SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — After Teraj Alexander guided his Florida team to a berth in the Little League World Series semifinals, he was asked about a rematch on Saturday with Texas, the only team to defeat the Southeast region representative.
“Time for revenge,” Teraj said.
Maybe — but it won’t be easy. Texas is unbeaten and has looked good getting there.
In the international semifinal, to be played earlier Saturday, Taiwan will face Venezuela. Taiwan has scored 32 runs in four games, all wins.
Teraj made his first tournament appearance on the mound in Thursday’s elimination game against Nevada, notching five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings and earning credit for Florida’s 6-3 win.
Manager Jonathan Anderson previously hinted at Teraj’s two-way ability; Teraj leads the team in tournament batting average at .400 and has struck out only once.
“Teraj filled up the zone,” Anderson said. “He’s got that funky delivery — I think it’s something different.”
Teraj was one of three Florida pitchers to play Thursday, when Lanthan Norton started the game and J.J. Feliciano relieved Teraj. Overall, seven pitchers have taken the mound for Florida in the LLWS. They’ve combined for a 1.88 ERA.
Since Monday, Florida has played in four straight games, winning them all.
Now, the focus shifts back to Texas. In that loss, Florida, which is based out of Lake Mary, a city in the Orlando metropolitan area, couldn’t get its bats alive as Texas pitcher Julian Hurst punched out 10 batters and threw a complete game.
“We’re ready to get Julian again and see what we can do,” Anderson said.
After Texas’ win over Florida, 71.79% of Julian’s pitches were strikes — a mark he announced as his all-time high.
“I just keep focusing on strikes,” Julian said.
In total, Julian has pitched 10 innings and accumulated 20 strikeouts. He didn’t pitch in Wednesday’s contest but still scored two of his club’s five runs in a 5-2 victory over Nevada.
Texas, the Southwest region representative hailing from Boerne, near San Antonio, goes into Saturday well-rested as the bunch went 3-0 and hasn’t played any back-to-back games. It’s also a deep team, with a team batting average of .324.
On the international side of the bracket, Taiwan represents the Asia-Pacific region and has had little trouble with the competition. A championship would be particularly meaningful for Taiwan: The same club finished third last season in the tournament, though all the players are new, while the nation hasn’t had an LLWS championship since 1996 after dominating for three decades.
In its first three games, Taiwan scored eight, 11, and 10 runs. Also, there’s this — the team has notched two shutouts, boasting two pitchers with double-digit strikeouts through the tournament.
Lai Cheng-Xi is the leader, with 19 strikeouts, while Ciou Shi-Kai has 10.
Venezuela powered its way back for vengeance on Japan after losing its second game of the tournament to the Japanese team, 2-1.
The Taoyuan City-based Taiwan squad will be forced to contain Willian’s Mora, who has four doubles and five runs on a .600 batting average.
The Barquisimeto, Venezuela, bunch also can make all the pitching moves it wants, having five pitchers with at least three innings pitched in the LLWS.
The semifinal winners play Sunday afternoon for the tournament championship.
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Avery Hill is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.