Japan powers past Texas for LLWS title

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Tsubasa Tomii buckled down after allowing two first-inning home runs and Japan hit three homers in the fourth and won the Little League World Series title with a 12-2 victory over Lufkin, Texas, on Sunday.

Keitaro Miyahara laced a two-run triple with two outs in the second to tie it at 2, and hit a solo shot in the fourth after fouling a ball off his foot earlier in the at-bat. Daisuke Hashimoto and Natsuki Yajima also homered in the fourth.

Tomii cruised through the final four innings and finished with nine strikeouts.

“We were thrilled after we won the Japanese region before we came here,” Miyahara said through an interpreter. “But now getting to this level and becoming the Little League World Series champions this year, it can’t get any better than this.”

After starter Chip Buchanan was pulled in the fourth inning, Lufkin had trouble getting outs and the game was stopped in the fifth inning after Japan went ahead by 10 on Yajima’s single to right field to score Seiya Arai.

The title marks the 11th time a team from Japan has won the Little League World Series, five of which have come in the last eight years. Tokyo Kitasuna, the club representing Japan this season, has won three of the last six.

Japan had allowed only one run in the tournament heading into Sunday’s game, but that changed when Chandler Spencer crushed the first pitch over the left-center field fence.

Hunter Ditsworth cracked an opposite-field homer down the right-field line to put Lufkin up 2-0 with one out in the first. Those were the only runs they produced.

“Just like I told them, I’ll take full credit for that,” Lufkin manager Bud Maddux said of the loss. “We didn’t make some adjustments that we should have. You can’t hang your head because [Japan] beat you. They’re a great baseball team, but we are, too.”

Mexico defeated North Carolina 14-8 in the third-place game.