Lai Sung-hee pitched dominantly for Chinese Taipei, striking out 12 batters to keep Venezuela at bay. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Finals weekend of the Little League World Series is underway in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. After two semifinal games, the World Series Final has been decided, with Chinese Taipei facing Florida to determine who will win the Little League title.
Chinese Taipei continued their impressive international performance with a win over Venezuela, while Florida came from behind to win the US Championship with a 10-7 victory over Texas.
Chinese Taipei 4, Venezuela 1
In the day's first match, Chinese Taipei handily defeated Venezuela to advance to Sunday's final.
The Asia-Pacific regional champions tightened their defense and took advantage of Venezuela's mistakes to secure the win and earn a spot in the LLWS championship game.
Chinese Taipei pitcher Lai Sung-hee had an outstanding game, striking out 12 batters over 5 1/3 innings. Lai's dominant pitching kept Venezuela off base for the first five innings and kept the Latin American champions scoreless until the final inning.
Luis Yepes, who had been outstanding throughout the tournament, started for Venezuela but struggled early on, allowing a walk in the first inning. A wild pitch from Yepes gave Chinese Taipei a chance to score first, and Chiu Wei-che scored easily from third base.
Yepes got back on track, striking out three in the second inning, but was replaced by Jose Pérez after the bases were loaded in the third. A walk and a wild pitch by Pérez gave Chinese Taipei two more runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
Chinese Taipei scored again in the fifth inning when Samuel Carrasquel and Yepes collided in center field while trying to catch a pop fly, with Carrasquel missing the ball to end the inning.
Venezuela fought back in the sixth inning, putting two runners on base and giving them a chance to come back from behind. Lai, who threw over 85 pitches, was replaced by Chiu. Venezuela scored on a sacrifice fly, and then Chinese Taipei got the third and final out to win the game, 4-1.
The win puts the team from Taoyuan City, Taiwan, in the running for the World Series title on Sunday, and if they win, they will become the first international team to win a world title since Japan did so in 2017.
Florida 10, Texas 7
The second match of the day was a thrilling one, with Florida coming from behind to beat Texas 10-7. A team from Lake Mary, Florida (representing the Southeast) and a team from Vaughn, Texas (representing the Southwest) competed for the U.S. Championship, with Florida taking the win.
Florida struggled offensively early, with Texas pitcher Julian Hurst holding Florida hitless for three innings. Florida made it through the first inning with neither team scoring, but Texas put several runners on base and scored twice to take an early lead. Then in the third inning, Doc Mogford hit a two-run double with two outs to give Texas a 4–0 lead.
Florida came back in the fourth inning, getting their first hit and scoring their first run to make the score 4-1, but Texas held them off and ended the inning with Florida runners on base. Florida then ended the fourth inning with three outs and three outs.
DeMarcos Mises came up big in the top of the fifth for Florida with a stand-up double to spark the comeback and eventually score to make it 4-2. A pitching change didn't stop Florida from gaining momentum either, as Teraj Alexander hit a big RBI double to put Florida within one run.
Then Florida's Christopher Chichodoroff hit a big single to tie the game and Alexander stole home with Newson's back turned to give Florida a 5-4 lead, but Texas ended the inning suddenly behind.
But it didn't last long. Texas loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth and with two outs added another run to tie the score at 5-5, but a wild pitch allowed Texas to score and take a 6-5 lead. Texas then added another run to take a two-run lead before Florida ended the inning.
The Southwest champions had a chance to end the game in the top of the sixth, but Florida wasn't going to sit back and quickly loaded the bases on a one-run RBI single by Jacob Bibeau. Liam Morrissey's second sacrifice hit of the game tied the game at 7-7, and Luis Caro's two-run single and another stolen base put Florida ahead 10-7 before the end of the inning.
Texas had one more chance, but Florida got a strikeout and a double play to pull off the comeback win.
The newly crowned U.S. champions, Lake Mary, will face Chinese Taipei in the finals.
