Cooper Thissen needed seven more pitches to have a chance at a complete game no-hitter at the Little League World Series. Iowa ultimately went to the bullpen in the bottom half of the final inning against California.
The pitching change led to an umpiring controversy that sent shockwaves across the entire bracket.
Even if one single pitch does not determine the final outcome of a six-inning Little League game, one single pitch can still have a direct impact on a specific sequence of events that leads to the final outcome. In this case, it was two!
California would’ve tied the Little League World Series game on Ball 4.
Davenport Northwest has been in the headlines for a few different reasons over the last few weeks, both good and bad. It won the Iowa state tournament to advance to the Midwest Region tournament and won the Midwest Region tournament to advance to Williamsport amid cheating allegations that have since been explained by the head coach as a misunderstanding.
That leads us to Friday.
Davenport Northwest played the team from Bonita, California (representatives of the West) in the opening round of the World Series. Star pitcher Cooper Thissen recorded 15 strikeouts in 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball and backed himself up at the plate with a solo home run that ultimately proved to be the only run of the entire game.
His solo dinger became important in the bottom of the sixth. Thissen had to come out of the game because of his pitch total and California loaded the bases against his replacement. Down 1-0 with ducks on the pond, the West batter worked a 3-2 count.
What appeared to be a clear Ball 4 would’ve walked in the tying run. It was instead called as Strike 3. Game over!
Cooper Thissen should’ve been able to throw a complete game for Iowa.
There is no denying that California was on the wrong end of an awful call to end the game. The West was robbed of an opportunity to walk it off in the bottom of the sixth or play into extra innings. It was a clear ball that was called a strike. Tough break.
Even if he made an awful call to end the game, the umpire in the opening round on Friday had ~92% accuracy on 125 pitch calls that were not swings. That is more or less on par with the MLB average. Pretty good. Plus, Little League World Series umpires are volunteers and Little League strike zones are more lenient than the pros.
However, if we are going to break it down in this way, Iowa was already on the wrong end of a bad call that also had a direct impact on the game. Cooper Thissen hit the 85-pitch limit with one out in the sixth inning. He could’ve pitched at least one more batter if the umpire had called strike three on the third batter of the second inning. He needed ~7 more pitches to go the full game.
Thissen thought he struck out the side in the top of the second. The umpire called it a ball.
Everybody complaining about the final pitch, this was worst, easily should have been strike 3 to end the 2nd
— Roland Glembine (@RG3onTV) August 22, 2026
Thissen needed 7 extra pitches. Cost the kid a chance at a complete game no hitter pic.twitter.com/GApFm8BY2U
As a result, Thissen had to throw eight more pitches to get out of the second inning. If he did not have to throw those eight pitches, he could’ve tacked them on to the back half of the sixth and closed things out himself. The questionable strike three to end the game might not have mattered. The butterfly effect is real.