With the start of the semifinals on Wednesday, the sixteen teams that started the 2009 Little League World Series last Saturday became only eight. Only the two top seeded teams from the four round one pools made it to the semifinals. The Little League World Series 2009 results continue to make dreams for some and break hearts for others.
The semifinals are divided into two divisions; the International and the US. The top seed of each pool plays the second seed of the other pool from round one in their division’s semifinal. The four semifinal games will be played on Wednesday and Thursday. Each day will have one game from each division.
The International semifinal game on Wednesday was between Mexico and Japan. Mexico jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Raul Rojas started the scoring for Mexico with a two-run homer. Rojas would later relieve starting pitcher Raymundo Berrones and strike out four from the mound. In the second inning, Mexico would add another run on a stolen base to home.
The real story for Mexico was the pitching of Berrones. Allowing no hits and striking out ten hitters until he had to be relieved in the fifth inning for reaching the 85 pitch rule; Berrones shut down the bats of the team from Japan. Japan only had one hit the whole game.
Mexico won with the final score of 6-0. They will face the winner of Thursday's International semifinal game between Chinese-Taipei and Curacao and play for the International Championship.
Game two on Wednesday was the first US semifinal game. San Antonio, Texas and Staten Island, NY faced off for a chance to advance to the US Championship game on Saturday.
San Antonio relied on their tough defense to secure their win over Staten Island. San Antonio pulled out to a 4-0 lead before Staten Island was able to score their only run in the third inning. Staten Island missed several opportunities to add more runs on the board. On more than one account, San Antonio completed double plays to end innings with the bases loaded with Staten Island runners.
With a 4-1 win, San Antonio will play the winner of the US semifinal game between Chula Vista, California and Warner Robins, Georgia on Thursday night. After the US semifinal game on Thursday, the Little Leagues World Series 2009 results will show who will play for the division championship on Saturday.
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