Confusing ending sends Washington to LLWS, a breakdown
What Happened
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the score is tied 1-1 between Oregon and Washington in the regional final of the Little League World Series. Washington is batting, with a runner on first base. The batter hits the ball down the first base line and confusion ensues as the umpire initially signals it foul, but the first base coach waves the runner home, indicating it was a fair ball. The Washington third base coach celebrates, thinking the hit was ruled fair, but the umpires confer and ultimately decide to challenge the call. After reviewing the play, the umpires rule it a fair ball, much to the delight of the Washington players and coaches. Twelve-year-old Brody Henderson of Washington steps up to the plate with the game tied in the final inning. He connects on a 1-0 pitch, sending a long fly ball deep down the first base line. The Oregon center fielder races back and leaps at the wall, but the ball eludes his glove and bounces off the fence. Henderson sprints around the bases, eventually scoring the go-ahead run for Washington. The Oregon players and coaches are visibly distraught, as they were just three outs away from advancing to the Little League World Series. Meanwhile, the Washington players celebrate wildly, embracing each other and their coach. Head coach Mike Dawson gathers his team, leading them in a cheer of "Chin's in the air, Washington on three!" as they savor the dramatic victory. The umpires in this game are volunteers and the players are not even high school prospects - they are simply kids playing baseball as a summer hobby. Despite the high stakes, the officiating crew struggles with the critical call, ultimately deciding to overturn their initial ruling after reviewing the play. This confusing ending sends the Washington squad to the Little League World Series, dashing Oregon's dreams in heartbreaking fashion.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentoregon versus washington winner goes to
the little league world series
representing the north west region
oregon is three outs away from doing
that but the first batter of the inning
takes the o2 pitch and sends it all
right off the kids glove such restraint
there by that little kid in center field
see how bad he wants to hit the the
fence
stops himself upset hey he got there he
got all the way there jumped a little
missed it what are you gonna do oh but
he's mad at himself now the game is tied
washington has done it the kid once he
saw was a home run he actually sped up
his trot he was jogging and then he
sprinted home jumps uh that that threw
me for such a loop usually when someone
jumps on the plate like this they're
gonna come down full force both feet on
the plate power jump home run but he
he just does the left foot the right
foot spreads at the end and that kind of
like took a little wind out of my sail i
was excited and then you remember their
little leaguers and he's celebrating
celebrating he's like i gotta go get my
back guys get off me i gotta get my bat
we don't have batboys here i'll get it
myself and then now it's the coach's
turn double high five hug that kid's as
tall as his coach that kid's taller than
me that kid's tall as a tall kid he's
got a natural pop at this age bottom of
the seventh full count in play off the
pitcher's glove so washington held
oregon scoreless in the top of the
seventh now they're up and they have a
runner on first
bottom of the seventh inning 1-0 is the
count the next pitch hit down the line
and this is where things get confusing
because the um puts his hands up like
it's foul but the first base coach is
waving everybody on as if it was a fair
ball and in play the kid's running home
and then nobody knows what's going on
you have the third base coach
celebrating you have the kids like what
it's foul the umpires are just kind of
standing around
what happened now i want to remind
everybody
just like these kids are not even
amateurs they're kids playing baseball
some won't even play in high school
they're not even like you know high a
prospects like some of these kids like
baseball's just kind of like a hobby in
the summer and their team happens to be
good the umpires are volunteers they're
just
out there volunteering umpiring for free
to keep things in order coach says can
you review that and he says challenge
what
you're challenging it's a fair ball and
he says yes it's a fair ball so the umps
are going to go challenge it
now this is really tricky and the
announcers were
fully aware of how tricky this is
because
they ruled this a fair ball
that's what they said they said that in
live time this was ruled a fair ball so
i think what happened was
watch the
third base coach as soon as he sees it
bounce behind the bag which doesn't
matter it's where it crosses the bag it
doesn't matter where that bat this
bounce afterwards where the ball lands
right there it does not matter
so as soon as the coach sees that watch
the third base coach he turns
so he never sees
this ump
put his hands up to say foul he he is
turning and looking at the home plate
ump
who must have said fair ball
and that um maybe he didn't yell foul
but he yelled fair because he the coach
was under the impression that was a fair
ball
by what he immediately turned and saw
now these umps are talking to whoever
does the replay i don't know if they're
in new york or they're in williamsport
they're in williamsport obviously
the hit
i don't know because watch where it hits
it hits his bat right
and then it hits
like in foul territory off the bat or
right on the chalk it's right down there
in the bottom of your screen and
so for this to be fair
i'm not a physicist but it doesn't make
sense that it would be fair because it
hit on the chalk
or foul
then
it hit
foul
here
that's that definitely hits in foul
territory there now that doesn't matter
because it matters where it crosses the
bag
but it would have to really start in
fair territory for it to cross the bag
otherwise you're kind of going against
physics because it's like a curveball
like hitting on the line then going fair
and then wrapping around i have no idea
if that could happen
but the tricky part is this ump
says foul he raises his hands the coach
he never looks at him he looks at the
home plate ump who must have signaled
fair because again they did say that it
was a it was ruled a fair ball so they
would have to overturn it the other
thing you'd have to think of and let's
go back to the start of the play is
would the left fielder
see that's way down the line did the
left fielder stop running after the ball
because he thought it was ruled foul and
even if
he didn't stop would he have been able
to run there catch it and throw home
if it was a fair ball
i don't think so anyway we i was
watching this live every anyone everyone
that was like well that's a foul ball
but if it
was called fair
it's there's no angle to overturn it
because you don't have an angle down the
line when it's over the bag there you
just kind of have like my my junk
science non-physics thought process of
it it probably isn't gonna curve around
from the two places it hit
so the umpires get off the phone and
they let everybody know
[Applause]
i do like how confident he was because
that's the one thing when you umpire i
um when i was like 14 years old you got
to say things with confidence
but then he makes this face at the end
like hmm
i guess so
and that ends it and that's that's
pretty tough
that's pretty tough
for the team from
oregon
pretty exciting for the team from
washington they're hugging each other
they're kind of looking around like
really
really coach deep breath these guys are
celebrating coach is gonna give him a
little speech chin's in the air
washington on three one two three
washington
chin's in the air washington on three i
think the coach is the only one to say
it chin's in the air washington on three
one two three washington
it's tough tough time to
be cheering
you're pretty distraught so i think it
was only the coach that said washington
again
the umpires are volunteers
they're gonna make a lot of mistakes
like this
just a tough ending for the kids