Little League World Series 2017: Lufkin All-Stars Take On Great Lakes Champs

WILLIAMSPORT, PA — The boys of summer will be taking to the baseball diamond on Thursday night in the Little League World Series, when the Southwest Champion Lufkin All-Stars take on the Great Lakes Champion Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League All-Stars at 7 p.m.

The Lufkin All-Staris is making its first trip to the Little League World Series, defeating Little League teams from Texas, Colorado and Louisiana earlier this month in tournament play to advance to the World Series tournament in Williamsport, Pa.

Bud Maddux, Manager of the Southwest All-Star team, told Patch the boys are excited about the chance to play in what is often a once in a lifetime tournament.

“It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of practice...We’re here,” he said.

Maddux said the team is mentally ready to play, and it was the close win against the San Antonio’s McAllister Park All-Stars that really helped prepare the Lufkin squad.

“We always feel like we can win, because we’ve worked hard and prepared,” Maddux told Patch. “The McAllister team has a good baseball team, and we respect the heck out of them. You can do all the thinking your want, but you have to do the playing on the field, and that’s they did, and we came out on top.”

Some of the boys have played on other Little League teams in the past, but Maddux, who has coached youth baseball for 41 years, is coaching this group for the first time.

“I have enjoyed it,” Maddux said. “This is a great group of young men. Lots of good athletes and good baseball players. They are special.”

Like Lufkin, the Grosse-Pointe Woods-Shore All-Stars are a team on fire, defeating Little League all-star teams from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky to advance to advance to the World Series Tournament.

In all, there are eight U.S. Little League teams competing for a chance to play one of eight International teams

The winners of each game will need to win four games during the World Series tournament in order to play in the World Series Championship Game on Aug. 27.

All of the games can be seen on ESPN on Thursday starting at 1 p.m. Eastern/ 12 p.m. Central.

Other teams in the tournament include:

US Tournament Teams

• Mid Atlantic All Stars vs. New England 3p.m.
• Southwest vs. Great Lake 7 p.m.
• Northwest vs. West 4 p.m.
• Mid West vs. Southeast 8 p.m.

International Tournament Teams

• Latin American vs. Mexico 1 p.m.
• Canada vs. Europe 5 p.m.
• Japan vs. Australia 2 p.m.
• Caribbean vs. Asia-Pacific 6 p.m.

Livestream the game here: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id...

You can track the tournament at the Little League World Series, and even print your own bracket.

Image: Courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball.

Send your news tips to bryan.kirk@patch.com