Tennessee beats California, 24-16, to reach Little League World Series title game

Brock Myers hit a tiebreaking double, and Goodlettsville, Tenn., gave up a 10-run lead in the bottom of the sixth before scoring nine in the seventh in a 24-16 victory Saturday over Petaluma, Calif., for a berth in the Little League World Series title game in South Williamsport, Pa.

Only California’s 10-run comeback to send the game into extra innings tied at 15 could overshadow Tennessee slugger Lorenzo Butler’s extraordinary day at the plate. Butler set a single-game record with nine runs batted in, and tied a record with three homers.

Cole Tomei had a two-run double in the sixth, and Hance Smith’s solo shot with two outs gave California an improbable 15-15 tie.

The teams combined for 35 hits in a game that lasted more than three hours.

But only Tennessee gets to move on to the title game Sunday against Japan, which hit five homers, including two from 13-year-old slugger Kotaro Kiyomiya, to beat Aguadulce, Panama, 10-2, for the international championship.

The 6-foot Kiyomiya is imposing at the plate. He’s become so known for his power that fans sitting on the hill beyond the right-field fence started holding a “Kotaro Target” sign near a bright red bull’s-eye. Kiyomiya’s first-inning homer sailed deep down the right-field line.

Edisson Gonzalez had an RBI single in the first while Daniel Castro added a run-scoring double in the second for Panama.

Etc.

Alpha and longshot Golden Ticket finished in a historic dead heat in the $1-million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in New York.

It appeared as if Golden Ticket would pull off a huge upset in the field of 11 3-year-olds. But 2-1 favorite Alpha closed strongly in the final yards and the two hit the finish line in tandem.

The photo finish sign flashed on the toteboard, and a few minutes later, the crowd roared when the dead heat sign made it official. It was the first official dead heat for win in the 143 runnings of the Travers. The 1874 Travers ended in a dead heat, but Attila was declared the official winner after a runoff with Acrobat.

Alpha paid $4.10 and 33-1 shot Golden Ticket returned $26.80 to win.

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John Isner won his second straight Winston-Salem (N.C.) title, battling through a third-set tiebreaker to beat seventh-ranked Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9).

Isner had 22 aces, but needed to overcome his own mistakes for his second win this season and fifth career title in the final hard-court tournament before the U.S. Open.

Berdych, playing in his third final this season, broke Isner’s serve in winning the first set, and had three mini-breaks in the tiebreaker, the last giving him match point at 6-5.

But Isner broke Berdych on the next point to tie the score, and later went on to win the last three points.

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Petra Kvitova beat Maria Kirilenko, 7-6 (9), 7-5, to win the New Haven Open in Connecticut, the Czech star’s second WTA tournament title in three weeks.

The second-seeded Kvitova trailed 5-2 in the second set, before reeling off five consecutive games for the victory that avenged a loss to the Russian in the Olympic quarterfinals.

Kvitova, the fifth-ranked player in the world, improved to 22-5 on hard courts this season heading into the U.S. Open. She clinched the U.S. Open series championship this week after winning her first title of the year in Montreal and reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati.

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Kansas suspended starting long snapper Justin Carnes for the first three games of the season because of a violation of team rules.

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Will Power has won the pole in Sonoma, Calif., for the third straight year, putting the IndyCar points leader in prime position to go for his third consecutive victory at the track.

Power was timed in 1 minute, 17.2709 seconds around the 2.31-mile, 12-turn layout on the south end of Northern California’s wine country.

Power’s Penske Racing teammate, Ryan Briscoe, was second in 1:17.4347, and Sebastien Bourdais was third in 1:17.7497. Helio Castroneves, who completed Penske’s podium sweep last year in Sonoma alongside Power and Briscoe, will start fourth.

Only 28 points separate the top four drivers in the points standings with three races left in the IndyCar season. Ryan Hunter-Reay trails Power by only five points, but will start in seventh Sunday.