Ohio finished in fourth place at the Little League World Series. Its head coach drew criticism for his (not so) sneaky approach to gamesmanship during the United States championship game, which was widely labeled as poor sportsmanship.
He called a timeout to mess with the opposing pitcher.
If the goal is only to win every game at the Little League World Series at any cost, then so be it. However, there is a lot more to this specific event than wins and losses. At what point does it cross the line into disrespect? These are 11- and 12-year-olds…
Ohio finished fourth at the Little League World Series.
West Side Little League won the state championship out of Hamilton, Ohio. It went undefeated at the Great Lakes Region tournament to punch its ticket to Williamsport.
Ohio actually lost its first game at the World Series to Nevada by one run. The Mountain Region representative advanced to the winner’s bracket. The Great Lakes Region representative dropped down to the loser’s bracket.
Ohio, which could not lose again, ultimately overcame an unfair competitive imbalance and won five-straight elimination games to reach the United States championship on Saturday. Its final domestic game of the tournament was a rematch of its first domestic game against Nevada. The result was the same. The Great Lakes Region suffered its second loss.
The Mountain Region won the United States championship by a final score of 12-2. Nevada went on to lose the championship game to Curacao on Sunday morning. Ohio went on to lose the third-place game to Japan on Sunday afternoon. Controversy (for lack of better word) followed the latter throughout the rest of the weekend.
Was it poor sportsmanship for the head coach to call a timeout?
Ohio trailed Nevada 6-1 in the top of the third inning. It had a 3-1 count with one runner on first base and no outs.
The batter stepped out of the box to get the signal from his coach. His coach decided to call a timeout instead. They had a brief conversation. The batter eventually stepped back into the box and took the next pitch.
Ohio’s coach called a timeout to tell his hitter not to swing. Former Little League World Series champion and MLB All-Star Todd Frazier took note of the gamesmanship while on the call for ESPN.
Coaches have signs for this exact situation. They can touch their nose, tug their ear, swipe their arm — whatever — to tell the batter to take the pitch. They don’t need to call a timeout. Just signal!
The Great Lakes Region coach called a timeout to mess with the head of the pitcher. He saw him throw a strike on a 3-0 count and called a timeout to throw him off of his rhythm. It was widely labeled as poor sportsmanship. Others saw it as gamesmanship.
The goal is to win games. At what point does it become unsportsmanlike? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Ohio did win a lot of games in the loser’s bracket by taking pitches and drawing walks. The strategy caught up with them against the powerhouse program from Nevada in the United States championship game. They couldn’t get the bat on the ball. They didn’t score more runs than their opponent.