SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — It was less than a week ago when Carsynn Meyer made her presence felt on the Little League World Series scene with an RBI single against Tacoma.
She one-upped herself Sunday with an RBI base hit — both her second of the tournament — in Paseo Verde’s 12-2 win over Hamilton, Ohio, in the U.S. championship game on Saturday.
Meyer’s two-out, bases-loaded hit up the middle gave Paseo Verde a 4-1 lead and was part of the five-run inning that broke the game open.
When she was asked about it, she couldn’t hold back the smile.
“Probably No. 1,” Meyer said when asked if this one tops the previous hit. “Just because it’s the Little League World Series and the U.S. championship. It’s just crazy.”
Meyer, along with Alabama’s Kinley Rasmus, became the 25th and 26th girls to play in the Little League World Series.
Meyer, however, gets to have bragging rights as the first girl from the United States to play for a world championship. She’s the first since Sayaka Tsushima with Japan in 1998 to reach the final stage.
“It’s awesome,” Meyer said. “Especially, like, getting a hit. Being the first girl to get a hit in the U.S. championship, it’s awesome.”
Much of the attention between the two girls has been centered on Rasmus, the daughter of former MLB pitcher Cory Rasmus. She set records this summer with 14 strikeouts and five hits, the most by a girl in the tournament.
But Meyer has delivered in her own way. Even though she’s batting 12th in the lineup, she’s had good contact and has done well putting balls in play.
“We set out to select a team that was a threat, one through 12,” manager Cory Edwards said. “First day of practice, I told everybody that they had to carry their own weight. It wasn’t an option to be carried by anybody else.
“Carsynn’s not at the end because she’s a weak hitter. She’s at the end to turn the lineup over, and we expect that from her and we let her know that up front. She’s doing a great job.”
Meyer said she never felt slighted being compared to Rasmus, calling her a “really good ballplayer.”
She was in Williamsport in June for the Maria Pepe Little League Baseball Legacy Series. When she came back to rejoin her teammates, she kept saying she could envision them all in Williamsport.
Two months later, there’s a world championship on the line.
“I definitely thought we could get here,” Meyer said. “During the practices that we had before I left for Williamsport, I just knew that we were a special group.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
