It is no secret that baseball is not a major sport in Italy, so to see a team from Emilia, Italy qualify for the Little League World Series could be a big step in the right direction for the sport.
However, it took just two games for the Italians to be eliminated from the tournament. After getting defeated by Australia on Thursday 3-1, they were defeated by Mexico 12-7 on Saturday.
Europe-Africa is now eliminated from the tournament, but will play the loser of the match between Southeast and New England in a consolation game. Mexico stays alive, and will face the loser of the game between Canada and Asia-Pacific.
Big offensive day for Mexico
On the mound for Italy was Tommaso Adorni, hoping to give his team a shot at advancing to the next round. He started off strong, as he retired the Mexicans in order in the first inning. However, in the second, Adorni threw many pitches, but it could have been a lot worse. Victor Juarez and Jose Manuel Miranda tallied back-to-back singles with one away, and each advanced a base with two away following an Eduardo Gael Garcia walk. Mexico tacked on their first run of the day as Antonio Lopez got hit with the bases loaded, but Adorni got Fabian Alejandro Mar to groundout to avoid any more danger.
Mexico started off the third inning with a bang, as Gael Isaac Cortez homered to kick off the inning. Adorni departed after another walk, going just 2.1 innings yielding three hits and two runs. They also scored two more in the fourth, as Alejandro Mar tripled home a run and scored on a passed ball with one away.
But in the sixth inning, the team from San Nicolas, Mexico pulled away. They scored eight runs in the inning, the highest amount any team has scored in an inning so far in the tournament. It all started with Gael Isaac Cortez again, as he sent his second home run of the game over the wall to make it a 6-1 game. Juarez, Gael Garcia, Alejandro Mar, and Jose Angel Leal all had RBIs in the inning.
Europe-Africa scores six in the sixth, but it's not enough
Angel Leal took the mound for Mexico and pitched great in the 2.2 innings he pitched. He kept Italy scoreless, allowing just two hits. He also struck out five of the eight hitters he retired.
Isaac Cortez took over, hoping to protect a 2-0 lead. Italy scored their first run of the day in the fourth, as Samuele Gamberini came across to score on an error by the shortstop Victor Juarez.
Europe-Africa got their offense going in the sixth, but it was far too late. Trailing 12-1, they scored six in the inning but suffered a 12-7 defeat. Federico Tiburtini, Tommaso Ghidoni, Gabriele Persici, Alessandro Ercolani, and Tommaso Adorni all had RBIs for the Italians.