Chula Vista players Luke Ramirez (left), Kiko Garcia (right), and Seth Godfrey celebrate after winning the Little League World Series championship baseball game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, August 30, 2009. (Photo: AP/Gene J. Puskar)

U.S. Kids Bring It Home

California team beats Chinese Taipei to take Little League World Series trophy

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A team from California came from behind to win the 2009 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. Chula Vista's Little Leaguers beat the Chinese Taipei team from Taoyuan, Taiwan, by a score of 6-3. (Taiwan is an island nation off the coast of China.)

This is the fifth year in a row that a team from the United States has taken home the championship banner for Little League baseball.

The game was hard-fought. The two squads were deadlocked at 0 until Wen Hua Sung and Chin Ou hit back-to-back homers in the third inning to give Chinese Taipei a 3-0 lead.

Then relief pitcher Kiko Garcia took the mound for Chula Vista. After that, no more Chinese Taipei batters crossed home plate. Kiko didn't give up a single run for the rest of the game.

Chula Vista broke its scoreless streak with one run in the third inning. The team brought three more runs home in the fourth to move ahead, 4-3. Two more runs in the fifth inning put the score at 6-3. Kiko pushed through some last-inning jitters and struck out Yu Chieh Kao to end the game.

"We knew we could come back," 13-year-old Kiko told ESPN. "We always do."

Celebrating the Big Win

The west-coasters threw their gloves into the air and piled on the winning pitcher in celebration. Then the Little League champs took a victory lap around the stadium. After that, they collected handfuls of dirt from the pitcher's mound to help commemorate their special win.

"It's just an amazing feeling," 12-year-old third baseman Seth Godfrey said. "We went for it, and we did [it]."

Reporters were eager to know what the team wanted to do after the game. Shortstop Andy Rios said they were ready for a victory celebration at the team's favorite restaurant back in Chula Vista. Seth agreed, and said he was hungry for some postgame fries.

Williamsport, Little League Capital of the World

This year's World Series action drew more than 200,000 fans to Williamsport. The central Pennsylvania town is the only home the Little League World Series has ever known. The 10-day tournament featured some of the best 11- to 13-year-old baseball players from around the globe. In all, 16 teams competed for the championship: 8 U.S. squads and 8 from around the world.

Williamsport resident Carl Stotz founded Little League Baseball in 1939. The league's original three teams played their first season in an empty lot. Today, approximately 2.7 million young boys and girls play little league baseball worldwide.

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