California in Little League title game

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- A rematch with Billings, Mont., turned into a comfortable win for the Little Leaguers from California.

The reward for the boys from Huntington Beach? A picture at the pitcher's mound with the U.S. championship banner and a berth in the World Series title game today against Hamamatsu City, Japan.

Starting pitcher Nick Pratto struck out 10 and had three RBIs at the plate, and California built an early three-run lead to cruise to an 11-2 victory over Billings on a cloudy, dreary Saturday at Lamade Stadium.

They'll return to the same field to play for the World Series crown against Japan, which took the international bracket earlier yesterday with a 5-2 win over Mexicali, Mexico. Game time was moved up three hours to noon in hopes of avoiding precipitation from Hurricane Irene, which was barreling up the East Coast.

The Hamamatsu City mashers hope to defend the title won last season by a team from Tokyo.

Three nights after losing to Montana, 1-0, California won its second straight elimination game and a rematch with the boys from Billings.

After an RBI groundout in the first, Pratto hit a two-run double in the fourth to help give California a 5-1 lead.

Montana added a run in the sixth after 13-year-old slugger Cole McKenzie's prodigious blast, a homer that landed well beyond the 225-foot fence in centerfield and on to the brown, muddy hill. But the California boys did a collective bear hug behind the mound after reliever Trevor Windisch got a force play at second to secure the game's final out.

"I don't think anybody in the Northwest expected Billings to be here. They've been our friends for a long time," said manager Jeff Pratto, Nick's father. "It's been a special ride with them. We told them maybe we'll play again somewhere in the middle, maybe Colorado."

Japan 5, Mexico 2: Starter Yoshiki Suzuki struck out seven and Kaito Suzuki scored two runs and had an RBI single.