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Korea won’t get to face Mo’ne Davis, gets LLWS rematch with Japan instead

August 21, 2014

Korean fans won’t get to see Mo’ne Davis go up against their team. (AP)

By Lee Kyutae

South Korea won’t get a chance to face America’s newest sensation Mo’ne Davis, but they will be going up against Japan for the second time in four days on Saturday (9:30 a.m. PT, ABC-TV).

Davis, the biggest star of this year’s Little League World Series (LLWS) as she became the first girl to pitch a shutout in the tournament’s 68-year history, and her Pennsylvania squad (representing Mid-Atlantic region) got eliminated on Thursday as they fell to Illinois (Great Lakes) 6-5. Davis is the 13-year-old girl on this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated.

The team from Chicago advances to the U.S. final to play Las Vegas (West), but they have a tall order to fill as they got dominated the first time around 13-2 last Sunday. The game ends by the mercy rule if a team leads by 10 or more runs after four innings in the LLWS, and that was the case in their first match.

Japan also won by the mercy rule earlier in the day against Mexico 12-1.

“I’m looking forward to that game,” Japanese manager Hidaka Junji said. Japan fell to South Korea 4-2 on Wednesday.

Following a 29-year absence, South Korea is looking for its third LLWS crown since winning two straight titles in 1984 and 1985.