The Little League World Series is nearing its end, with four teams still in the running in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The Southeast team from Lake Mary, Florida defeated the Mountain team in an elimination game on Thursday, setting up a rematch with the Southwest team from Boerne, Texas in the U.S. championship. Later, the Latin America team from Barquisimeto, Venezuela defeated Japan in a rematch to reach the international championship, where they will face the Asia-Pacific team from Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei.
Both games will be played on Saturday, with Florida facing Texas and Venezuela facing Chinese Taipei for a spot in the championship game on Sunday.
The Venezuela win came with some drama, as Japan, which beat Venezuela in the winner’s bracket, had the bases loaded with a chance to take the lead in the fourth inning, then had runners on second and third with one out in the final sixth inning. The runner on third went for home on a grounder to shortstop Luis Yepez, who cut him down to keep the lead.
Pitcher Johnson Freitaz got the final out on a fly ball to right-center to finish the game.
Venezuela will be playing in the country’s first international championship since winning the tournament 2000.
Whichever of Venezuela or Chinese Taipei wins will be trying to buck history in the championship, as no international team has won the title since 2017 (no tournament was held in 2020 and the event was U.S. only in 2021).
