The United States’ five year reign as Little League World Series Champions came to a dramatic end on Sunday, as Japan won the title in a 4-1 close out against Hawaii.
The 10 day final stretch culminated with Japan and Hawaii facing off in the championship on Sunday, Aug. 29th.

Drama arose when the Little League Aces from Japan limited Hawaii’s ability to score by allowing only four singles, after scoring 29 runs over the previous three games.
While Japan took the World Series title with a two-run homer and three runs batted in from the Aces’ Konan Tomori, making this Japan’s first championship since 2003.
Hawaii felt the strain on Sunday, after their four victories in four elimination games over four days, which ultimately led them into the Little League final. The victories left Hawaii manager, Brian Yoshii with limited options on the mound, due to the strict pitch count rules; while Japan had the advantage of both playing fewer games and possessing a deep pitching staff.

Japan’s exhibited both strong pitching and defense, leading with a 1.92 earned run average upon entering Sunday’s game.

Japan became the first international team to win the Little League World Series title since 2004 when the team from Curacao, an island in the Caribbean, won.
Shortly after the win, Japan’s players aptly returned to the mound to gather bags of dirt to take home as a token of their achievement.

After respectively shaking their opponent’s hands, Japan received a larger token to boast their victory, a banner reading, “2010 Little League World Series Champions.”
The Japan players finished the tournament with a seamless 5-0 record.