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Kian Sandhu faced a tough situation. Seoul, South Korea had bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning trailing four runs. The Asia-Pacific Regional champions were hoping for a spark, but Sandhu had other plans.
Sandhu delivered a huge strikeout to end the game and keep Canada's summer going at the Little League World Series. Canada beat South Korea, 5-1, to advance to today's elimination game to face Tokyo, Japan in an elimination game at 3 p.m.
"Base loaded two outs and I was like if I'm gonna strike this guy out, I'm gonna go crazy," Sandhu said with a smile. "I don't think anyone thought we were gonna win this. We were extreme underdogs."
"Kian knows he has tendency to get batters on base and then strikes everyone out. He has a flair for dramatics," Canada manager Brad Dorwart said with a laugh.
Canada struck early in the top of the first inning thanks to a string of five consecutive singles from Jason Mezzarobba, Felix Hoyano, Cruz Krpan, Sha Hassko and Sandhu. Those singles, couple with an error, helped Canada jump out to a fast 4-0 lead and put pressure right away on South Korea.
Canada added another run in the top of the second inning.
Jean Ramos had a leadoff single to reach before an error allowed Connor Matsuda to reach. Two fielder's choices put two outs on the board, but the second fielder's choice -- by Mezzarobba -- drove in Ramos and made it a fast 5-0 lead.
South Korea's only run came in the bottom of the second. Ha Jun Ju reached after being hit by a pitch and then scored on an error to cut the deficit to 5-1. But that would be the closest South Korea came to rallying back as the Asia-Pacific Regional champions were held to just two hits the final three innings. One of whch was a double by i Wan Kim in the sixth, but he was stranded at third base and couldn't score.
"In the first inning we kind of struggled. We got better as it went on, but it was not good," South Korea assistant Jung Hwan Yoon said. "The pitcher for Canada pitched really well and the batters struggled on his pitches. His breaking balls were really good."
This is the first Canada team since 1998 to win three games at the Little League World Series and Canada hopes to keep its momentum going today against Japan at Volunteer Stadium.