LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES : First Time’s the Charm for Cypress’ Opponent

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. —  David Slusher was in Chicago a year ago this month, watching the Little League World Series on television, when he remarked that his son’s baseball team could compete in Williamsport if it had a Little League franchise.

He filled out the paperwork during the winter and made sure all of his players were 11 or 12 years old. On Monday, he was pitching batting practice on a muddy field behind Lamade Stadium, home of the 1990 Little League World Series.

An international semifinal will open the tournament today. Matamoros, Mexico, will play Trail, British Columbia, which brought the third girl ever to advance to Williamsport. Matamoros last played on Aug. 4. Trail won the Canadian championship Saturday.

In today’s second game, Slusher’s Brooklyn, Mich., team will face Cypress.

Brooklyn coach Ray Chesney recalled Slusher telling his son during last year’s Series that “he thought we could beat some of the teams that were here last year. We probably could have. We were stronger last year.”

Since June, the Brooklyn team has gone 19-2, but only after winning the first game of its regional on a rainout in the last inning.

Under Little League rules, if a game is rained out, the final score is determined by which team was leading at the end of the last full inning. Oklahoma had scored two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead into Brooklyn’s last at-bat, but with two on, none out and the No. 8 batter coming up, umpires suspended play.

Brooklyn, leading 2-1 after five innings, was declared the winner.

“That’s a hell of a way to win a ball game, and a horrible way to lose a ball game,” Chesney said.

The last time a first-year Little League team advanced to Williamsport was in 1957, when Monterrey, Mexico, won the title. Monterrey repeated in 1958.