Connecticut sent a team to the Little League World Series for the second time since 2017 and this year’s representative, Fairfield National Little League, will have a lasting memory of the experience in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Connecticut didn’t win it all but does leave the LLWS on a high note after a 4-2 victory over Aruba in the third place game. Connecticut, the Metro Region champion, also finished with a 5-1 record in Williamsport.
Aruba’s second consecutive trip to the LLWS produced some thrilling moments. Overall, it was Aruba Center Little League’s third appearance in Williamsport and it ended with consecutive losses, first in the international championship game and then in the third place game. Aruba had a 4-3 record in the LLWS this year.
Tommy D’Amura came on in the third inning in relief and he essentially saved the game for Connecticut. D’Amura’s pitching line: 3 1/3 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts. The clutch pitching performance secures third place for Connecticut in the Little League World Series. Aruba finished its Little League World Series adventure in fourth place overall.
Jimmy Taxiltaridis’ RBI-groundout gave Connecticut an insurance run for a 4-2 lead with two outs.
Santos pitched to one batter in the top of the sixth and gets Connecticut’s Luca Pellegrini to fly out. That was his 85th pitch and he has to leave the mound. Sanots’ final pitching line: 5 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts.
Santos has gone the distance so far for Aruba by allowing five hits, three runs and two walks but he has six strikeouts too. After five innings, Connecticut leads 3-2 over Aruba.
Connecticut’s Joe Sorrentino singled to start off the top of the fifth inning. However, Aruba’s Anthony Santos got three straight ground outs to end this threat.
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Aruba got a two-out walk from Isaac Arendsz, but D’Amura gets a groundout to end the inning. After four innings, Connecticut had a 3-2 lead.
After an error and a single with no outs, Santos takes care of the Connecticut batters with three straight strikeouts to end the top of the fourth inning. Santos has six strikeouts for the game.
Cayden Fraser has an RBI-triple to get Aruba on the scoreboard. It was his first hit of the Little League World Series. Josiah Koolman added an RBI-ground out. Tommy D’Amura came on in relief for the final out of the inning. After three innings, Connecticut leads 3-2.
Palazzolo comes out the bullpen for Connecticut after starter Charlie McCullough went two innings and allowed one hit, one walk and struck out two batters.
Connecticut’s SJ Taxiltaridis delivers a two-run double to give his team a 2-0 lead. He would take third on the throw back into the infield and later scored on a wild pitch. After the top of the third inning, Connecticut leads 3-0.
Aruba’s Liam Peña Caraballo got the first hit of the game off Connecticut’s Charlie McCullough, which came with two outs. But McCullough struck out the next batter ending the threat. Still scoreless after two innings.
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Sanots needed only nine pitches to retire three Connecticut batters via strikeout (his third of the game) and two groundouts in the top of the second. We are still scoreless.
Dunlap got a good jump on a ball streaking toward the line in right field. He lays out, all 5-foot-11 of him, to make the diving catch for the best defensive play of the game so far. He then makes the ‘no fly zone’ gesture by making an X with his hands. We are scoreless after one inning.
For the second time since 2017, a team from Connecticut is in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but this time from the Metro region bracket. Prior to 2022, Connecticut was a member of the New England region, but the Little League World Series expanded from 16 teams to its current format of 20 in 2022. This year, Fairfield National Little League (Fairfield, Connecticut) edged St. James-Smithtown Little League (Smithtown, New York), 12-1, to guarantee its spot at the LLWS. — Sherlon Christie
Aruba Center Little League (Santa Cruz, Aruba) made a return trip to the LLWS this year after capturing the Caribbean region title. Overall, this was Aruba Center’s third trip to the LLWS, after previous appearances in 2024 and 2011, according to Little League. The 2024 team went 2-2 in in Williamsport. — Sherlon Christie
Aruba’s Anthony Sanots got out of the bases loaded jame with back-to-back strikeouts. Scoreless after the top of the first inning.
Connecticut is the visting team for today’s third place game at the Little League World Series and faces Aruba’s Anthony Santos. Meanwhile, Aruba will be the home team on the scoreboard and will see Connecticut’s Charlie McCullough in the bottom of the first inning.
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA — Nevada manager TJ Fechser says every game has an inflection point, that moment on which everything turns.
Pitcher Garrett Gallegos had just tagged out a hitter on a diving play as part of a wild fifth-inning sequence. That was it, Fechser says.
But in kids’ sports, if coaches handle them right, we always get our chance to grab for more big moments.
There were now two outs and Gallegos had one more batter. His team was ahead by two runs. He said something to himself and got a swinging strikeout to end the Fairfield (Connecticut) threat.
“The whole sequence was really emotional,” the young right-handed pitcher said after the game, “thinking that was just the last out of me pitching ever pitching in Little League. It was very sentimental and like very sad, almost. But it was exciting at the same time, all the emotions together.”
Nevada wound up winning 8-2, setting up the Aug. 24 Little League World Series championship against Chinese Taipei at 3 p.m. on ABC. − Stephen Borelli
Connecticut (Metro) and Aruba (Caribbean) start the action with the third place game at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN and then Nevada (Mountain) and Chinese Taipei (Asia-Pacific) finish today’s schedule with the Little League World Series championship game at 3 p.m. on ABC.
Here’s how each team got to their final game at the LLWS.
The 2025 Little League World Series will be broadcast on ESPN platforms, with the championship game airing on ABC. Games will also be available to stream on ESPN+.
All times Eastern. For a full list of results, click here.
International bracket championship
United States bracket championship
Third-place game
Championship game
Sunday’s action in the Little League World Series begins at 10 p.m. ET with the third-place game. That game will be followed by the championship game between Chinese Taipei and Nevada at 3 p.m. ET.
The third-place game and the championship will be played in Howard J. Lamade Stadium at the Little League World Series Complex in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
For a full list of results, click here.
Wednesday, Aug. 20
Thursday, Aug. 21
Saturday, Aug. 23
Wednesday, Aug. 20
Thursday, Aug. 21
Saturday, Aug. 23
The championship and third-place games are scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 24 in Howard J. Lamade Stadium at the Little League World Series complex in Wiliamsport, Pennsylvania. The game follows the third-place game at Lamade Stadium.
LLWS third-place game — Sunday. Aug. 24
LLWS championship game — Sunday. Aug. 24
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