Cutter Ricafort drove in Griffin Vargas with two outs in the bottom of the seventh for a 1-0 walk-off victory for Nevada over South Carolina in the double-elimination round of the Little League Baseball World Series on Monday in South Williamsport, Pa.
The Las Vegas team, representing the Mountain region, opened its half of the inning with Mason Schutte the automatic runner on second base. After one out, Vargas grounded into a fielder’s choice as Schutte was eliminated at third. Jayden Lee’s line-drive single to left moved Vargas to second, setting up Ricafort’s heroics. His grounded single to right field was misplayed by Ryder Tillitz and Vargas sped home.
Garrett Gallegos started for Nevada and allowed five hits in 5 1/3 innings, throwing 58 of 85 pitches for strikes and fanning 12 batters. Luke D’Ambrosio earned the win in relief, going 1 2/3 innings with one walk and four strikeouts.
Irmo, S.C., representing the Southeast, allowed only two hits and one walk. Starter Joe Giulietti threw 63 of his 88 pitches for strikes to fan 12 batters and yielded only a walk in six scoreless innings. Brady Westbrooks pitched the seventh and took the loss.
Venezuela 4, Japan 0
Juan Reyes pitched a complete-game three-hitter as the Latin America representatives shut out their opponents from Tokyo.
The club from Barquisimeto opened the game with three consecutive singles by Sebastian Lopez, Argenis Villaneuva and Jesus Gomez to load the bases. One out later, two runs scored on a fielder’s choice and error by the third baseman on the same play. The lead was 4-0 in the top of the third inning when Reyes’ single scored Andres Reyes Querales and Gomez’s sacrifice fly brought home Reyes.
Reyes pitched all six innings for the win, allowing three hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Villaneuva had two of the team’s seven hits.
Japan used four pitchers, with starter Tensei Yazawa taking the loss after yielding three runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings. Japan faces Mexico on Tuesday afternoon.
Taiwan 4, Aruba 0
Yu-Han Lai hit a two-run single, three pitchers combined on a three-hitter and the Asia-Pacific representatives blanked the Caribbean team Santa Cruz, Aruba.
Wei-Heng Liu struck out 11 batters while scattering three hits in 4 2/3 innings. Chin-Tse Lin got the final out of the fifth and Qi-Sheng Chen pitched a spotless sixth to shut down Aruba.
Liam Pena Caraballo had a walk and a hit while Emerson Mercado supplied a double for Aruba, but they couldn’t come around to score. Starter Jayderick Wederfoor took the loss after giving up four runs (three earned) on two hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.
