K is for Kentucky

Oldham County. Can't think of historical significance right off the top of my head. Oh, wait, La Grange's North Oldham Little League. The Great Lakes Region champs. Eat that Ohio.

N.O.L.L. out- shined Hamilton, Ohio's West Side Little League,last year's champions, in Indianapolis today to punch their golden ticket to Williamsport. Go straight past Amish country and run into an Asiatic buzz-saw. They are going to talking about putting 'K's all in a row in La Grange, but it ain't gonna' be for no Klan rally. It's going to be a Griffin McLarty rally.

The story of this game was Griffin McLarty. Not only does his name belong in Celtic folk-lore, it now belongs in the books of dominating pitchers.Well as dominant as you can be at 12. McLarty was truly a man amongst boys today. Going the distance tossing a complete-game shut-out only surrendering 1 hit. As if that wasn't enough for a Gatorade shower, chew on this: The Kid sent 13 Ohioans back to the dugout with misty eyes. Griff fanned 13. This what happens when your 12 and not hitting off a Tee. Leading the North Oldham Little League All-Stars to a 3-0 Regional Championship win over the Little Leaguers from Hamilton, Ohio.

But, McLarty was not just about doing his best Tom Seaver out there. Kid went all Dontrelle Willis on em'. Jackin' one out. And it was DEEEEEEEP.

Kentucky struck first in the opening inning, and made the most of the one run lead on the arm of McLarty. They would add cushion to McLarty's dominance by adding runs in the 4th and the 5th, all the while Hamilton was having trouble figuring out how exactly to solve that wizard on the hill.

The 3-0 win for N.O.L.L. could have been larger, but to Hamilton's credit, they were solid in the field, and their pitching did a fine job of getting out of jams and forcing Kentucky to leave runners stranded. The Little Ohioans did turn a nice looking double play as well, but for all their solid play on the ball side, they just couldn't get anything going on the bat side.

A quick little tidbit: Todd Frazier, the recently called up 3B/Utility man for the Cincitucky Reds, has quite a Little League pedigree. Frazier was on the vaunted Toms River, NJ teams that were a staple of late 90's LLWS. Toms River was becoming the LL version of the Yankees, as year after year, it seemed like you were seeing these kids on the tube.