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NY Defeats Tennessee in Little League US Final

NY Defeats Tennessee in Little League US Final
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By The Associated Press
Aug. 27, 2016 | SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA
By The Associated Press Aug. 27, 2016 | 07:35 PM | SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA
Michael Mancini struck out 11 to lead Endwell, New York to a 4-2 victory over Goodlettsville, Tennessee, in the U.S. final of the Little League World Series on Saturday.

The Mid-Atlantic champs will try to win their first title against international winner South Korea on Sunday. South Korea beat Panama 7-2 in the international final.

Tennessee manager Joey Hale praised his players' approach while acknowledging his hitters struggled to find Mancini's elusive curve ball for much of the game.

Jon Luke Simmons broke up Mancini's no-hit bid in the top of the fifth. After Mancini got his 11th strikeout one batter later, Rush opted to replace him with Abbadessa.

"He doesn't make mistakes," Hale said. "He's truly polished. Most kids at this age have good breaking balls but they don't always throw them where they should be thrown. If you watch, man, every ball that crossed the plate was down below the knees. That's just the mark of a great pitcher."

New York players said they knew they had a great team as soon as they reconvened earlier this summer. Over half the roster returned from last season when New York fell to eventual World Series runner-up Red Land in the Mid-Atlantic Region final.

"From there on, I pretty much knew we were going to go a long way," Hopko said. "Just like last year, we played well in regionals but this year we came out on top and this game today, I don't really know how to describe it. It was a long road and we made it where we wanted to."

Returning to the regional championship this season, Abbadessa notched the final out from the mound. He did so again on Saturday but not before Tennessee made it interesting. His team's final hope, Zach McWilliams gave Tennessee life with a two-run homer off Jude Abbadessa in the top of the sixth.

McWilliams' blast halved New York's lead, but Abbadessa struck out Carson Rucker to end the game.

"It was one inning," Hale said. "Their inning was better than our inning. I'm just proud of them, second in the United States and to go through what we went through, awesome."

 

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