Bronx Pitcher Has Rare Perfect Game

A shy 12-year-old as soft-spoken in his native Spanish as he is in English came close to strikeout perfection at the Little League World Series on Saturday.

Danny Almonte threw the series’ first perfect game in 44 years and struck out all but two of 18 batters as the Rolando Paulino team from the Bronx, N.Y., defeated Apopka, Fla., 5-0.

Almonte, a left-hander with a 70-mph slider, struck out the first 15 batters and gave up just a handful of foul balls.

Heading into the sixth and final inning, he was three outs away from becoming the first LLWS pitcher to strike out every batter. But Apopka’s Ryan Markell and Andrew Cobb bunted in front of the plate and were thrown out at first.

Almonte then struck out Jeff Lovejoy swinging to end the game with 53 strikes on 64 pitches.

Still, Almonte seemed unfazed by his accomplishment, answering only “Bien” when asked how he felt about the perfect game.

The last perfect game in the series was by Angel Macias of Monterrey, Mexico, in the 1957 championship game against La Mesa Northern.

The only other pitcher who did not allow a batter to reach base was Fred Shapiro of Delaware Township (N.J.) in 1956.

“We don’t care about no-hitters or perfect games. We just care about getting wins,” Bronx Manager Alberto Gonzalez said.

Bainbridge Island, Wash., beat Davenport, Iowa, 4-3, in seven innings and Brownsburg, Ind., was a 5-1 winner over Lincoln, R.I., in other United States division games.

In International division games, a team from Hagatna, Guam, held off Matamoros, Mexico, 6-5; Curacao, Netherlands Antillies, beat Veraguas, Panama, 3-2; and Calgary West, Alberta, was a 5-1 winner over Khovrino Moscow.