ROCKIES: Pitcher Freeland returns to his Denver elementary school to give out backpacks with supplies

Those who had hoped to see a rematch of last week’s 11-inning thriller between Hawaii and Georgia at the Little League World Series got their wish.

The two teams will meet again Saturday, this time with a championship berth on the line. The winner of the game for the U.S. title will face the victor of Japan and South Korea on Sunday.

As Hurricane Lane nears landfall back home, Hawaii is making the most of its dream 4,000 miles away in South Williamsport. The team, which hails from Honolulu, is undefeated through three games and has outscored its opponents 20-3. Coming off of an impressive 10-0 victory over New York’s Staten Island, Hawaii has all of its pitching available and is the only team on the American side of the bracket with more than one home run.

While Georgia’s 2-0 loss to Hawaii last week has made its run to the U.S. championship game more difficult, the team from Peachtree City has reeled off three consecutive victories and is 4-1 overall. Shortstop and pitcher Tai Peete is having a tournament to remember at the plate and on the mound. Peete is batting .412 through five games and threw four shutout innings against New York on Thursday.

Georgia won’t be thrilled to learn that Hawaii’s Aukai Kea is available to pitch Saturday after throwing just 50 pitches in Hawaii’s victory over New York on Wednesday. Kea tossed 6L shutout innings against Georgia in the first matchup between the two teams, and ended the game in the 11th inning with a walk-off home run. The 13-yearold has yet to give up a run on the mound and is hitting .500 in his squad’s first three games.

South Korea faces Japan for international crown.

The international bracket final Saturday will be a rematch of the two teams that have looked the best so far on that side the tournament — Kawaguchi, the representative of defending champion Japan, and Seoul, South Korea.

The twist is that Japan, the LLWS team of the decade, may be the underdog.

On Wednesday, the two teams faced off and it was not close. Seoul won 10-0 in four innings.

Japan fell to the lower side of the double-elimination bracket, where it edged Puerto Rico 1-0 on Thursday.