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August 22, 2002
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Zachary Osborne and Aaron Alvey, the game's record-setting pitchers, hit back-to-back home runs in the 11th inning to give Louisville, Ky., a 2-1 victory over Fort Worth, Texas, in the first U.S. semifinal at the Little League World Series on Wednesday.
It was the first game in Series history in which both starting pitchers threw no-hitters through six innings.
Alvey struck out 19 and Fort Worth starter Walker Kelly struck out 21. Both had to be replaced in the 10th because of a Little League rule that bars pitchers from pitching more than nine innings in a game.
Five pitchers combined for 49 strikeouts, the most ever in a series game. The previous record, set during the 1971 championship game between Gary, Ind., and Tainan City, Taiwan, belonged to Lloyd McClendon, now the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Mu-Hsu Chin. They combined for 34 as Tainan City won 12-3 in nine innings.
Worcester, Mass., faces Harlem, N.Y., in the second U.S. semifinal today and the winner plays Louisville on Saturday in the U.S. championship game.
Osborne hit the first pitch of the 11th from Michael Valdez (1-1) over the wall in centerfield. Alvey then hit a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left to make it 2-0.
Osborne (2-0) worked the 10th and earned the win.
Josh Robinson started the 11th for Louisville, giving up a single to Jeffrey Vander Hamm and walking Kelly. Vander Hamm reached third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error by catcher Ethan Henry. But Robinson struck out Valdez to end the game.
Because Osborne pitched just one inning, he can still pitch Saturday in the U.S. championship game.
Chris Rivera had Fort Worth's first hit, a two-out line drive to center in the bottom of the 10th.
Henry singled to left and Justin Elkins walked to put Louisville runners at first and second with one out in the 10th, but Valdez struck out one hitter and Vander Hamm made an unassisted play at first to end the inning.
Kelly gave up his first hit in the seventh, a two-out double to right by Henry. Henry reached third on a passed ball, but Kelly struck out Casey Jordan looking.
JAPAN 10, GUAM 0 (4 INNINGS): Tatsuhiko Numakura hit a two-run home run and Yoshinori Satoh struck out eight in the four-inning game as Sendai, Japan, advanced to Saturday's international championship game. Japan (4-0) will face the winner of today's semifinal between Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles and Valencia, Venezuela.
Japan scored five runs in the third to take a 6-0 lead.
Guam (2-2) had two hits and no runner advanced past first base.