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South Lake Charles Little League advances to World Series US Semi Finals

South Lake Charles (representing Louisiana and the Southwest Region) dominant play in their first 2 games in pool play was such that they advance to the US Semi Finals in first place position despite a 6-4 loss to Hagerstown, representing the Mid-Atlantic Region. The game was televised last night on ESPN.

What's next for the SLC team? First all, I hope they relish the moment and consider what they have done to change Lake Charles Little Leage Baseball history.

Over the years, Louisiana has sent 6 great teams to the Little League World Series. Four of those have been from South Lake Charles. To my knowledge, only Lafayette has ever advanced out of pool play. Getting to the semi-finals had eluded South Lake Charles.

Thanks to a terrific effort by the SLC Little Leaguers, this is no longer true! And, not only do they advance, but they advance as the first place team from Pool A.

On Thursday night, SLC plays the second place team from pool B, Citrus Park Little Leage from Tampa Florida. The game will be televised on ESPN at 7:00 central time.

On a sidebar note, congratulations to the team from Hagarstown for their victory and their sportsmanship. Like South Lake Charles, they are a tribute to the spirit of Little League. Hagarstown can take pride in their entire team.

Go South Lake Charles!

{Note, this post was edited 8/22/08 thanks to a Lafayette well-wisher's comments}

{Note 2. SLC beat Tampa. On to the US Finals on Saturday}

Posted by Mary Kay Hopkins on 08/20/2008 12:41 PM

Comments (17)

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17 Comments on South Lake Charles Little League advances to World Series US Semi Finals

AUG

2008

MK, I'm looking forward to Thursday night's game! We'll be recording it to watch later that evening.

I saw most of last night's game -- all but a little over half of the 6th inning! For some reason the recorder didn't record all of it. :( I think we might need to get a new cable/recorder box.

I second that congratulations to the Hagarstown Team -- they played extremely well last night.

The first of the 2 US Semi Finals was played tonight with Hawaii prevailing. So, all SLC has to do is win tomorrow against Florida and we're on to the US finals against Hawaii.

AUG

2008

MK, as you know, we were attending my daughter's wedding rehearsal and dinner this evening. Husband was suppose to set up the recorder to recorder the game -- he forgot!!! Who won the game????!????

AUG

2008

South Lake Charles won 6-1! They play in the US finals on Saturday. I think the game is at 2:30 central, but will confirm.

Mary, I have a question you may or may not know the answer to but am going to ask anyway. I lived in Lake Charles from up until 1980 and then moved to Lafayette. I used to be good friends with a guy named Charlie Phillips back in the 7th grade and the assistant coach for SLC looks AWFULLY like him. I know the guys last name is Phillips but cannot find any other info on the web. Would happen to know if he is indeed Charlie Phillips?

Everyone in Lafayette is thoroughly enjoying SLC's run. The game Fontenot pitched last night was great!

Thank You,

Greg Broussard, LAfayette LA

Greg, I have only briefly met Charlie Phillips so cannot answer your question. I can tell you that he played baseball at McNeese. Charlie is the manager/coach of the team. The assistant coach (pitching coach) is Dave Quinn. His son pitched the no-hitter in game 2.

I understand that the South Lake Charles team has a lot of respect for the Lafayette Little League Team. As you well know, they have a healthy rivalry and played each other for the state championship. In fact, it was listening to those games on the radio that got me hooked!

Thank You Mary, It has to be the same Charlie. They look exactly alike and Coach Phillips has the same competitiveness that the Charlie Phillips back in the day had! HE was a standout athlete back then also so it is adding up to be him. It's great to see him out there for sure and we are proud of the team! The respect goes both ways because Lafayette was on a roll until we ran into the SLC buzzsaw. I coach 2nd graders in LLL in Lafayette and can only hope to have similar success. All the best to SLC. We will be watching tomorrow!

Thanks again Mary,

Greg

MK, WOOHOO!! They won again! I hate we missed watching Kennon pitch again.

Congratulations Lake Charles!!! I'll make sure the recorder is set up for Saturday's game -- just in case we're busy with wedding details.

SLC has had great success getting to the LLWS and this year's team is on great run and has great shot of winning the US title and the overall title.

The 2005 Lafayette Little League team that made it to the LLWS did advance out of pool play, losing in the semi-finals to eventual overall champion Hawaii. Hawaii had 3 base runners all game and their only hit was a 2 run homerun.

Good luck to SLC this weekend

DLH - Lafayette

Thanks so much for the well wishes. The pool play information has been batted around so much in multiple medias, I didn't question. Do you know if there is an official source I can link to?

Doug, I think I found official support for you about Lafayette going beyond pool play in 2005. As I understand the brackets, Lafayette (representing the Southwest) advanced from pool A and played the team representing the West, Rancho Buena Vista Little League from Vista (pool B), California. Rancho Buena Vista won by a score of 9-3. If you could check this out to make sure I'm not missing anything, I'll proceed to correct my blog. {edit} Further checking....Southwest (Lafayette) advanced went on to play Northwest (Hawaii) in the semi-finals. Now, I've got the missing Hawaii piece.

AUG

2008

Wow what a run! My son played in the Virginia state Tourney this year..we lost, but were even more inspired to follow regionals and the World Series. I knew Lake Charles was my team after that first game! Those boys should be so proud! They have nothing to be ashamed of!

AUG

2008

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed watching the SLC little league team. They gave a valiant effort and have made a new fan all the way up here on Cape Cod. Its too bad they got beaten in the Semis but they have everything to be proud of. They represented themselves, their hometown, their state and region, and most importantly Little League itself, as great ambassadors for a great sport.

Debbie, thanks for your positive thoughts. They made us so very, very proud. Good luck to your team next year.

Ted, at least if we had to lose, it was to the ultimate winner, Hawaii. Thanks so much for stopping by to recognize this great team.

MK, I haven't had time to watch the game(s) I missed over the weekend (because of my daughter's wedding). We'll catch up sometime this week. I know they lost but have to watch the game(s) anyway. :)

AUG

dates set for wootton day out. I am from Turkey and also now'm speaking English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Jies, located in omotesando, is now seeking a full time kindergarten preschool teacher for its early learning centre." Thank you very much :-D. Karl.

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