Simpson, preferring to pitch to Alex Estrada. Estrada singled Sawyer home on a 2-1 pitch for the win.

Despite losing a heartbreaker to Lemon Grove on opening day, South Beaches/West Melbourne won its next three games to earn a spot in the semifinals. South Beaches/West Melbourne’s second place finish in Pool B ended a three-year semifinal drought for U.S. Southeast teams. Unfortunately for the U.S. Southeast champ, Juvenil de Guatemala was waiting on the other side.

Bolstered by its improbable comeback on opening day, Western became the first U.S. Central team to reach the semifinals since 2005, when Urbandale L.L., Urbandale, Iowa, won that year’s series. Western’s win over Auburn was the difference in the tiebreaker, as both teams finished 2-2 in pool play.

The 2012 series marked the first time since 2002, when the series moved to Bangor, that a game was played outside of Bangor. With steady rain falling on the morning of the last day of pool play, Tournament Director Mike Brooker got permission from Little League to move the final four games eight miles up I-95, to the University of Maine’s Mahaney Diamond, which has artificial turf.

Six of the eight teams scheduled to play got their games in, but when the rain became a downpour in the first inning of Hampden-Newburgh’s game against Juvenil de Guatemala, the umpires halted play. Because the game would have no impact on the standings, it was canceled – only the second game in 11 Bangor series not to be played.

In the semifinals, Juvenil de Guatemala erased a first inning, one-run deficit to South Beaches/West Melbourne by sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring five runs in the bottom of the third. That was all the Guatemalans needed, as Seijas and Hans Werner limited the U.S. Southeast champions to one hit in a 5-2 win.

Lemon Grove easily dispatched Western, 6-1, with Frankie Nunez getting the four-hit, complete game win.

For the first time in Bangor World Series history games were played away from Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium, as teams tried to squeeze in the last day of pool play at the University of Maine’s Mahaney Diamond, which has an artificial field.

In the title game, Lemon Grove took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but Juvenil de Guatemala went ahead with three runs in the third, thanks to three singles and two walks. The Latin America champs added three more runs in the sixth, taking advantage of four walks to go along with two singles. The U.S. West champs picked up two runs in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double by Nunez.

Seijas was the top pitcher in the series (0.58 ERA, 12 IP, 10 SO, 0.58 WHIP, .029 OAVG). The top hitters were Lemon Grove’s Ray Peterson (.533 AVG, 8 H, 4 2B, 12 TB, 4 HBP, 6 SB, 5 R, .565 OBP, .800 SLG, 1.365 OPS, 9 RBI) and Juvenil de Guatemala’s Diego Montes Incer (1 3B, 1 HR, 11 TB, 2 HBP, 3 SB, 6 R, .611 OBP, .917 SLG, 1.528 OPS, 7 RBI).

The final standings for Pool A were Juvenil de Guatemala (3-0), Western (2-2), Auburn (2-2), Hampden-Newburgh (1-2), and Notre-Dame-de-Grace (1-3).

The final standings for Pool B were Lemon Grove (4-0), South Beaches/West Melbourne (3-1), West University L.L., Houston, Texas (2-2), Emilia (1-3), and Bayside Westhaven (0-4).