TAYLOR — Taylor North, representing Michigan in the 2021 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., faces an elimination game at 3 p.m. today against Texas. The game will be televised on ESPN.
This is the first time a Taylor team has played in the LLWS.
Taylor plays in one of the two elimination games today. After Taylor faces Texas in the Hank Aaron Championship bracket, Ohio squares off with California in the Tom Seaver Championship bracket. If Taylor wins, it would advance to the finals of the Hank Aaron Championship against unbeaten Hawaii, who handed Taylor its first loss, 2-0, last night.
On the Tom Seaver side of the tournament, the Ohio-California winner would advance to face unbeaten South Dakota.
The eventual winners of the Hank Aaron and Tom Seaver tournaments will play for the Little League World Series title on Sunday.
Taylor North (2-1 in LLWS action) played well last night, but not as well as Hawaii. The difference in the outcome was defense. An early wild pitch and outfield overthrow led to a 2-0 lead for Hawaii.
From that point, Taylor North made a lot of solid contact, but Hawaii players made no less than six outstanding fielding plays, capped when center fielder Kaika Patoc-Young leaned over the fence and took away a home run from hot-hitting Cam Thorning. Despite a lot of heavy contact, Taylor was limited to a single hit by Hawaii’s Ryan Keanu, who went the distance.
Ethan VanBelle took the loss, his first of the postseason.
The Michigan-Texas game is a rematch. Taylor rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat Texas in the second round, 6-5, earlier in the tournament.
If Taylor advances to face Hawaii for a second time, the game would be played at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.