Little League to be played on big stage

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Little League World Series title game is going prime-time.

Sunday’s contest between Columbus, Ga., and Kawaguchi City, Japan, was postponed because of rain. The game is now scheduled to start at 5 p.m. (PDT) tonight.

Little League has never played a championship game on a Monday night. It will be the latest start time for a title game, too.

Little League president Stephen Keener said organizers wanted to give the field a chance to dry out after rain all day Sunday.

Keener also said the later start would give Little League a chance to reschedule volunteers to staff the game. Most stadium workers, as well as the umpires, aren’t paid.

Troy Carmont leaned back on a cushy couch in the umpires’ lounge and relaxed.

There was no pressure, with time to spare before he was scheduled to call balls and strikes in the title game.

“I’m representing 15 other guys,” Carmont said, referring to the 16-person crew for the tournament. “The butterflies are there when you start the game, and then it goes away.”

It’s not just the kids in the spotlight in South Williamsport. The Little League World Series is a big deal for umpires, too.

The title game has been rescheduled just once before, in 1990, when rain forced San-Hua, Chinese Taipei, and Shippensburg, Pa., to play on a Sunday, one day late. Chinese Taipei won 9-0.

The third-place game between Beaverton, Ore., and Matamoros, Mexico, was canceled because of rain.

The game was to have been played on the last day of the 10-day tournament and will not be made up.

Beaverton’s Murrayhill league team finished the runner-up in the U.S. bracket. Mexico was second in the international division.