You know what’s crazy? ‘ll tell you what’s crazy.™
The Little League World Series.
Goodlettsville was awesome. But the Japanese Pitching staff had me in awe.
I’m watching the final game and Kotaro Kiyomiya is a moose on the mound. Number 27 is a Babe Ruth-esque figure on the hill. He is imposing, over powering, throwing metorites over the plate.
Each member of the Goodlettsville team comes to the batter’s box, they dig in, and then begin praying. The Japanese pitching staff is throwing the equivalent of 103mph in MLB terminology. That is unbelievable.
At the start of the game, the Goodlettsville kids seem shell shocked. The kids are swinging, sometimes after the ball has all ready popped the catcher’s mitt.
The Goodlettsville coach told his kids to swing before the Japanese pitcher even lets go of the ball.
Wow. You know you are throwing bb’s if batters have to start swinging before the pitcher even throws the ball to the plate.
This Japanese kid is throwing darts, painting the corners, and making the Tennessee kids guess. He proves the point that good pitching will always beat good hitting.
Tennessee scored 24 runs against California, Saturday. What a gutsy performance by the Middle Tennesee kids.
Goodlettsville is a splendid team that can really hit the ball. Maybe they suffered a bit of an emotional let down playing extra innings against California to win the United States crown. Maybe they just went up against Kotaro Kiyomiya – a 12 year old buzz saw.
The kid is like Paul Bunyan on the mound without a blue ox.
While almost unhittable, he is human.
The Goodlettsville boys know if they can just get the barrel of the bat over the plate, Kiyomiya’s velocity will do the rest of the work.
Brock Meyers did just that in the fourth inning. He steps into the pitch, and sends the ball over the outfield wall.
The pitcher is such a good sport, he joined the Tennessee celebration and gave Meyer a high five. Can you imagine seeing that in the pros.
The Goodlettsville kids deserve our praise. The Japanese pitching staff deserves a plaque in the history books.
And that’s crazy.™