Joe Giulietti hit a grand slam and was the winning pitcher as the team from Irmo, S.C. — representing the Southeast Region — rolled past Massachusetts 13-0 at the Little League Baseball World Series on Thursday in South Williamsport, Pa.
South Carolina took a 2-0 lead into the second and quickly doubled that advantage on a bases-loaded wild pitch and Preston Ware’s single. The next batter was Giulietti, whose home run sailed over the fence in left field.
South Carolina added five more runs in the third inning and did not need to bat in the fourth. On the mound, Giulietti pitched 3 1/3 innings of no-hit ball with eight strikeouts and three walks. Brody Miller gave up one hit while finishing the fourth inning.
Colman Gouthro had the only hit for the team from Braintree, Mass. He was also their starting pitcher and gave up seven runs in 1 1/3 innings of work.
Japan 12, Czech Republic 0 (4 innings)
Kensei Takeuchi, Ritsugu Furusato and Tensei Yazawa held the team from Brno, Czech Republic without a hit as Tokyo ran away with a run-rule rout.
Takeuchi faced seven batters and struck out six of them. Furusato finished the third inning and Yazawa came in for the fourth, yielding the only Czech baserunner on a walk.
Offensively, Yushi Yamamoto had three RBIs, including a two-run triple, while Taisuke Someya and Taisei Suzuki each added two RBIs. Japan reached Czech starter Serafym Ustinov for nine runs on seven hits in the first 1 1/3 innings of the game.
