As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of the Little League Baseball World Series, which is played during the third week of August every year in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Part of the magic of the LLWS is the format. The tournament is played in two brackets with 10 international teams playing in one bracket in Volunteer Stadium and 10 American teams playing in the American bracket in the Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

Competition in the two brackets culmin-ates in two championship games on the final Saturday. The two winners then play in the LLWS title game on the Sunday.

Four of the last five Little League World Series have been won by American teams. The last international team to win the LLWS was Japan in 2015.

In the past, I’ve always gone to the LLWS for the opening weekend. One, because you get to see the most number of games in the shortest amount of time. And second, because I could always count on seeing Canada play at least two games.

This year I decided to change things up and went down on Sunday to see the elimination games leading up to the International and American championship games.

I made the six-hour drive to Williamsport with my friend and fellow former Little League coach Rick Foy. We left Ottawa at 3 a.m. in order to get there in time for Canada’s elimination game against Mexico.

Unfortunately Canada lost, but it was only the beginning of our LLWS experience which would see us watch 17 games during the five days we were there.

The level of play at the LLWS is phenom-enal. You’re basically watching 12-year-olds making the same plays as professional ball players.

One of the reasons why I prefer watching the international teams over the American teams is the respect the international teams have for the game and the ability you have as a fan to sit with the supporters of each team.

After Canada got knocked out of the tournament, Rick and I split our time supporting the Cuban team and the Latin American representatives from Venezuela.

For many years, Cuba was part of the Caribbean region along with Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Curacao and Aruba and they hardly ever emerged as the regional champions. When the LLWS expanded to 20 teams last year, Cuba and Puerto Rico were given their own spots in the tournament. Unfortunately, both countries lost both of their games last year.

This year Cuba won it’s first game against Europe-Africa representatives from the Czech Republic, but lost their second game against Taiwan when one of the Taiwanese batters hit a grand slam in the fifth inning.

Cuba’s third must-win game was against Mexico. They were on the verge of pulling off the major upset when a Mexican player hit a three-run shot to tie the game in the last inning. The next player then hit a two-run blast to win the game for Mexico and break the hearts of the Cuban fans, including the Cuban parents.

All of the Cuban players were in tears on the field as was one of dads. I have to admit I had a hard time holding back the tears as well after living and dying with each pitc sitting behind the parents’ section.

The scene would repeat itself later the same day when Curacao lost to Venezuela after their pitcher walked in the winning run.

Thankfully, the happy moments and the thrilling action in the other games made up for the heart-breaking ones.

The whole experience was made that much more enjoyable thanks to our meeting Renée from Maine and Cody, Gene and Marci from Maryland who we watched every game with. I even got to have my picture taken with Dugout, the LLWS mascot, and I got to slide down the famous hill overlooking Lamade Stadium.

All in all it was an awesome experience and I can hardly wait to go back again next year.

(If you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred Sherwin at fsherwin@orleansstar.ca)