2014 Little League World Series
The 2014 Little League World Series, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, started on August 14 and ended on August 24, 2014.[1] Eight teams from the United States, and eight from the rest of the world, competed in the 68th edition of the tournament. This was the first World Series to feature entire rosters of players born in the 21st century. ESPN again broadcast the games. This also marked the 75th anniversary of Little League Baseball. All games took place at Howard J. Lamade Stadium and Little League Volunteer Stadium. Seoul Little League of Seoul, South Korea, defeated Jackie Robinson West Little League of Chicago, Illinois, 8–4 to win the championship. On February 11, 2015, Jackie Robinson West's wins were vacated after it was found that the team used ineligible players from outside the Chicago area. Therefore, all of Jackie Robinson West's results are now officially recorded as 0–6 losses (forfeit). Mountain Ridge Little League of Las Vegas, Nevada, was named the U.S. champion due to the vacating of Jackie Robinson West's wins.
| 2014 Little League World Series | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Dates | August 14–August 24 | |
| Teams participating | 16 | |
| Champion |  Seoul, South Korea | |
| Runner-up |   Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| ||
Teams
Team Rosters
| Asia-Pacific | .svg.png){kind=small} |
.svg.png){kind=small} |
Caribbean | Europe-Africa |  |
Latin America |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dong Hwan Ahn
Hae Chan Choi Sang Hoon Han Jae Yeong Hwang Jin Woo Jeon Dong Hyeok Kim Shane Jaemin Kim Gyu Heon Kwon Tae Min Moon Ji Ho Park Dong Wan Sin Chan Oh Min Jun Hyeok Yun |
Etienne Charette
Matthew Coleman Carter Dowling Calvin Eissens Benjamin Hewett Callum Johnson Blake Monaghan Javier Pelkonen Tarrant Reimers Nicholas Riley Callum Schipp Daniel Stephenson Zak Taylor Jordano Vivona |
Rod Betonio
Nico Cole Vicarte Domingo Madjik Mackenzie Ryan Mah Emma March Evan March Joshua Matsui Michael Oyhenart Joseph Sinclair Daniel Suarez Matthew Suarez |
Emanuel Alicea
Adrian Colon Jeremy Colon Felix Cruz Erick Figueroa Edward Gonzalez Joseph Gonzalez Oscar Lopez Peter Marquez Alvin Martinez Janiel Perez Yadiel Santana Joel Santos Abimael Torres |
Vojtech Blaha
Ondrej Chlubna Patrik Kadrnozka Marek Krejcirik Miroslav Krivanek Lukas Maly Tomas Oppelt Lukas Pacal Milan Prokop Martin Regner Roman Seifer Viktor Svida Adam Vavra |
Joichiro Fujimatsu
Taro Hashiguchi Keisuke Hirano Shozo Kamata Suguru Kanamori Yuta Komaba Ryoma Mitsui Arata Nishikawa Takuma Takahashi Ren Takeuchi Kengo Tomita Shingo Tomita Hayato Ueshima Hiromu Yokoyama |
Andrew Andrade
Jose Luis Atencio Diomel Bracho Jorge Cabrera Asnaldo Caicedo Jose de la Pena Andres Escalona Andres Inciarte Edgardo Marriaga Ronny Medina Alberson Mogollon Julio Rejon Greybell Salom Cesar Leonardo Vivas |
Jesus Bernal
Miguel de la Fuente Alex Garcia Juan Garza Encarnacion Gonzalez Gabriel Heredia Ruy Martinez Daniel Quiroz David Ramirez Rolando Reyna Luis Rodriguez Aldair Tellez Erick Vela Abraham Zambrano |
| Great Lakes | Mid-Atlantic | Midwest | New England | Northwest | Southeast | Southwest | West |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaheim Benton
Cameron Bufford D.J. Butler Brandon Green Trey Hondras Joshua Houston Ed Howard Marquis Jackson Pierce Jones Eddie King Prentiss Luster Lawrence Noble Darion Radcliff |
Scott Bandura
Kai Cummings Carter Davis Mo'ne Davis Jahli Hendricks Erik Lipson Jack Rice Joe Richardson Tai Shanahan Eli Simon Zion Spearman Jared Sprague-Lott |
Colton Hartford
Matthew Hegre Jake Kostenbauer Mason Litz Logan Miller Bridger Nesbit Dylan Richey Adam Salter True Synhorst Daniel Vigoren Cooper Voorhees Blake Weaver |
John Belisle
Trey Bourque Nick Croteau C.J. Davock Addison Kopack Mason Matos Sean Meers Tyler Provost Tyler Shaw Jayden Struble Trey Thibeault Brendan Wright |
Read Carr
Robley Corsi Tygan Duncan Tyler Durbin Ben Grant Nate King Logan Kruse Ian Michael Tai Starchman Karsen Tjarneberg Matthew Turcotte Mason Vaughn Colton Walsh |
Drew Byers
Tyler Finley Ian Fry Brian Garcia Tyler Hammonds Robert Hassell Houston High Garrett Justice Blake Money Cade Reynolds Sam Slaughter Barrett Smith Eston Snider |
Matthew Adams
Clayton Broeder Landon Donley Hunter Dopslauf Joshua Gabino Michael Groover Bryce Laird Walter Maeker Jonathan Newman Layne Roblyer Brandon Sliwinski Cole Smajstrla Presley Smith Christian Terranova |
Alex Barker
Payton Brooks Dallan Cave Dominic Clayton Josiah Cromwick Zach Hare Justin Hausner Brennan Holligan Dillon Jones Ausin Kryszczuk Drew Laspaluto Andrew Matulich Brad Stone Josh Zuehlsdorff |
Results
The draw to determine the opening round pairings took place on June 11, 2014.[2]
- Jackie Robinson West Little League subsequently forfeited all wins, including the U.S. Championship. Any of their wins are recorded in the below brackets as a 6–0 loss. The scores of their games, as played during the tournament, were as follows:
| Bracket | Round | Score | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | Round 1 | 12–2 (F/5) | Washington |
| Winners | Round 2 | 2–13 (F/4) | Nevada |
| Losers | Round 3 | 6–1 | Texas |
| Losers | U.S. Semifinal | 6–5 | Pennsylvania |
| U.S. Championship | 7–5 | Nevada | |
| World Championship | 4–8 | South Korea | |
United States bracket
| August 14 – Game 2 Forfeit | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 17 – Game 14 (F/4) | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 14 – Game 4 (F/5) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | |||||||||||||||||
 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 20 – Game 24 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 15 – Game 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 17 – Game 16 | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 15 – Game 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 23 – U.S. championship Forfeit | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 16 – Game 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 18 – Game 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 19 – Game 22 Forfeit | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 16 – Game 12 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 18 – Game 20 Forfeit | ||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 21 – Game 26 Forfeit | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||||||
International bracket
| August 14 – Game 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 17 – Game 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 14 – Game 3 (F/4) | ||||||||||||||||||
 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 26 – Game 20 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 15 – Game 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 17 – Game 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 15 – Game 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | |||||||||||||||||
 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 23 – International championship | ||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 16 – Game 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 18 – Game 17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 19 – Game 21 (F/5) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 16 – Game 11 (F/5) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 18 – Game 19 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| August 21 – Game 25 (F/5) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Crossover games
Teams that lose their first two games get to play a crossover game against a team from the other side of the bracket that also lost its first two games. These games are labeled Game A and Game B. Their purpose is to provide the teams who are already eliminated with the opportunity to play a third game.
| Game A | ||
| August 18 – Lamade Stadium | ||
| 3 | |
| 5 | |
| Game B | ||
| August 19 – Lamade Stadium | ||
| 9 | |
| 12 | |
Consolation game
The consolation game is played between the loser of the United States championship and the loser of the International championship.
| Consolation game | ||
| August 24 – Lamade Stadium | ||
| 5 | |
| 0 | |
World Championship
| Little League World Championship | ||
| August 24 – Lamade Stadium | ||
| 8 | |
| 4 | |
| 2014 Little League World Series Champions |
|---|
Seoul Little League Seoul, South Korea |
Mo'ne Davis
Philadelphia pitcher Mo'ne Davis was the first American female to participate in the Little League World Series (LLWS) since 2004 and the first female to pitch a winning LLWS game. The 13-year-old Davis became the first Little Leaguer featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, as well as one of the youngest athletes to appear on the cover.[3]
Jackie Robinson West
Team Jackie Robinson West was the first all black team to compete in the tournament in several decades. Hailing from the Washington Heights area of Chicago, the team made it all the way to the World Championship before ultimately falling to a team from South Korea.[4]
As the team rose to prominence, Evergreen Park, Illinois, Little League official Chris Janes began to investigate personal information pertaining to players of the Jackie Robinson West team, finding that multiple players on the team lived outside the team's designated boundary region. He later discovered that the team had used a falsified boundary map which covered a wider area than other teams in the region had agreed to.[5] On February 11, 2015, based on Chris Janes' findings, the team's wins and U.S. titles were vacated for its use of ineligible players. The U.S. title was retroactively awarded to Mountain Ridge Little League of Las Vegas. The Great Lakes title was also stripped from Jackie Robinson West, and given to the team they beat in the championship, New Albany, Indiana.[5][6]
Legal action
In February 2016, parents of the team's members sued Little League Baseball, Janes, ESPN Inc., and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith. They alleged that Little League Baseball and JRW officials had deliberately obfuscated details about the players' eligibility to "reap the benefits of notoriety and media attention", did not grant due process, that ESPN's Stephen A. Smith made defamatory remarks on its program First Take that "directly accused the JRW parents of perpetrating a fraud against the Little League", and that Janes had violated their right to privacy by using license plates to identify the players' residencies.[4][7] A judge ruled that Smith's comments were a personal opinion protected by the Constitution, and removed both ESPN and Smith from the lawsuit in June 2017.[8] As of April 2018, the remainder of the lawsuit remains pending.[9]
References
- "2014 Dates Set for the Nine Little League World Series Tournaments". Littleleague.org. November 18, 2013. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
- Communications Division (June 11, 2013). "Schedule Set For the 2014 Little League Baseball® World Series". Little League. Archived from the original on 2014-07-08. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
- "Little League World Series star pitcher Mo'ne Davis makes cover of Sports Illustrated". KTRK-TV. Houston. 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
- Bonesteel, Matt (February 11, 2016). "Jackie Robinson West parents sue team, Little League, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- Bowean, Lolly (February 11, 2015). "Coach who challenged JRW boundaries: 'It's tough, but the kids will be OK'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- "Little League strips U.S. title". ESPN. 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
- Lee, William (February 12, 2016). "Jackie Robinson West parents file suit against league, ESPN, whistleblower". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- Lee, William (June 30, 2017). "ESPN, commentator Stephen Smith dropped from Jackie Robinson West lawsuit". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
- Hyman, Dan (April 26, 2018). "America's Most Notorious Little League Team is Helping Chicago". Fatherly. Retrieved August 26, 2018.