Who won the Little League World Series consolation game? Analyzing performance of third-place team

California won the Little League World Series on an epic walk-off home run. They defeated Curacao, leaving them to walk away as the runner-up in the long-standing tournament. As for third-place, that was determined by a consolation game.

Two teams entered, Needville and Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei dominated en route to a 10-0 win, cementing themselves as the third-best team in this LLWS.

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Who won the Little League World Series third place game?

Needville fell to California by a score of 6-1 in the semifinals before the latter went on to become this year's champion. In the third-place game, Needvill couldn't get it going, either. They ended up losing in shutout fashion as the Chinese Taipei dominated from the onset.

Needville fell short in the Little League World Series consolation game

Prior to his team's loss, Needville manager Andy McRae said via KPRC 2:

“We wanted to be in the championship game, so we’re not looking forward to it. But now that it’s here, we’re going to go and try to win it. I mean, when you go out on the field, you do your best and you try to win. If you don’t, that’s okay. But you’re going to give it your all to try to win. So we’re going to go out and try to win a game.”

Unfortunately, they fell short. They will have to settle for being the fourth-best team in the Little League World Series. These two teams outlasted most of the competition this year.

Falling short is tough, but for the Chinese Taipei, they won the Little League World Series consolation game. Ending on a win is definitely better than ending on a blowout loss. Though they came up short, they can feel good about their final performance.

Some of these players will move on as they will have aged out by the time the next Little World Series comes around. Still, the teams will regroup and try to improve enough to get to the finals and perhaps even win it the next time these teams come to Williamsport for the LLWS.