SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Tivon Faneyte took a starring role, pitching five innings of hitless relief and adding an RBI single to help Willemstad, Curacao, shut out Yona, Guam, 3-0 to advance to the international semifinals. Guam was eliminated.
Curacao’s opponent today is Tokyo, which won a wild 5-4 game in seven innings over Maracaibo, Venezuela. Mexico and Venezuela will play in the other international semifinal on Thursday.
Hagerstown, Md., beat Lake Charles, La., 6-4 but still got eliminated Tuesday night. Louisiana and Washington advanced on tiebreakers after matching Maryland with 2-1 records in Pool A.
Maryland outfielder Mark Grunberg, who made a spectacular catch in the first to save a hit, isn’t ready to let his summer end. School starts for him today.
Is he ready to go back? “No,” he said with wide grin. “It’s still baseball season.”
Washington plays Hawaii in one U.S. semifinal tonight, with Louisiana and Florida playing the other semifinal Thursday.
Yutaka Takeshita’s sacrifice fly in the two-run seventh proved to be the decisive run in Japan’s win. Venezuela had chances to tie or win late in this back-and-forth game but fell short on the basepaths.
Aroldo Sanchez homered in the bottom of the seventh to close the lead to 5-4, but the potential tying run was later thrown out at the plate.
Venezuela’s apparent winning run in the bottom of the sixth was disallowed after an umpire ruled that runner Jesus Tremont had left second base before the pitch crossed the plate, which is against Little League rules.
Faneyte thought he could have been better despite striking out nine.
“I know I didn’t give up a hit, but I did not have 100 percent control of my (pitches) so I’m not satisfied,” Faneyte said through interpreter Alecto Nicholaas.
White Rock, B.C., scored five runs in the fifth to rally past Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 7-5.
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