Louisville Will Face Japanese Team for Championship

Zach Osborne pitched unbeaten Louisville, Ky., into the championship game of the Little League World Series. Next up is a Japanese team that also has a perfect record.

Osborne struck out 11 and had an RBI double in Louisville’s 4-0 victory over Worcester, Mass., in the U.S. championship Saturday night to set up tonight’s finale against undefeated Sendai, Japan.

“Awesome job,” Worcester Manager Fran Granger said of Osborne. “He kept us off balance all night and kept hitting the corners--probably one of the best pitching performances of the series.”

Osborne’s shot to center field scored the first of Louisville’s four runs in the third inning.

“It was a curveball, and I just waited on it and came around on it,” Osborne said of the double, his first of two hits.

Alex Hornbeck, who reached base when catcher Ryan Griffin obstructed his path after a bunt, came home on Aaron Alvey’s sacrifice fly to left field, and Ethan Henry added a two-run homer to right to complete the scoring.

Louisville, the first Kentucky team to reach the title game, was 5-0 in U.S. play. Sendai, also 5-0, beat Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, 4-1 on Saturday in the international final.

Osborne (3-0) had at least two strikeouts in each inning except the fifth, when the first two batters grounded out to the pitcher. He gave up two hits and one walk, and no Worcester runner made it past first base. “I know he had 11 strikeouts, and he had four assists on the mound. They kept hitting to him,” said Louisville Manager J. Troy Osborne, the pitcher’s father. “I think we kept them off balance enough that they kept hitting the ball into the ground instead of hitting it into the air.”