It might be just another Tuesday at your place of business, but in Williamsport, Pa., at the 2013 Little League World Series, young baseball players were fighting to keep their shot at the championship trophy alive.
Two elimination games and a consolation game were on the schedule for Tuesday.
Fun was also on the schedule, as you can see from this Vine post from the LLWS' official account.
With several teams already eliminated from contention and others on the brink of joining their opposition on the sidelines for the remainder of the tournament, Day 6 at the Little League World Series promised to be full of action.
It did not disappoint.
Here's a look at how things shook out for all six teams who took the field on Tuesday.
*For a complete look the upcoming games at the 2013 Little League World Series, visit LittleLeague.org.
Tuesday Scores
*All scores and stats via LittleLeague.org.
Tuesday Recaps
Europe & Africa (Czech Republic) 5, Great Lakes (Michigan) 3
In a consolation game for two teams that went winless in their first two appearances in Williamsport, the young players from Brno, Czech Republic, overcame an early 3-0 deficit to defeat Grosse Pointe, Mich., by a score of 5-3.
Since the 2013 tournament was the first to feature a team from the Czech Republic, the victory was also the first such win for a team representing the country.
Although both teams had already been eliminated from contention, the atmosphere at Howard J. Lamade Stadium was anything but disappointing.
Solo home runs from Thomas Maxey and starting pitcher Antonio Moceri helped give Great Lakes a three-run lead heading into the bottom of the third inning, but Europe & Africa patiently chipped away over their final three frames.
Brno put a run on the board in the third and added two more in each of the next two innings to grab a two-run lead heading into the top of the sixth. Robin Vavra managed to limit the Czech Republic to three runs in five innings before giving way to Lukas Hlouch, who picked up the save.
Moceri had a strong outing for Grosse Point, but his defense let him down in the bottom of the fourth. Two poor throws on an infield hit allowed two Brno runs to score, giving the international team the momentum it needed to hang around.
After Great Lakes failed to score in the top of the fifth, Europe & Africa tacked on the final two runs in the bottom of the frame. Lukas Hlouch's two-run double proved to be the difference, and the home team ended the game a half-inning early to pick up its lone win of the tournament.
Eliska Stejskalova, the only girl participating in the 2013 LLWS and the 16th girl in the history of the event to do so, came on as a sub for the Czech Republic in the fourth inning.
MLB legend Jim Edmonds was impressed with her performance after holding down the fort in right field for Brno:
Elsewhere, Marek Krejcirik had two hits and drove in a run for the Czech Republic. Chad Lorkowski, the Little League phenom who wears a size 15 shoe at age 12, had two hits to lead Michigan. Moceri had eight strikeouts, but ended up taking the loss for Great Lakes.
Michigan (0-3) will end their 2013 trip to Williamsport in the same boat as Australia, who lost their consolation game to Southwest on Monday.
Latin America (Panama) 8, Asia-Pacific (Chinese Taipei) 7
Latin America scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to stave off elimination and send Asia-Pacific home on Tuesday afternoon.
Trailing 7-4 and facing the reality of already having two outs on the scoreboard, Panama needed a miracle to overcome the deficit and take down Chinese Taipei. An error and a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded later, Panama's prayers were answered.
Zack Spears, for one, had never seen anything quite like it:
Baseball Quotes showed a little more sympathy:
Panama got off to a great start in the first inning, scoring four runs in the frame. Armando Lopez hit a three-run home run to pace the Panama attack and give his squad a 4-0 lead heading into the second inning.
It didn't take long for Chinese Taipei to answer.
After cutting one run off the deficit in the second inning, Chinese-Taipei exploded for six runs in the top of the third, getting two RBI from both Shih-Che Chou and Shu-Ming Lee. The big inning gave Asia-Pacific a 7-4 lead and some breathing room toward staying alive.
The resiliency of Panama had other plans.
Down to their final strike on several occasions, Latin America refused to say die. After Chinese Taipei failed to close the door on an error by the third baseman, Jordan Agrazal came through in the clutch with a single that plated the two tying runs.
Panama wasn't done.
Still with two outs and the score now tied, Panama managed to load the bases yet again. In true "Benchwarmers" fashion, Teng-Yao Yu couldn't control his final pitch of the game. Jose Gonzalez trotted down to first after being hit by the pitch, and Panama escaped with the 8-7 victory.
They will next face the loser of Wednesday's Japan-Mexico clash.
Northwest (Washington) 6, Southeast (Tennessee) 5
The final game of Tuesday’s elimination contests provided another exciting finish for those following the classic yearly tournament.
The story of the game ended up being Washington’s explosion in the top of the third inning, though. Washington scored six runs and took a 6-2 lead. Tennessee bounced back in the bottom half of the inning to draw closer at 6-4, but couldn’t find a way to pull even over the next three innings.
Jack Matheson entered the game for Washington in the bottom of the third in relief after starter Jacob Dahlstrom surrendered two runs. The stage was huge and the situation was grave when he entered:
After building a 2-1 count, Washington caught Knox Preston stealing to end the inning. Matheson went on to allow just three hits and one run over his final three innings of work.
Down to its final out, and strike, Tennessee’s Trae McLemore reached base after Washington’s third baseman mishandled a bouncer down the third-base line. On the next batter, Matheson and Washington ended Tennessee’s hopes for a comeback. Ben Pickman hit a ground ball that was tossed to second base for the force out to end the ball game.
McLemore, also Tennessee’s starting pitcher, was flawless prior to giving up six runs in the top of the third inning. He struckout all six batters he faced before the meltdown.
Washington finished with just two hits throughout the game with exception to its big third inning. It finished with eight for the game but also struck out 11 times. Tennessee finished with eight hits and seven strikeouts.
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