Stymied for five innings, having garnered just one hit, things looked dismal for the Panama squad heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, down 2-0 against Tennessee's best pitcher in Zach McWilliams. They hadn't had a lot of success offensively recently, scoring just seven runs in their past three games, but, quite suddenly, the Panama offense became explosive, as they knocked out three hits, turning those base knocks into three runs and walking off to claim third-place at the Little League World Series.
Leonardo Barnal, after struggling for most of the World Series, sparked Panama, touching McWilliams for two hits, including the single that sparked the sixth-inning rally for Panama. Starting pitcher Carlos Gonzalez ensured he wouldn't take the loss in the game, knotting the score at 2-2 when he blasted a two-run shot with one out, his first dinger of the World Series. Esmith Pineda hit his third blast in Williamsport to give Panama the victory.
Tennessee gets 2 runs without a hit in the first inning
Facing Gonzalez on the mound, Tennessee's strategy seemed to be to elevate the pitch count of the flame-throwing hurler for Panama. Gonzalez, who touches 80 mph, was unusually wild to start the game. He walked the first three batters, mixing in three passed balls that allowed two runs to come around to score. He settled down after that, inducing a fly out, lineout, and ground out to end the inning, down just 2-0.
McWilliams and Gonzalez settle into pitcher's duel
After a rough first inning, Gonzalez settled into a groove. He was forced to strand runners at third base in each of the next two innings, however. In the second, a leadoff walk advanced a runner to third base, but Gonzalez battled back to get two strikeouts, needing 13 pitches to secure the two whiffs, while inducing a ground-out between the K's for a scoreless second.
There was a runner on third with one out in the third inning, but, with some flashy defense, Panama erased the runner with a double play. Gonzalez got a one-hopper back to himself, and he caught the runner leaning off of third base. Running straight at him, the pitcher induced a rundown that would lead to the runner being tagged out at the plate. Meanwhile, the initial batter had rounded second, with thoughts of advancing to third base on the play. However, catcher Abel DeLeon whipped the ball to second base to catch the runner trying to scramble back for an inning-ending, rally-killing double play.
Due to an elevated pitch count, Gonzalez lasted five innings on the mound, rather than the whole game. However, the flamethrower really settled in, firing two consecutive perfect innings to end his outing, needing just 20 pitches over that span. He finished with five strikeouts, before he was replaced by Jose Torres, who earned the win by working around a leadoff single from Tyler Jones, the only Tennessee hitter to get a hit - he had two of them - on Sunday, to throw a scoreless inning.
Meanwhile, McWilliams was dealing, as he had a no-hitter through 3 innings, and he still held a shutout through five frames. A two-out walk in the first inning to Gonzalez was his only blemish through the first three innings, in which he struck out three batters. Not necessarily a strikeout pitcher, McWilliams kept the ball on the ground, inducing five groundouts in the first three frames.
He gave up a hit in the fourth inning, to a slumping Barnal, but he easily escaped the inning with a pop-out, a fly out, and a fielder's choice to end the inning. He walked a man in the fifth inning, but he struck out two batters to nullify that mini-threat. Entering the sixth inning, McWilliams was at 70 pitches, and there was no reason to think he would falter.
Panama rallies
Facing the top of the order for Panama, McWilliams got off on the right foot, striking out the leadoff man on three pitches. However, Barnal bested the right-hander again, swinging at the first pitch and dropping a single into left field. That brought up Gonzalez, who was 7-11 at the World Series to that point, but he was without a home run.
After seeing a strike, Gonzalez drove McWilliam's second offering over the center field fence to tie the game. McWilliams tried to shake it off, going up 0-2 on Pineda, who hit a 300ft home run earlier this week. However, on an 0-2 count, McWilliams left a fastball up in the zone, and Pineda crushed it, as the Tennessee outfield didn't even move, turning and watching the ball sail out of the park, giving Panama the victory in the third-place game.