Torrance All-Stars Beaten In No-Hitter, Sent To Elimination Bracket
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (CBSLA) – The all-star team from the Torrance Little League was no-hit Wednesday in the Little League World Series, losing 1-0 to its counterpart from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Sioux Falls will now play in the Tom Seaver Bracket championship game Saturday, while Torrance will play in an elimination bracket game Thursday.
If Torrance wins its game Thursday against the team from Ohio, it will advance to Saturday's championship game of the Tom Seaver Bracket, which would be a rematch against South Dakota. The loser of Thursday's game will be eliminated.
Torrance is seeking to become the first team from Los Angeles County to win the Little League World Series since 1963, when the all-star team from the Granada Hills National Little League won.
Torrance is 2-1 in the tournament so far, cruising to two easy victories. In its opener last Friday, it defeated North Manchester - Hooksett (New Hampshire) 10-2. On Sunday, it blanketed West Side Little League (Hamilton, Ohio) 9-0.
Two watch parties were held Wednesday. One at Rizzo's Pizza in Lomita and another at Shakey's Pizza in Torrance.
Family and friends of the all-star team kept their eyes glued to the monitors at the watch parties.
Before the game, CBSLA's Rachel Kim face-timed with Krista Cornett, who is in South Williamsport Pennsylvania to watch her son, first baseman Levi Cornett, do what he does best.
"The first game as he was up at his first at-bat, I had tears in my eyes. This is something every little leaguer dreams of. And to be able to say my son is part of one of the 16 teams that have done this, it's amazing," Cornett said.
At the watch party in Torrance, Mickey Yokoyama watched his grandson Gibson Turner get seven strikeouts in four innings to help his team stay in the game.
"It was a tough game," said Yokoyama. "I expected the teams to be good so it's just unfortunate that it was so close, yet we lost. Another game tomorrow so hopefully we'll come back, like I said, hopefully, they have fun."
The LLWS this year was limited to only U.S. teams because of the coronavirus pandemic. Torrance is in the Tom Seaver bracket. The brackets were named for Tom Seaver and Hank Aaron, Hall of Famers who died in 2020 and 2021.
Torrance's win Sunday also garnered a congratulations from the Los Angeles Dodgers on the big board in Dodger Stadium.
"Congratulations to the Torrance Little League Team for advancing to the semifinals of the Little League World Series with a 9-0 win over Ohio!" the Dodgers wrote.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
