WE HAVE COMPLETED THE JAPAN/AMERICA GOODWILL SERIES XVII.

THE 1st two games were played in Cooperstown at Doubleday Field. August 31. Over 100 media and TV arrived with the Japan team. Yuki Saito is a National Hero in Japan, pitching 3 games in 3 days of 9 innings, 15 innings and the Championship game of 9 innings in Koshien for his High School team Waseda.

Yuki pitched in Cooperstown, and 2 games in Los Angeles at USC. The Japan team won 5-1 in Cooperstown, tied 5-5 at USC and won 16-5, and won the final 4-1. The September 2 game was TV "live" to 60 million people in Japan.

The three games at USC attracted over 4,000.

The outstanding American players were Matt Harvey RHP, Mystic, Conn.; Brain Dupra RHP
from Rochester, NY; Sean Lucas Lhp from Fishkill, NY; Andrew Sinibaldi 2B from West Boyston, MA; and Chris Berroa OF from Pensauken, NJ. Chris hit a HR in the 10 inning to win the 2nd game in Cooperstown.

In Los Angeles, Jonathan Singleton 1b, Jake Thompson Rhp, Aaron Hicks and Robert Gose from the MLB Urban Academy played with great skill against the #1 Team in the World.

Sammy Solis, Patrick McCoy and Jeff Grijalva
each pitched strong innings.

Darrell Miller and Carl Nichols coached the American Team in Los Angeles. They are the Directors from the Urban Academy and former MLB players. Jason Baker coached the American team in Cooperstown.

Carl will coach our SSK International Team in Australia December 15 - 31. Six players from the Urban Academy three players from Venezuela and four players from China will join our team.

Bob Williams

Bob,

Thanks for this information. A Japanese-American friend of mine was talking to me about this yesterday and I was looking for just this.

Keep havin' fun!

Tom

Additional players;

Mike Moustakes, catcher/3B from Northridge;
Wes Dorrell, catcher from Clovis; Garrett Nash shortstop from Drapter, Utah; and Matt Evers all contributed to the "fighting spirit" of our American team in this Goodwill Series XVII.

In the final game, Matt Hiserman, from Mission Viejo pitched 5 innings of two hit baseball. "I am proud of our American players and they all learned from this International game of baseball.

In the opinion of several minor league players attending the games, the competition from the Japan pitchers was equal to Class A professional baseball.

Bob Williams