Ohio and Japan met Sunday morning in the Little League World Series Consolation Third Place Game, a matchup that settled third place after both teams were knocked out of the title path. The game was scheduled for a 10 a.m. first pitch and aired live on.
For readers checking Llws scores, this was the last stop of a tournament run that had already turned both teams into familiar names. Ohio reached the game after a 12-2 loss to Nevada in five innings in the U.S. Championship, while Japan arrived after a 4-0 loss to Curaçao in the International Final.
The placement game existed because both sides had already reached the final stage on their respective brackets and then lost. In the Little League World Series format, that sends the two championship-game losers into a consolation third-place game, giving them one final matchup instead of ending the tournament on the losses that stopped their title hopes.
That made Ohio’s path harder to miss. Hamilton West Side had been one of the tournament’s most productive teams, scoring 44 runs before the U.S. Finals and rolling through five elimination games in a row with wins over New England, Texas, New Jersey, Alabama and Iowa. But the offense that had powered that run could not carry through Nevada, and the 12-2 defeat ended Ohio’s bid for the U.S. title before Sunday’s final game.
Japan’s route was just as long and just as sharp. After opening the tournament with a loss to eventual champion Curaçao, it won five straight games over the Caribbean Region, Europe-Africa, Mexico, Canada and Latin America before Curaçao shut it out 4-0 in the International Final. The consolation game gave Japan a chance to close with something better than the scoreline that knocked it out of the international championship.
What remained unresolved was the final result of Ohio against Japan, the one score that would decide which team left Williamsport, Pa. with third place and which one finished one step lower. For a tournament that had already asked both teams to travel through two brackets, that last number was the one that mattered most.
