Just four teams remain in the Little League World Series with any hope of taking home the world championship title Sunday afternoon, and all four are the ones with a shot at victory when the U.S. and international championship games begin today at Lamade Stadium.
The international final will feature the Asia-Pacific regional champions Taoyuan, Taiwan and the Latin American regional champions Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
The U.S. final will be between Southwest Regional champion Boren, Texas, and Southeast Regional champion Lake Mary, Florida.
The International Championship game is scheduled to start at 12:30pm and the U.S. Championship game at 3:30pm. Sunday's World Series Championship game will be played at 3pm at Lamade Stadium.
The losers of Saturday's two finals will meet in the third-place match at 10 a.m. Sunday in Lamade.
All competing teams are hoping to end their drought of winning a title in their respective states or countries. Of the four finalists, the last team to win the Little League World Series was in 2017 (Texas).
Chinese Taipei, the team representing Taiwan, has not played in the finals since losing to Chula Vista, California, in 2009. The last time a Taiwanese team won was in 1996.
“The kids are excited (to be in the final),” Chinese Taipei coach Lee Chen-ta said at a press conference after Wednesday's win over Japan. “We're very happy to have the chance to play in an international final.”
Venezuela has only appeared in the Little League World Series finals twice, once in 1994 and once in Maracaibo in 2000. Venezuela won both times.
Texas is seeking its first appearance in the World Series finals since 2017, when the Lufkin, Texas, team lost to Japan, 12-2, in five games. While Texas has historically sent strong teams to the series, the state has only appeared in the World Series twice, in 1950 and 1966.
Florida has not appeared in the Little League World Series finals, or the U.S. Finals, since 2001, when Apopka, Florida, lost narrowly 2-1 to Tokyo, Japan in the final.
“I'm happy to finally be here in Williamsport,” Texans star Julian Hurst said at a press conference earlier this week. “There aren't a lot of teams that can come here, but I'm happy to be one of the 20 teams. This is a kid's dream.”
From starting out as one of 20 teams, they are now one of just four teams in the top Little League teams in the world. Hurst and Texas aren't content with just making it to the U.S. Finals. The Southwest Regional champions are looking to win the championship.
They'll play a rematch against Florida, the Southeast Region champions looking to get revenge after Texas beat Florida, 4-1, on Monday.
The loss sent Florida to the elimination bracket and forced it to win three games in three days with little room for error to advance to Saturday's national championship.
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