KMC Girls’ Little League teams heading to World Series in U.S.

***image2***Two KMC girls’ Little League softball teams have fast-pitched their way to the Little League World Series in the U.S.

The KMC Junior League All Star team is heading to Kirkland, Wash., and the KMC Majors All Star team is preparing for their big dance in Portland, Ore., both representing Europe in the Little League World Series.

Last year, the KMC Junior team came within one game of going to the World Series losing to Russia 6-1 in the finals.

This year’s team, led by seven returning starters, first had to beat Stuttgart 26-3 and 19-0 to win their district tournament before heading to Kutno, Poland, and a chance to represent Germany in the  European Regional tournament.  

In Poland, and during the round robin play, the Germany team opened the tournament with a 12-4 convincing win over Holland. Then, they had to face the Russian team who beat them in the championship game last year. They realized that Russia would once again prove to be too strong and Germany was defeated 8–3. Not losing faith, the team bounced back to beat Poland 8–1 and earned the No. 2 seed in the elimination round.

***image1***They faced Poland in the first game and won 7-1, which gave them the opportunity to play the only team that has beaten them in the past two years
– Russia. Both teams would once again come head to head for the European Regional Championship. Russia scored, but Germany’s pitching did what it had done all tournament, held Russia scoreless for the remainder of the game.  Germany added two more runs in the fifth inning and won the championship 5-1 sending them to their first World Series, Aug. 13 to 19.

The KMC Majors also beat Russia, 6-3, in the finals to earn their slot in the series.

“They played awesome,” Juniors Coach Steve Burns  said about both teams. (Courtesy of KMC Girls’ Junior Little League)

Meet the girls
The Majors and the Juniors will host a bake sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Ramstein Commissary.