The local organization welcomed teams from BC Little League as well as extending an invitation to  Kitasuna Japan teams 1 and 2 as well as Taiwan.

 This was the first event of it’s kind held in Canada and the idea was the brainstorm of Chris Fuoco who had sights set on a vision for an international event.

Just a few months ago to a reality with the support of the other associations in the lower mainland and securing the Kitasuna Little League and Taiwan to come over to get the event on the BC and Canada Baseball map.

The Tournament featured round robin play in two groups making up the two pools of the teams with games played at UBC, South Memorial Park, Little Mountain, Hillcrest and Carnarvon diamonds.

Pool A the host Little Mountain Nationals along with Taiwan, Asahi baseball team, Kitasuna, Victoria Selects, 5 teams making up this group and in Pool B Little Mountain Nationals, Jericho Selects, Hastings Selects, Kitasuna 2, and Whalley Selects.

The tournament had each team guaranteed five (5) games in round robin play with the host team (Little Mountain Selects) situated in pool A.

They managed to go 2-1 in round robin play and 3-0 in pool B that saw the host team advancing to the playoff round.

The team from Japan Kitasuna 1 lost only one game in Pool A round robin and the Kitasuna 2 team (pool B) finished undefeated in round robin with just one loss a 1-0 decision to Taiwan.

This was in a playoff game in the tournament Taiwan and went undefeated in (pool A) winning all three games played.

This advanced them to the playoffs that saw them defeat Kitasuna 2 in postseason (1-0) advancing to the championship with an impressive record of 6-0.

All games in the round robin saw respectable scores albeit a bit deceiving on the scoreboard when Kitasuna and Taiwan took on the local team.

The tournament wrapped up BA Sunday with both Gold and Bronze medal games taking place to the delight of the large and boisterous crowd on hand.

Kitasuna 1 defeated the Hastings Selects 11-0 in one of Sunday morning playoffs 11-0 advancing to the Gold medal game.

Taiwan defeated Kitasuna 2 in a what many called a pitchers duel pulling out a narrow 1-0 victory filling the other spot for the championship final.

The third place game saw Kitasuna 2 play Hastings for Bronze and the four time little league visitors walked away with a 10-0 Victory taking Bronze.

The final saw Taiwan (who had lost just one game) play Kitasuna 2 which was undefeated from the opening pitch.

The game was evenly played pitch by pitch keeping the game scoreless through three innings.

The fourth inning saw Kitasuna collect the first run taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.

The fifth saw Kitasuna add to their lead scoring twice taking a 3-0 lead that saw Taiwan to go out in order giving Kitsauna 2 the first Vancouver International Little League Classic title with the shutout win.

Teams from all competing 16 games saw them presented with a bat from the tournament and the traditional photo taken in front of the scoreboard.

It is rumored that all of the competing teams have agreed to return for the next tournament.

Here’s a story you might enjoy. Japan’s Success

Thanks to Bruce Nolte for covering the event.