# 2002 Little League World Series

The 2002 Little League World Series took place between August 16 and August 25 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Valley Sports American Little League of Pleasure Ridge Park, a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, defeated Sendai Higashi Little League of Sendai, Japan, in the championship game of the 56th Little League World Series (LLWS).
Notable players included 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Austin Dillon, a member of the Clemmons, North Carolina, Little League representing the Southeast region.
At the beginning of the 2002 tournament the Little League organization retired uniform number 11 for all teams playing in the LLWS from that year forward in honour of Fire Department of New York firefighter Michael Cammarata, a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks, who had worn that number during the 1991 LLWS.

## Qualification

Between five and twelve teams take part in 16 regional qualification tournaments, which vary in format depending on region. In the United States, the qualification tournaments are in the same format as the Little League World Series itself: a round-robin tournament followed by an elimination round to determine the regional champion.
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
| Fort Worth, Texas Southwest Westside Little League | Manhattan, New York Mid-Atlantic Harlem Little League | Valencia, Venezuela Latin America Los Leones Little League | Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Asia Sendai Hagashi Little League |
| Worcester, Massachusetts New England Jesse Burkett Little League | Louisville, Kentucky Great Lakes Valley Sports American Little League | Regina, Saskatchewan Canada North Regina Little League | Willemstad, Curaçao Caribbean Pariba Little League |
| Webb City, Missouri Midwest Webb City Little League | Aptos, California West Aptos Little League | Hagåtña, Guam Pacific Central Little League | Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico Mexico Country de Monterrey Little League |
| Waipio, Hawaii Northwest Waipio Little League | Clemmons, North Carolina Southeast Southwest Forsyth Little League | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Transatlantic Arabian-American Little League | Moscow, Russia Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Khovrino Little League |
* Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States.

## Pool play

The top two teams in each pool move on to their respective semifinals. The winners of each met on August 25 to play for the Little League world championship.
Pool A :
| Region | Record |
| Southwest | 2–1 |
| New England | 2–1 |
| Northwest | 2–1 |
| Midwest | 0–3 |
Pool B :
| Region | Record |
| Great Lakes | 3–0 |
| Mid-Atlantic | 2–1 |
| West | 1–2 |
| Southeast | 0–3 |
August 16
| New England | 2–3 | Northwest |
| Midwest | 0–1 | Southwest |
August 17
| West | 1–4 | Great Lakes |
| Mid-Atlantic | 9–3 | Southeast |
| New England | 2–1 | Midwest |
August 18
| Southeast | 8–11 | West |
| West | 10–4 | Southeast |
| Northwest | 0–8 | Southwest |
| Great Lakes | 2–0 | Mid-Atlantic |
August 19
| New England | 6–0 | Southwest |
| Midwest | 1–2 | Northwest |
August 20
| West | 2–5 | Mid-Atlantic |
| Southeast | 2–4 | Great Lakes |

### International

Pool C :
| Region | Record |
| Latin America | 2–1 |
| Pacific | 2–1 |
| Transatlantic | 2–1 |
| Canada | 0–3 |
Pool D :
| Region | Record |
| Asia | 3–0 |
| Caribbean | 2–1 |
| Mexico | 1–2 |
| EMEA | 0–3 |
August 16
| Transatlantic | 3–2 | Canada |
August 17
| Pacific | 1–11 | Latin America |
| Mexico | 1–10 | Caribbean |
| EMEA | 0–7 | Asia |
August 18
| Transatlantic | 6–9 | Pacific |
| Mexico | 4–3 | EMEA |
August 19
| EMEA | 0–13$^†$ (4 innings) | Caribbean |
| Asia | 11–0$^†$ (4 innings) | Mexico |
| Canada | 3–9 | Latin America |
August 20
| Asia | 5–0 | Caribbean |
| Canada | 7–12 | Pacific |
| Transatlantic | 6–5 | Latin America |

### Elimination rounds

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| August 21 - Lamade (Game ended by mercy rule) | August 21 - Lamade (Game ended by mercy rule) | | | |
| Sendai, Japan | 10 | | | |
| Sendai, Japan | 10 | August 24 - Lamade | August 24 - Lamade | | |
| Hagåtña, Guam | 0 | August 24 - Lamade | August 24 - Lamade | |
| Hagåtña, Guam | 0 | Sendai, Japan | 4 | |
| August 22 - Lamade | August 22 - Lamade | | Sendai, Japan | 4 | |
| August 22 - Lamade | August 22 - Lamade | Willemstad, Curaçao | 1 | |
| Valencia, Venezuela | 0 | Willemstad, Curaçao | 1 | |
| Valencia, Venezuela | 0 | | | | August 25 - Lamade | August 25 - Lamade |
| Willemstad, Curaçao | 3 | | | | August 25 - Lamade | August 25 - Lamade |
| Willemstad, Curaçao | 3 | | | | Sendai, Japan | 0 |
| August 21 - Lamade (11 innings) | August 21 - Lamade (11 innings) | | | | | Sendai, Japan | 0 |
| August 21 - Lamade (11 innings) | August 21 - Lamade (11 innings) | | | | Louisville, Kentucky | 1 |
| Louisville, Kentucky | 2 | | | | Louisville, Kentucky | 1 |
| Louisville, Kentucky | 2 | August 24 - Lamade | August 24 - Lamade | | | |
| Fort Worth, Texas | 1 | August 24 - Lamade | August 24 - Lamade | | | |
| Fort Worth, Texas | 1 | Louisville, Kentucky | 4 | | | |
| August 22 - Lamade | August 22 - Lamade | | Louisville, Kentucky | 4 | | | |
| August 22 - Lamade | August 22 - Lamade | Worcester, Massachusetts | 0 | | Third place | Third place |
| Worcester, Massachusetts | 5 | Worcester, Massachusetts | 0 | | Third place | Third place |
| Worcester, Massachusetts | 5 | | | | August 25 - Volunteer | August 25 - Volunteer |
| New York, New York | 2 | | | | August 25 - Volunteer | August 25 - Volunteer |
| New York, New York | 2 | | | | Worcester, Massachusetts | 1 |
| | | | | | Willemstad, Curaçao | 9 |
* 2002 Little League World Series Champions
* Valley Sports American Little League Louisville, Kentucky