Winning Weekend for the Western All-Stars
By: Lauren Murphy
Updated: August 21, 2007
School starts in exactly a week for LISD students, but already a few kids plan on missing a day or two.
That's eleven boys to be exact, as the Western All-Stars inch towards that championship game.
In Williamsport, Pennsylvania, even a few yankees are pulling for Lubbock.
After this weekend, who could blame them?
Garrett Williams nearly broke a Little League World Series record on Saturday.
He struck out seventeen players, just one shy of the record.
A little league rule says pitchers can only throw eighty-five pitches, so Williams left the game in the sixth inning.
Williams made the front page of ESPN.com, but it hasn't gone to his head.
"It's just a newspaper. I'm not that great, but on ESPN...that's pretty cool," said Williams.
They shut down Coon Rapids, Minnesota 6-0 on Saturday, then turned around on Sunday and beat Arizona 5-1.
The guys have had plenty of success before, but say the taste of fame and glory is pretty sweet.
"It's actually pretty cool everyone knowing who we are because I always look up to the older guys in the MLB and I always wanted to know what it felt like to do that and now I know. It's pretty cool," said Tyler Thorne.
Due to rain delays, the guys have two days to recoup, before they take on Maryland.
So far, they're liking their chances.
"We really really like the way things are falling in place for us. It's almost like a destiny type of thing," says manager, Ed Thorne.
"We can take 'em. They have a couple players that really stand out, but so do we. So I think we'll be all right," said Tyler.
You can watch the guys on ESPN or listen on the radio, on KJAC
They'll play at 2 p.m. Wednesday, and again at 4 p.m. Thursday.
If they win on that game, they'll play Saturday for the US championship.
If they'll pull that off, they'll play for the world championship on Sunday.

