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Was This The Most Well-Played Little League Game Ever? (Highlights)

If you weren’t tuned into the Little League World Series last night, you missed possibly the most well-executed instance of kids playing baseball ever. This is not an exaggeration. This is not hyperbole. The 11, 12, and 13-year-olds on Japan and Chinese Taipei were, at times, doing things that 11, 12, and 13-year-olds should not be able to do.

Little League games are a regulation six innings, but Japan and Chinese Taipei went into the ninth scoreless. The teams combined for 30 strikeouts in those nine innings, and Japan’s freak-child wasn’t even on the hill.

Pitching alone won’t get you through eight-plus scoreless innings: Both of these teams played phenomenal defense. One of the smartest plays you’ll ever see on a baseball field, let alone Little League, occurred in the ninth inning, in fact.

With a runner on first, a Chinese Taipei player tried to go first-to-third on a sacrifice bunt. But, in a play you rarely ever see executed, the left fielder covered third base, and tagged out the player trying to advance. Most pros don’t even get that play right. Heck, we just recently saw a similar play executed incorrectly by a big league team.

Of course, a phenomenal game needed a phenomenal ending, and a walk-off, two-run home run from your number nine hitter definitely fits that bill. The highlights of all the action can be seen below.

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