UPDATE: Despite some reports the Altamonte Springs 12U ABA (Altamonte Baseball Academy) All-Stars followed up an opening day, 15-0, 3-inning Run Rule thumping of Easton, Connecticut 12U in the 42-team Babe Ruth Baseball 2025 Cal Ripken 12/70 World Series with a 12-2, 4-inning Run Rule of West Linn (Oregon) 12U in Branson, Missouri on Saturday.
On one team location on Game Changer, ABA had lost, 12-2, to Linn, but another said they had won. You had to check on the ABA Facebook Page to get the correct information.
Altamonte Springs, which won the 11U World Series last year to automatically qualify for this year’s World Series, will take a day off before playing Frontenac (Kansas) 12U at 3 p.m. on Monday.
Bracket Play is set to begin on Tuesday, but ABA will probably have a bye until Wednesday.
The games can be followed on the Game Changer App.
In other Youth Baseball/Softball news:
This past week has seen the old ABC Wide World of Sports opening line of “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” come to fruition for several Seminole County youth baseball and softball teams.
Early in the week, the City of Sanford Babe Ruth League capped off an amazing summer with the 8A All-Stars (4-2), who were invited to compete in the event, dropped a 6-4 decision to Aruba (5-1) in the Championship Game of the 2025 Cal Ripken 8U Machine Pitch World Series in Ocala on Tuesday.
Both of Sanford’s losses came at the hands of Aruba, which had to defeat host Ocala in its last Pool Game just to qualify for the Winner’s Bracket, and won the event as the No. 4 seed, taking down the Altamonte Springs 8U All-Stars (2-3), who finished fifth in the tournament, in the Play-In Game early on Monday, before beating previously unbeaten Bartow in the Semifinals and Sanford, which led 3-0 after the first inning and 4-3 after three innings, in the final.
The heartbreaks started:
The defending World Champion Lake Mary Majors (10-12 year olds) were within one pitch of a return to the Little League World Series at least three times in the bottom of the sixth, and final inning, but Irmo, South Carolina, pulled off a amazing rally, scoring five times in the bottom of the sixth inning to eliminate the defending champs, 5-4, in the Championship Game at the Southeast Region Tournament in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Lake Mary, the only undefeated team in the tournament heading into the final, had Run Ruled South Carolina, 14-0 in five innings, on Sunday, and appeared headed to victory by building a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. But two walks to open the frame gave SC confidence and, after a strike out, a single loaded the bases with only one out. Things were still looking good when the next batter struck out and the following batter fell behind 2-2. after a foul, a ball loaded the county, which was followed by two more foul balls before a ball on a very close pitch, gave Irmo its first run against Lake Mary in two games.
Lake Mary then played the odds, walking South Carolina’s best player intentionally, driving in another run, and the next batter fell behind 1-2 before a ball loaded the count and on 2-2 Brady Westbrooks ripped a line drive to left off the warning track and all three runners scored to end Lake Mary’s reign.
Then on Friday, the Lake Mary Majors softball All-Stars took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a double by Alana Luu and a one out single by Addison Bono, who drove in her eighth run of the tournament, in a rematch with the Southwest Region champions from Tulsa (Oklahoma) National Little League the Purple Bracket semifinals of the Little League Softball World Series at Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park in Greenville, North Carolina.
But the locals would leave the bases loaded and would not score again and Tulsa, which edged Lake Mary, 2-1, on a bases loaded hit batter earlier in the week, tied the game in the bottom of the second.
Both teams had their chances, Southwest leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth and Lake Mary leaving the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.
Tulsa’s first batter in the bottom of the sixth reached on an error and pitcher Harmoneigh White fell behind 0-2 before battling back to a 2-2 count and on the ninth pitch of the at bat launched a shot over the centerfield fence for a walkoff two-run homer.
The home run was the first of White’s career and just the second of the tournament, Bono had homered in the first game, and only the fifth in Elm Street Park since the World Series moved their in 2022.
Lake Mary ends the event with a 3-2 record and a fifth place finish in the World Series.
