20 teams from U.S. and around the world set to compete in LLWS
USA TODAY Sports’ Steve Borelli previews the 20 teams from the U.S. and around the world competing in the 2026 Little League World Series.
Sports Pulse
Carsynn Meyer has been playing Little League for about four years now.
“Most of the time I’ve been the only girl,” she says. “I just play baseball. Everyone’s chill so I just hang out with them.”
There was one moment, though, when the ball she hit against Montana last week flew through the air, when few around her could contain themselves.
Her double in the Little League Mountain Region championship in San Bernardino, California, helped her Nevada team cement its trip to Williamsport.
“When I was up to bat for my last at-bat, I needed a hit and it was the last game,” she told USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview. “And we were already winning and I just wanted to do something spectacular.
“It felt great just to get it all out of my system. I was looking at the stands and like everyone was just screaming so loud.”
She and her team have taken Paseo Verde Little League from Henderson, Nevada, to the Little League World Series for the second time in three years. They play Great Lakes Region champion West Side Little League (Hamilton, Ohio) on Thursday Aug. 20 at 3 p.m. ET.
Who is Carsynn Meyer?
Meyer, 12, is one of two girls competing in Williamsport this year along with Kinley Rasmus of Phenix City, Alabama. It’s actually Meyer’s second trip to Williamsport, as she competed in the Maria Pepe Legacy Series in June named after the Little League baseball pioneer.
It was an all-girls event for which Meyer had to apply.
“I got back, they were asking me questions,” she says of her current teammates, “and I was telling them how cool it was, and that we need to go back for the real thing.”
She likes to play everywhere on the diamond, even catcher.
“There’s a lot of action catching,” she says. “It’s fine the day of, but then the next day, I feel the pain.”
She lives for the outfield, her primary position.
“The ball doesn’t get hit out there a lot, and when it does, everyone just goes so hype if you make a play. I’m fast, so it’s easy for me.”
How did Carsynn Meyer get into baseball?
Her mother, Tiffany, says Carsynn grew up around her older brother, Cade, now 15, playing baseball and has always been close with his teammates’ siblings. She grew to love the game, too. (She also has a sister, Chloe, 16).
Carsynn formally started playing baseball in coach pitch at age 8. But when she’s not playing baseball, she plays basketball and flag football. She says she likes to bake, too.
She has started playing club baseball year round, though she’s “always playing two sports at once,” she says.
“Carsynn is a talented young multisport athlete,” her mother says via text from Williamsport. “She proves herself on and off the field with teammates. All of her coaches throughout sports comment on her sportsmanship and how coachable she is. It has been a pleasure for both my husband and I’s family to watch her compete over the years! There is nothing quite like the biggest stage in youth sports, the LLWS. To be with her along this journey is a true blessing.
“Her dad and I are so proud that she is not afraid, she puts herself out there and loves to compete with the best! She’s a truly unique player and adds something special to every team she has ever been on.”
What can youth athletes take from Carsynn Meyer’s Little League World Series experience
Carsynn says the Little League complex wasn’t so busy when she was there for her June event, but she looks around this week and feels the energy of thousands of people. She has also enjoyed, like the other kids who play in Williamsport each year, the quieter moments.
Many remember these activities – which include ping pong, video games and pickleball – as their fondest of their visit, even perhaps over winning it all.
“It’s stuff I’ve never seen before, all the different cultures and people here, it’s crazy,” she says. “I’ve met the kids from Mexico, Canada the Caribbean, Ohio, all of them.”
One was Rasmus, who on Wednesday tied Mo’ne Davis’ record from 2014 for the most strikeouts in a game by a girl at the Little League World Series. Carsynn said she said “hi” and introduced herself “but that was really it.” To be continued.
Within The Grove, where the participants stay, kids can mingle with other players from around the country and world without many others around besides managers and coaches.
Paseo Verde Little League was here in 2024, and it was an experience those kids, like most who play here, always remember.
“They said, ‘Playing on ESPN shouldn’t mean anything,” Meyer says of talking to Henderson players who came to Williamsport two years ago. “It’s just baseball after all, so you shouldn’t get nervous. Like, obviously, it’s a privilege, but you shouldn’t get nervous about it.”
What’s next for Carsynn Meyer after Williamsport?
Meyer, who plays for the Women of DK National all-girls club baseball team, says she wants to play baseball this year and will eventually transition to softball.
She’s never played softball before but feels she has a head start. She’s playing in Williamsport and has a feeling of accomplishment all kids who play sports should have a chance to find, whatever they pursue.
“It’s the experience of a lifetime,” she says. “You never know what’s gonna happen. You can’t predict the future …
“I just want to inspire younger girls from all around the world to play.”
Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He played baseball in high school, rowed in college and spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents to a college and high school baseball player. His Coach Steve column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.
Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@usatoday.com. at sborelli@usatoday.com.