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Twice in Tuesday's elimination game against Seoul, South Korea, the kids from Little Mountain Little League in Vancouver, British Columbia saw a tough situation unfold.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Do Yoon Kim, Hyun Been Han and Rio Gil all reached and loaded the bases with just one out in a game where they trailed by four runs.
Canada pitcher Kian Sandhu didn't panic. He struck out Ha Jun Ju and then induced a grounder to himself for the third out on an easy throw to first to get out of the jam.
Two innings later in the bottom of the sixth inning, it was like deja vu all over again.
A leadoff double from Ji wan Kim was followed with a walk to Ji Hwan Hong. After two outs, including a strikeout, Been Han was walked and once more, Canada saw itself with a bases loaded situation with the tying runner at the plate.
Momentum can be huge, and for 11- and 12-year-old kids, sometimes the moment and situation can be too big and bad things can start snowballing.
But not for Sandhu. He once again simply performed his best. The Canada pitcher had an enormous strikeout vs. Gil and ended the game, sending Canada to another elimination game with one of the biggest wins for Canada at the Little League World Series in recent memory with the upset.
"I'm quite confident (in those bases-loaded situations). Kian has a tendency to get batters on base and then strikes everyone out. He likes flair for dramatics," Canada manager Brad Dorwart said wtih a laugh. "But one thing a lot of these boys learned is that no matter how high the pressure, there's ice water in their veins. They get calmer and calmer. They go through so many situations. They know how to adapt and go through all that and what to do in the moment to get out of this."
Canada wasn't intimidated by a strong South Korea team at Volunteer Stadium and came out strong in the first inning with five straight singles to score four runs and put South Korea on their heels early.
"People were doubting us, so we wanted to prove them wrong," Canada's Cruz Krpan said. "Even in our warmup we were jacked and getting hyped."
Canada has been underdogs since falling into the elimination bracket and many counted them out against Panama. Canada delivered.
Many counted Canada out against South Korea. Canada again delivered.
In provincials in Canada, this Little Mountain Little League team suffered a mercy-rule loss to Langley and came back to beat them in the final. It was a similar situation at the Series, falling to South Korea 7-0 in the opener before coming back to beat them.
"This game is same thing (as provincials). Everyone thinks Asia-Pacific's gonna win. If we lose, no big deal. Pressure was on them," Sandhu said. "We had nothing to lose and we played really good."
"I think South Korea thought they'd easily blow past us and they didn't have as much energy," Canada's Sha Hassko said. "Since we lost that one game, we were all fired up like 'we can beat this team' and that's what the result was."
Canada has been playing like it has nothing to lose, and it doesn't. Canada knows the pressure is on their opponents, not them, and they're stepping up in that underdog role. It's resulted in three wins for Canada this year, which is the first time a team from Canada has won three games in a Little League World Series tournament since 1998.
"It's awesome that we haven't done that since 1998," Krpan said. "We just want to win (vs. Japan) and make history and play the game that we play."
Canada has made history already this Series with its three victories -- all in a row in elimination games, mind you -- and no matter what happens the rest of the way, the team is happy to be where it's at.
"When I saw (Sandhu) smiling on the mound, that's a good sign. He's enjoying himself as he does this," Dorwart said. "Lets just give it our best effort (vs. Japan). Whatever happens, happens. I'm happy with how this whole season's gone for us."
Listen to Canada's fans in attendance during and after Little Mountain Little League plays, and you'll see how proud they are of this team as well.
Jon Gerardi is the sports editor at the Sun-Gazette. Email comments to jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter/X at @JonGerardi.