Most of them are too young to remember Israel’s magical run at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. After all, the 14 members of Israel’s U12 Little League team were between three and five years old when Israel established itself as a serious contender on the world stage.
But this summer, this talented group of young baseball players wrote their own chapter in Israeli baseball history by coming just two wins away from securing the country’s first-ever appearance in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
In mid-July, the Israeli team powered its way through the competition in the Little League Europe-Africa Regional Qualifier in Kutno, Poland, outscoring its opponents by a whopping 77-3 margin during its flawless 5-0 run.
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During a series of dominant victories over Ukraine, Estonia, Poland and Croatia and a 6-5 thriller over France, Israel’s pitching staff allowed just five hits while its impressive lineup smacked four home runs. Thanks to a 5-0 record in the seven-team qualifying round, Israel was one of two teams (the other being Lithuania) to advance to Regional Field to compete in Williamsport.
In mid-July, the Israeli team powered its way through the competition in the Little League Europe-Africa Regional Qualifier in Kutno, Poland, outscoring its opponents by a whopping 77-3 margin during its flawless 5-0 run.
Ultimately, the Czech Republic won the regional championships for the second year in a row, knocking out Germany to represent Europe-Africa in the Little League World Series, but Israel showed that it belongs among these elite teams. With the support of political figures such as former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and current Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as Orthodox Jewish pitcher Jacob Steinmetz of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who inspired the boys with a video message, Israel scored victories over South Africa (11-4) and Spain (7-4) before ultimately losing to Germany 12-2 in the semifinals.
“We have been making changes to our local league for years to bring these players to the highest level possible,” Israel Little League Commissioner Ken Sachs told the AJT earlier this month. “This was a plan that former national player Ophir Katz and I put into action several years ago because we knew the best way to improve our program in Israel was to introduce the kids to a more baseball-like program at a younger age.
“We worked with the board to restructure the leagues and introduce rules that emphasize development at younger ages rather than winning. We hoped this would be the start of taking all of our national teams to a higher level.”
Apparently the plan worked. Israel boasts an impressive team, largely carried by hitters Lior Margulis and Moshe Carmen, the latter of whom hit a 250-foot moonshot during a regular season game at his home stadium in Efrat that has become legendary in his hometown. As for the entire Israeli youth baseball program, the future looks bright for 12-year-old Carmen. He was the first youth league player (ages 12-15) to clear the left field fence at Efrat’s stadium before following up his tremendous regular season success in Poland with four home runs.
Meanwhile, the pitching staff consisted of a rock-solid rotation that included Margulis, Roei Malka, Yitzy Kralek, Itiel Holtz and Eitan Weiss. Some are fireball throwers, others are more finesse pitchers. All played a crucial role in helping Israel make a good run in the LL European Qualifiers during the program’s second iteration. (The summer of 2024 marks the fourth year of the current Little League in Israel, but due to COVID and the war in Ukraine, this is only the second time Israel has participated in the Little League European Qualifiers.)
“We saw last year that we could compete in the qualifying tournament and that we were not far from competing in the main tournament,” added Sachs, who is also a longtime coach in Israel and a board member of the Israel Association of Baseball. “Personally, I felt like we had a 60/40 chance of making the main tournament this year even before we arrived.”
Keeping the kids focused on competing in the main tournament during their two-week stay abroad—not to mention overseeing the pitching staff’s workload, no easy task in Little League due to strict pitching restrictions—fell to head coach Michael Levy, who was assisted by game strategy expert David Weiss and team manager Mordechai Holtz, who deftly managed tricky logistics that eventually included scheduling games around Shabbat and properly refrigerating Warshaw Chabad’s kosher food.
“He (Levy) integrates the mental aspect of the game into his coaching style and philosophy to fully exploit the potential of the players on and off the field. He clearly did that in Poland,” said Sachs, commenting on his head coach, who holds a master’s degree in sports psychology and works as a mental coach in Israel.
And following the impressive performance by Israeli Little Leaguers in Poland last month, Israel also won the recent U-23 European Baseball Championship in Zurich, Switzerland, securing its spot in next summer’s U-23 European Baseball Championship in Trebic, Czech Republic. Perhaps this performance will coincide with the debut of Israeli Little League in Williamsport.
