This Hit-by-Pitch in the Little League World Series was Frightening

(Credit: SportsGrid)

As it's known by now, the Little League World Series is a late-summer "tradition" on the ESPN family of networks. Today was the first day of action from Williamsport, Pennsylvania and through the first clip, something pretty scary stood out. 13-year old Kotaro Kiyomiya who, on another note, is absolutely huge for someone who is 13 years old, took the mound for the Japanese team. Japan took on the country of Curacao, one-time LLWS champions back in 2004. Japan wound up winning the contest 7-0 but that was not the story. In the top of the third, Kiyomiya let off a blistering pitch, that would have registered at 99 mph at the major league level, and smacked Ceddanne Rafaela in the head. If you missed it, here's how it happened:

If you had to look away, chances are I wouldn't blame you for doing that. That looked terrifying on impact and in the moment. Thankfully, Rafaela walked up on his own power and shook it off. Always good to see when freak things like that, that everyone turns out to be okay. 

[h/t SportsGrid]