Click here to view 2011 state tournament results for Australia.
Format: This is a two-stage tournament. In the first stage, leagues are divided into two pools for round-robin competition. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinal round, and all other teams advance to consolation games that determine the third through twelfth place finishers.
The top two finishers in each pool advance to the semifinal round. All other tournament participants advance to consolation games.
The base hit that traveled just 20 feet helped the Adelaide Southern Districts Little League to travel some 3,300 miles from their home field.
Jack Dawson's bunt single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning scored Mitchell Lightbody, and lifted Adelaide Southern to a 2-1 victory over Perth Metro North Little League in the Australian national championship game at Sir Bruce Small Park in Benowa, Queensland.
The victory handed Adelaide its second consecutive Australian championship, and advanced the South Australia representative into the Asia-Pacific Region tournament in Dededo, Guam.
Perth Metro North struck first in the tightly contested championship game, loading the bases with nobody out and pushing across a run on Caleb Christiansen's sacrifice fly in the second inning. But Adelaide pitcher Elliott Weder escaped further damage in the inning, and did not allow a Perth baserunner to advance past first base for the balance of the game. Weder struck out nine batters in the game, and reached the 85-pitch limit with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Reliever Louis Hall then registered a ground out by the only batter he faced.
Adelaide Southern, which stranded four runners at third base in the game's first five innings, tied the game in the third inning. Lightbody singled with one out, and moved to third on Jordan McArdle's double, and scored when third baseman Jonty Scharenburg grounded sharply to the second baseman. In the sixth, four consecutive Adelaide hitters reached safely to push across the deciding run.
Lightbody initiated the rally with a one-out single, and McArdle followed with a bunt single. After Scharenburg reached on an infield single that loaded the bases, Dawson fouled off his first bunt attempt before dropping a bunt just in front of the outstretched glove of Perth pitcher Jordan Powell. Lightbody raced home on the play, and made Adelaide Southern the first Australian league to successfully defend its national title.
Adelaide Southern finished as the runner-up in Australia's first two years of nationwide Little League competition, and won the titles in each of the next two years.
Adelaide reached the championship game by winning four of its five pool competition games in the twelve-team competition, and then thumping New South Wales representative Cronulla South Little League, 11-1, in a four inning semifinal round game. Lightbody struck out seven batters and surrendered just two hits in the win, while McArdle paced the offense with three hits. Adelaide assumed command with a five-run rally in the second inning, and added four more runs in the third.
Perth Metro North, which suffered its only two losses in the national tournament at the hands of Adelaide Southern, overwhelmed Victoria's Waverley Little League, 22-0, in the other semifinal round game. Pitcher Jake Baker-Embry threw a four inning no-hitter for Perth, and the Western Australia team opened a 6-0 lead before Waverley came to the plate. Perth extended the lead to 9-0 in the second, then posted a 13-run burst in the fourth to end the game via the mercy rule and become the first Western Australia team to reach the national championship game.
Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane South Little League had all finished with 4-1 records in their pool. Adelaide claimed first place based on a superior run differential, and Perth Metro North then edged Brisbane for the second semifinal round berth. Waverley and Cronulla South each finished 4-1 to advance from the opposite pool.
Adelaide suffered its only loss at the national tournament on the tournament's opening day. After dispatching Alice Springs Little League, 16-1 in four innings, Adelaide let an early lead slip away in a 6-5 loss against Brisbane South. The defending champions regrouped the next day, topping Perth Metro North by a 5-1 score and then using a three-hit performance by McArdle to top Illawara Little League, 15-4, in a mercy rule-shortened victory. Adelaide then clinched its semifinal round berth with a 10-6 victory over Ringwood District Little League in a rematch of the prior year's two Australian finalists.
Adelaide Southern won two of its five games at the Asia-Pacific Region tournament, matching the record of the two other Australian champions who participated in the region tournament.