Day 1 (Saturday, August 7):
Ancaster (Ontario) 8, Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) 3
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario) 6, Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec) 5 (7 innings)
Little Mountain (British Columbia) 14, Rocky Mountain (Alberta) 2 (5 innings)

Day 2 (Sunday, August 8):
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario) 19, Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) 6
Little Mountain (British Columbia) 11, Ancaster (Ontario) 1 (5 innings)
Rocky Mountain (Alberta) 13, Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec) 9

Day 3 (Monday, August 9):
Rocky Mountain (Alberta) 8, Windsor South Canadian (Ontario) 4

Day 4 (Tuesday, August 10):
Little Mountain (British Columbia) 16, Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec) 0 (4 innings)
Rocky Mountain (Alberta) 11, Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) 6
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario) 2, Ancaster (Ontario) 1

Day 5 (Wednesday, August 11):
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) 10, Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec) 0 (4 innings)
Little Mountain (British Columbia) 10, Windsor South Canadian (Ontario) 2
Ancaster (Ontario) 7, Rocky Mountain (Alberta) 3

Day 6 (Thursday, August 12):
Little Mountain (British Columbia) 18, Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) 6 (5 innings)
Ancaster (Ontario) 19, Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec) 4 (4 innings)

Standings	W	L	Runs Allowed
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	5	0	11
Ancaster (Ontario)	3	2	23
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	3	2	40
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	3	2	30
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	1	4	56
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	0	5	64

The top four teams advance to the semifinal round.

Consolation Game (Friday, August 13)

Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) 15, Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec) 7

Canadian Region Tournament Semifinals (Friday, August 13)

Little Mountain (British Columbia) 7, Windsor South Canadian (Ontario) 1
Ancaster (Ontario) 8, Rocky Mountain (Alberta) 2

Canadian Region Tournament Championship Game (Saturday, August 14)

Little Mountain (British Columbia) 13, Ancaster (Ontario) 1 (4 innings; TITLE)

Former major league baseball pitcher Bill Lee has been called many things. Spaceman. Flake. Rebel. Or the politely euphemistic "free-spirit".

But what is often lost among tales of the left-hander's approach to life is a simple fact: he could pitch. Lee played in the major leagues for fourteen years, made an all-star team, and won 16 or more games four times. The Spaceman kept things loose, but he also knew how to win.

Lee continued to play in a string of off-the-beaten-path leagues after his major league career ended, and during one of his many stops, pitched in the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League. The forty-something pitcher's approach to the game rubbed off on his young catcher.

"It was quite an experience," said Frank Soper of his summer-long brush with Lee. And Soper saw something more than an oddball philosophy in Lee's approach to the game.

"He was a kooky guy, but maybe he was a nervous guy and that was a way of deflecting his anxiousness," explained Soper. "He had that fun approach to the game. Everybody on that team, you could absorb that fun and it paid off in the game.

"At a young age, I had coaches who were very intense, and at a young age I collapsed under the pressure."

Two decades later, Soper embraced the same laid-back approach as a coach of the 2010 Little Mountain Little League (Vancouver, British Columbia) all-star team. The Little Mountain coaches wore loud, colourful pants during games. Players were required to smile at him before stepping into the batter's box. (Failure to comply would result in a stinky sock to the face.) But one thing wasn't lost on Little Mountain's opponents: the British Columbia team could play.

Little Mountain won twenty consecutive games against Canadian opponents, including seven wins at the Canadian Region tournament in Ancaster, Ontario. The Vancouver team completed their rampage through the tournament by toppling the host league by a 13-1 score in a mercy rule-shortened championship game. Little Mountain became the sixth consecutive B.C. league to win the Canadian title, and advanced to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Pitcher Lucas Soper allowed just three hits in the title game win, while Little Mountain's offense scored in every inning, homered four times, and broke the game open with six runs in the second inning.

"It was a spectacular day for Little Mountain," remarked British Columbia manager Pat Chaba. "The kids were calm and cool."

Lichel Hirakata-Kao opened the scoring with a long home run in the first inning, and added a run-scoring single in the second. Sam Jenkins and Lucas Soper also drove in runs in the inning, before William Quito capped the rally with a two-run homer to left field.

Little Mountain added a run in the third, then got a two-run homer from Hirakata-Kao and a three-run blast from Kristofer de Guzman in the fourth.

Ancaster had tied the score in the top of the second on doubles by Mark Szostak and Ben Miller, but managed only one other hit in the game.

"We looked like we were going to be in a ball game for a while," said Ancaster manager Dave Whalen. "But they're such a good hitting club. We were throwing one of our best guys, and they were hitting him all over the place."

"There was a huge crowd cheering for Ancaster," noted Pat Chaba. "But we quieted the crowd down with our pitching and our bats."

Little Mountain had its bats going from the start of the tournament to the finish. Twelve of the team's thirteen players batted .300 or higher, and half the roster bettered the .400 mark. The end result was a gaudy .472 team batting average and an offense that averaged better than twelve runs per game.

The team's depth extended to the mound, as well: ten different players pitched, and the team surrendered fewer than two runs per game.

"There is no question this is a special group," said Little Mountain league president Bruce Verchere. "They've played together and they've known each other for a number of years. Expectations were high for this team, and, if ever there was a year for Little Mountain, this was the group of kids which had the best chance to go."

The wait was a long time coming -- Little Mountain was chartered as Canada's first Little League program in 1951 as the Vancouver National Little League, and reached the Little League World Series in 1953. But the league had not won a provincial title since the 1950s, and made its last appearance in the British Columbia championship game in 1963.

"When we won the provincial final, I was struck by the number of guys who came up to me -- and some of them were getting a little older -- who shook my hand with tears in their eyes saying 'I used to coach Little Mountain in the '60s, I used to coach Little Mountain in the '70s, I'm so proud of you guys,'" explained Frank Soper. "I think every Little Mountain coach who's ever been on the field was at the (provincial final) cheering for us."

Though their next assignment was three time zones away, the British Columbia representative carried over its strong play at the region tournament. Little Mountain trailed only once while in Ancaster, and even then regained the lead in its next offensive inning. Only Windsor South Canadian Little League managed to extend its encounters with Little Mountain to the full six innings, as the Ontario winners dropped a pool contest by a 10-2 score and then fell by a 7-1 margin in the semifinal round.

Little Mountain controlled the semifinal round contest from start to finish. Matthew Reyes keyed a four-run rally in the first with a run-scoring single, and later scored on an error. Sam Jenkins capped the inning with a two-run double to centre field.

"When we scored early, I knew we were locked in after that," explained Pat Chaba. "Little League is all about momentum. If you've got the lead and can hold it, you're on top of the world."

Little Mountain's ability to hold the lead was aided by an Ontario baserunning miscue in the third. Windsor South Canadian advanced runners to second and third with two outs, and a two-run single appeared to narrow Little Mountain's edge to 6-2. But umpires ruled that both baserunners had left early, and returned the runners to their bases before Hirakata-Kao escaped the jam without further damage.

"It was a tough break for Ontario," noted Pat Chaba. "The umps brought both runners out of the dugout and back onto the field, which was a huge momentum swing because Ontario was on the board and had some life. Their life just disappeared after that."

Hirakata-Kao had a lot to do with that, as the right-hander struck out eight batters and walked none in 5-2/3 innings of work. His effort also set up a situation where Chaba had the entire rest of his pitching staff available for the championship game. That list included Lucas Soper, who struck out 21 batters in 10-1/3 innings of work and finished the tournament with a 0.58 earned run average.

"We have our ace, Lucas, saved up for 85 pitches in the final, and we have the whole rest of the staff ready to go," explained Pat Chaba. "So that's as good a situation as we could get into."

Ancaster, meanwhile, reached the title game by ousting Prairie Provinces champion Rocky Mountain Little League (Calgary, Alberta) by an 8-2 score in the other semifinal round game. Pitcher Caleb Radley tossed a complete game four-hitter, while Justin Mignardi put his team on the front foot with a three-run homer in the first inning.

The win was Ancaster's third in as many days -- and second over Rocky Mountain during that same span -- but Whalen understood that his team's task would be difficult in the championship game. British Columbia leagues had won the last five Canadian championships and Little Mountain had extended the BC-based champions' winning streak to 37 consecutive games in region tournament competition.

"We have to be flawless," said Whalen on the eve of the title game. "We can't be walking anybody. We can't make any errors. We have to hit (and) we have to do all the little things well."

Whalen's team managed to keep the title game close for the first inning, but Little Mountain soon overpowered the host league and advanced to the Little League World Series.

Little Mountain opened its stay in South Williamsport with a 4-2 victory over Chitre (Panama) Little League, but lost its next two games and finished third in its pool.

Linescores:

Round Robin Game 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Ancaster (Ontario)	2	1	1	0	0	4			8	13	0
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	0	3	0	0	0	0			3	6	0
Round Robin Game 2
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	0	0	0	0	1	4	1		6	10	1
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	1	0	4	0	0	0	0		5	5	4
Round Robin Game 3
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	2	3	1	3	5				14	16	0
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	1	0	1	0	0				2	3	1
Round Robin Game 4
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	2	0	8	1	3	5			19	21	0
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	0	0	4	0	2	0			6	6	2
Round Robin Game 5
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	9	1	0	0	1				11	11	0
Ancaster (Ontario)	0	0	1	0	0				1	1	4
Round Robin Game 6
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	1	0	0	12	0	0			13	12	0
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	0	1	5	3	0	0			9	13	1
Round Robin Game 7
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	3	0	0	0	1	0			4	8	2
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	2	0	5	0	1	x			8	8	0
Round Robin Game 8
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	0	7	9	0					16	13	0
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	0	0	0	0					0	0	4
Round Robin Game 9
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	0	1	5	0	2	3			11	9	1
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	3	1	2	0	0	0			6	5	2
Round Robin Game 10
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	0	1	0	1	0	0			2	4	0
Ancaster (Ontario)	0	0	0	0	1	0			1	5	0
Round Robin Game 11
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	0	0	0	0					0	3	1
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	0	0	8	2					10	8	0
Round Robin Game 12
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	4	1	2	2	0	1			10	14	0
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	1	0	1	0	0	0			2	4	0
Round Robin Game 13
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	0	1	0	0	2	0			3	4	0
Ancaster (Ontario)	0	0	6	0	1	x			7	10	0
Round Robin Game 14
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	3	4	3	2	6				18	16	0
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	5	0	0	1	0				6	6	0
Round Robin Game 15
Anaster (Ontario)	2	13	4	1					20	18	0
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	0	0	2	2					4	7	0
Consolation Game
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)	1	0	5	1	0	8			15	15	0
Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Quebec)	0	0	0	2	5	0			7	10	1
Semifinal Round
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	4	1	1	1	0	0			7	9	0
Windsor South Canadian (Ontario)	0	0	0	0	1	0			1	8	2
Semifinal Round
Rocky Mountain (Alberta)	0	1	0	0	1	0			2	4	0
Ancaster (Ontario)	4	2	1	1	0	x			8	12	0
Championship Game
Little Mountain (British Columbia)	1	6	1	5					13	14	0
Ancaster (Ontario)	1	0	0	0					1	3	0

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