World Series draw plays major role in success

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. ? The pool assignments probably do not mean that much to a team like Chula Vista, Calif., but to the Peabody West team their fate may have been sealed as soon as the pool assignments were released.
In watching the eight U.S. teams in the World Series it is very obvious who the best three teams are ? in order ? California, Warner Robbins, Ga. and San Antonio, Texas.
Had Peabody been placed in Pool B it would have been a good bet they would have been playing either Staten Island, N.Y. or Urbandale, Iowa for the right to move on to the U.S. semifinals.
Instead, Peabody will be playing Russellville, Ky. Tuesday (4 p.m.) looking to gain one win to cap their Little League World Series experience.
Little League media spokesman Chris Downs said that the teams in the two pools rotate on a yearly basis so the same four teams are not placed in the same pool each year. He said that there is no seeding of teams in the pools they are just assigned a pool based on the scheduled rotation.
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Peabody manager Dave Batchelor, who said his team would play to win Tuesday, canceled Monday morning’s scheduled practice and released the players to their parents for the day.
A few of the players and their families made the trek to Hershey Park for a day of fun while most just headed to the hotels for a day of relaxation.
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Defense and a lack of offense have been The Achilles heel for Peabody through the first two games of the World Series.
As a team Peabody is hitting just .196 (9 for 46) while their opponents are batting .390 (23 for 59).
Sean McGrath is the only Peabody player with more than one hit. He is a perfect 3-for-3 in the two games picking up one hit against Texas and a pair against California.
Peabody batters have struck out 15 times in the two games while Peabody pitchers have fanned 20 batters.
Defensively Peabody has committed five errors in two games leading to six unearned runs.