Rebounding from a heartbreaking loss on Monday, Australia rode a dynamic pitching performance from Clayton Campbell to victory, holding off a late rally from the Caribbean, who were eliminated from the 2016 Little League World Series after their 2-1 defeat.
Matthew Clements and Stephen Courtney both picked up RBI for the Aussies in the thrilling victory. Danchelo Valentina took a tough-luck loss for the Caribbean, allowing just two runs over 4.1 innings, but taking the loss nonetheless, courtesy of Campbell's complete-game, fourteen-strikeout performance in the elimination game.
Australia does just enough at the plate
Their offense was by no means explosive, but the Australians did just enough to claim victory in this critical game. Their first-inning run came with a little bit of luck, as a dropped third strike extended the inning, and Clements capitalized. With runners on the corners, Clements yanked a single to left field for an early 1-0 Australia lead.
For the subsequent innings, the Australians were stymied offensively, unable to extend their miniscule advantage until the fifth inning, when non-starter Stephen Courtney came up huge. In an otherwise dismal inning in which three Australian batters went down on strikes, Courtney blasted a solo home run to right-center field for a 2-0 lead, an extra run that would prove critical in the later stages of the game. It was all they would manage offensively, but the two runs were just enough to support Campbell.
Campbell and Valentina duke it out on the mound
In a game that was all about the pitching, Campbell was just a little bit better than Valentina, as both pitchers performed admirably on Tuesday evening.
After the tough first inning, Valentina was on fire, not allowing another hit until Courtney's dinger in the fifth inning. Allowing only two baserunners, both on walks, in that span, Valentina utilized a double play, three ground-ball outs, and five strikeouts to stay out of any kind of trouble. He was pulled after the home run, but it didn't take away from an excellent performance on Valentina's part. He struck out nine overall, including a four-strikeout inning in the first frame.
However, being excellent wasn't good enough to beat Campbell on Tuesday. Campbell was dynamic on the mound, scattering just three hits, allowing one unearned run, and striking out a whopping fourteen batters on the day. His first two innings of work were hitless efforts, with only one baserunner reaching on an error. He struck out the side in the first inning and had a perfect second inning on two groundouts and a pop out. His no-hitter lasted two outs into the third inning, when he gave up a two-out single, but, once more, he ended the threat with a strikeout.
Still pitching with the thinnest of leads, Campbell stranded the potential tying run on third base in the fourth inning, after a one-out double and wild pitch put him 60 feet away from tying the game. Over the next eight pitches, Campbell recorded two strikeouts, one looking and one swinging, to end the threat without a ball being put in play and the Caribbean threat died 60 feet away from home plate. Facing the bottom of their order in the fifth inning, Campbell struck out the side on 13 pitches, bringing the Aussies within three outs of advancing.
The sixth inning was not an easy one for Campbell, who found himself in a fair amount of trouble for the first time all night. He recorded the first out via the strikeout to start the inning, but surrendered a one-out single. That runner promptly advanced to second base on a passed ball and to third base on the ensuing ground-out. The game should have ended when Campbell struck out Caribbean's cleanup hitter, but the third strike escaped his catcher, allowing the run to score and the tying run to reach first base.
A stolen base brought that tying run into scoring position, heaping even more pressure onto Campbell's shoulders. However, as he had in the few mini-jams he had been faced with, Campbell rose to the occasion, whiffing the next batter on four pitches to keep his team alive.