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Tokyo Team Wins Little League World Series

Posted on: Monday, 25 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

The East Boynton Beach players joined their Japanese opponent's victory celebration.

That was as close as the Florida boys got to Tokyo Musashi-Fuchu in the Little League World Series title game.

Musashi-Fuchu routed East Boynton Beach 10-1 on Sunday night, with Yuutaro Tanaka striking out 14 and homering and Hokuto Nakahara hitting a grand slam.

The Japanese players raced into center field after the game, bowing to the bust of stadium namesake Howard J. Lamade, a tradition that began with Tokyo Kitasuna in 2001.

This time, Boynton Beach's players, rather than hanging their heads, ran out to join them. The victory lap, which both teams ran together, turned into a footrace.

"They're kids," manager Ken Emerson said. "Before the game, the Japanese team and our team were in the cafeteria. They were just hanging out - having an East Boynton Beach time."

The title was Japan's third in five years. Tokyo Kitasuna beat Apopka, Fla., 2-1 in the 2001 championship, and Osaka defeated Phenix City, Ala., 5-0 in 1999.

Florida has put eight teams into title games, but never won a championship.

Japan (6-0) broke open a scoreless game with eight runs in the fourth inning.

Eito Ono was hit by a pitch with two outs and the bases loaded and Kazumasa Sakamoto drew a walk from Michael Broad (2-1). Nakahara sent the next pitch over the wall in center field for a 6-0 lead and his first home run of the series.

"When I hit it, I was hoping it was going to go out," Nakahara said through a translator. "When I saw it was a home run, I was relieved."

After Takeru Ohmae's single, Tanaka hit a two-run homer to make it 8-0.

Tanaka (2-0), who allowed four hits, beautifully mixed fastballs and curves to keep the Boynton Beach batters off guard.

"He had the same release on his change up, his curve or his fastball," Emerson said. "They knew our power hitters were more apt to go for a high pitch. They're just a great-coached team."

Devon Travis, who came in hitting .667 in the series, went 1-for-2 with two walks. Michael DeJesus, who was 6-for-6 in his last two games, went 1-for-3.

"My plan was to throw different types of pitches against them, and then finish with my fastball," Tanaka said through a translator.

Tokyo went up 10-0 in the fifth on Hirofumi Yamazaki's solo homer and Sakamoto's RBI double.

Boynton Beach (4-2) barely avoided a "mercy rule" loss when DeJesus' RBI single scored Travis in the bottom of the fifth. If Japan had been leading by 10 runs at the end of the inning, the game would have been stopped.

Travis singled in the sixth, but was tagged trying to reach second base for the final out before Benny Townend could get home.

Tokyo completely dominated its opposition during the series, outscoring opponents 59-9. Its 15 home runs tied a record for the most in a series since pool play began - Kao-Hsuing, Taiwan's 1996 team also hit 15 homers, but did it in just five games.

Before Tokyo's fourth-inning outburst, it looked as if the game would be a pitchers' duel. Tokyo stranded runners in each of the first three innings, and Broad was one strike away from ending the side in the fourth when his fastball hit Ono.

In the third-place game, Tharick Martines pitched a one-hitter to lead the Netherlands Antilles to a 6-1 victory over Saugus, Mass. It was the third consecutive year a team from Curacao finished third.

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