{"id":1015603,"date":"2026-08-21T20:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T20:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1015603\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T20:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T20:26:17","slug":"sweetwater-valley-falls-to-iowa-in-little-league-world-series-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1015603\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweetwater Valley falls to Iowa in Little League World Series opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Little League World Series: Midwest 1, West 0<\/p>\n

What went down:\u00a0<\/strong>Sweetwater Valley\u2019s opening game in the Little League World Series featured a pitching showdown, with both teams\u2019 starting pitchers leaving the mound to a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Davenport\u2019s Cooper Thissen was a little better. The lefty belted a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the first and pitched most of the way as Davenport pulled off a 1-0 win and threw a combined no-hitter.<\/p>\n

Noah Kirk started on the mound for Sweetwater Valley, striking out 13 before being lifted in the fifth inning. He was replaced by Leo Gonzales, who struck out one more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say enough. He fought through. He\u2019s a dog,\u201d Sweetwater Valley coach Steve Winnick said of Kirk. \u201cHe has that competitor\u2019s mentality. He does a great job, and after that first batter of the game \u2026 he was lights out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavenportDavenport Northwest\u2019s Cooper Thissen #15, representing the Midwest Region, pitches against Sweetwater Valley, representing the West Region, during the 2026 Little League World Series at Howard J. Lamade Stadium on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Turning point: <\/strong>Thissen left the game in the sixth inning after striking out 15. Sweetwater Valley loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, and the fans at Lamade Stadium erupted with chants of \u201cSVLL!\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Davenport reliever Anthony Johnson Jr. closed out the game with two straight strikeouts. He got the final out on a full-count strike that nipped the corner.<\/p>\n

\"DavenportDavenport Northwest\u2019s Anthony Johnson Jr. #22, representing the Midwest Region, celebrates after defeating Sweetwater Valley, representing the West Region, during the 2026 Little League World Series at Howard J. Lamade Stadium on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

He said it:<\/strong> \u201cI told them, \u2018The great thing is that we\u2019re not done.\u2019 I would love to see that team again and face them again. I think it could be different next time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to believe in ourselves, and regardless of whether we lost the first game, the great news is we\u2019re deep enough with pitching where we can make it out. It\u2019s tough, but we can make it out of this loser\u2019s bracket.\u201d \u2014 Winnick<\/p>\n

Up next:<\/strong> Sweetwater Valley Little League faces Phenix City, Ala., in Saturday\u2019s elimination game. First pitch at 4 p.m.; the game will air on ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u2014 ALEXANDRA MENDOZA<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Little League World Series: Midwest 1, West 0 What went down:\u00a0Sweetwater Valley\u2019s opening game in the Little League…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1015604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,80522,7776,61967,1448,3549,7264,406325,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,308465],"class_list":["post-1015603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-davenport","tag-iowa","tag-little-league-world-series","tag-pa","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-sweetwater-valley-little-league","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-williamsport"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117135384350746594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}