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LLWS Day 8 recap

By From staff reports 8 min read

In a scoreless game through four innings, Santa Cruz, Aruba knew that it only needed one run to possibly win.

Thankfully the Caribbean Regional champions got three, all thanks to home runs.

Diliano Raven and Emerson Mercado hit home runs nearly back-to-back in the fifth inning -- with just one batter betwene them -- to give the Caribbean Regional champions and exciting 3-0 win over Tokyo, Japan at Volunteer Stadium on Wednesday in an elimination game.

"I feel super excited. I knew I wanted to help this team in doing that, hitting the home run, I felt I helped my team a lot," Raven said.

Both teams played well from a pitching and defensive aspect through the first four innings to keep it scoreless before Aruba broke through in the fifth inning.

Arnold Gismar Martha threw 3 2/3 innings for Aruba with six strikeouts and three singles allowed before Jeter Filiciano closed it out for the final 2 1/3 innings.

Japan was led byYushi Yamamoto (1 for 2), Tensei Yazama (1 for 2) and Junshin Yamada (1 for 2) at the plate.

Aruba saw Anthony Santos (1 for 2, run) and Prince Kingsale (1 for 1) both collect hits in addition to Raven and Mercado's home runs.

Aruba will face Barquisimeto, Venezuela on Thursday in an elimination game at Lamade Stadium at 3 p.m.

"We're going to give it all we got," Aruba manager Max Arendsz said about facing Venezuela in an elimination game next. "The goal was reaching the semifinal of the international bracket. Now, we just dream and hope. These boys have a lot of fight. They'll fight until the end."

The three wins this year by Aruba is the most wins in a single Little League World Series touranment for the nation of Aruba, something Arensdz is proud about.

"Today I'm not calm, I want to celebrate," Arends said with a smile. "We set a goal this year to build one team. We set a goalto get to international semifinals and once we reached there, we can dream. Tonight, we're going to start dreaming."

SOUTH CAROLINA 7, SOUTH DAKOTA 6 (7 INN.)

Andrew Bogan belted a walk-off, two-run double down the right field line and Irmo, South Carolina completed a remarkable comeback, scoring six seventh inning runs as it won a 7-6 thriller in seven innings against Sioux Falls, South Dakota Wednesday night at Lamade Stadium. Irmo was down to its last strike four times in the sixth inning when Jacob Gibson worked a two-out RBI walk and the Southeast champions stormed back in the bottom of the seventh to reach Thursday's loser's bracket final against Nevada.

Sutton Gravelle hit an RBI single, Brayden Gerard an RBI double and Preston Ware and Brady Westbrooks drew RBI walks to make it a one-run game in the seventh and set the stage for Bogan. A day after hitting a clutch two-run sixth inning single in a 3-0 win against Hawaii, Bogan again delivered, this time producing the hit of his young life.

Bogan stayed with a 2-2 pitch on the outside corner, lacing it down the line. Grayson Rehfeldt nearly made a miraculous diving catch, but the ball landed just beneath his outstretched glove as Bubba McQuillen and Ware raced home for the winning runs.

"I'm just thinking get on base; get a hit. Any way I can get on base works and just get one run in at least," Bogan said.. "I'm very happy that we get to move one more time and maybe even two more times."

Connor Felderman and Landon Vavruska did amazing work for 5 2/3 innings, stranding 13 runners during that time, including 10 over the first five innings. It looked like South Dakota would become the first team from its state to reach the Final 3, but Gibson fouled off two pitches and took three balls to tie the game with his RBI walk.

"I don't know what to say. I'm stunned," Irmo manager Dave Bogan said. "I asked them if they believe. I said we have to believe and they did."

South Dakota did its best to make Irmo stop believing when it scored five runs in the top of the seventh, taking a 6-1 lead. Tate Schneider ignited the rally with an RBI single before Maxen Snoozy and Devin Aukes hit RBI doubles and Kenson Henderson and Camden Tycz RBI singles.

Brody Miller pitched an excellent game for Irmo, throwing just 61 pitches through six innings. He alowed just two hits during that time and struck out three, giving Irmo a shot at forcing extra innings.

CONNECTICUT 7, NEVADA 3

Fairfield National Little Leauge is going where only one other Connecticut team has gone in the 2000s.

The resilient Metro champions are becoming the Comeback Kids and again scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning for a third straight game, erasing a three-run deficit and beating Las Vegas, Nevada, 7-3 in the winner's bracket final Wednesday at Lamade Stadium.

Luca Pellegrini hit a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie, Tommy D'Amura's mammoth home run over both center field fences highlighted a three-run sixth inning and SJ Taxilaridis threw gutsy 5 1/3 innings as Fairfield became the first team from Connecticut since Westport in 2013. Now, it is off to Saturday's U.S. Championship and will try becoming the first Connecticut team since 1989 world champion Trumbull to win a national title.

"It's a dream come true," Taxilaridis said. "From Day 1, we just wanted to make it to Bristol and Williamsport. Now, to get a chance to play for the championship.

Fairfield has trailed in the fifth inning of all three games but enters the national final, 3-0 after scoring 21 runs in the fifth inning or beyond in those contests. Las Vegas can earn a rematch against Fairfield if it wins Thursday's loser's bracket final against either South Dakota or South Carolina.

It looked like Las Vegas might be on the way to Saturday's game when it built a 3-0 lead three batters into the order in the top of the first inning. Ethan Robertson walked, Brooks Fechser singled and Cache Malan walloped a three-run home run.

From there, however, both Taxilaridis and the defense were brilliant. Fairfield not only made no errors, but made a series of fabulous players which likely saved multiple runs when the game was tied 3-3. That included in the fourth inning when Pellegrini made a super diving stop and throw from his knees at shortstop, center fielder Dante Madera made an incredible catch running back toward the wall and right fielder Ben Herbst threw out a runner at the plate with catcher Jimmy Taxilaridis applying a quick tag.

Fairfield tied the game when it scored three third-inning runs. Pellegrini hit an RBI single and SJ Taxilaridis helped his pitching cause when he drilled a two-run single which made it, 3-3. Las Vegas lost its first game this summer but still remains just one game for the U.S. Final.

CHINESE TAIPEI 7, VENEZUELA 3

Taipei, Chinese Taipei took advantage of walked batters and put the ball in play throughout the game en route to a 7-3 win against Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

With the win, Chinese Taipei advances to the International championship game for the fourth straight summer. Venezuela will play on Thursday in an elimination game against either Aruba or Japan.

"Venezuela is one of the best teams we have seen. We understood we're going to give up some runs," Chinese Taipei manager Lai Min-Nan said. "I don't think we played for a shutout or anything, we know they're very good batters. We wanted to make sure we could go ahead of them instead of going behind to catch them."

Chinese Taipei opened the game with a single and fielder's choice. But, with to outs, the Asia-Pacific Regional champions were able to induce three straight walks to bring in two runs and take a quick 2-0 lead.

Chinese Taipei scored a run in the fourth inning to go ahead 3-0 and then added four runs to break the game open in the fifth, 7-0. That was thanks to four hits including Chen Qi-Sheng's big two-RBI double.

"I'm happy and I was hopeful to gain as many runs as possible at the end," Qi-Sheng said. "That was my No. 1 goal in my mind at that time."

Venezuela's offense didn't start getting into a rhythm until the fifth inning. Chinese Taipei held the Latin America Regional champions to a single through four innings before Venezuela collected four hits in the fifth inning, including a two-RBI double by Saul Vegas Duran, to cut the deficit to 7-3.

Venezuela went through five pitchers as Andres Reyes Querales got the loss after just 2/3 innings of play to begin the game with four walks.

Lin Chin-Tse opened the game and threw 49 pitches with six strikeouts through 2 2/3 innings of work.

Venezuela manager Luis Bermudez declined to attend the post-game press conference after Wednesday's loss.

Starting at /week.