!http://littleleagueworldseries.active.com/Assets/Baseball/final150.jpg|style=padding:10px;|align=left|src=http://littleleagueworldseries.active.com/Assets/Baseball/final150.jpg!For more cool stuff on the Little League World Series check out Active's The Road to Williamsport special section.

Every kid dreams of winning the World Series with a walk-off home run. Georgia slugger Dalton Carriker got the chance to do it at the Little League World Series.

With a dramatic opposite-field blast in the bottom of the eighth inning, Carriker led his Warner Robins Little League team to an improbable 3-2 win over Tokyo Kitasuna to claim a second straight Little League World Series title for the state of Georgia.

The loose and carefree team from Macon came into the tournament as a heavy underdog. Having already defeated tournament powerhouses Lubbock Western and Chandler National, Georgia employed the same formula that got them through the tournament in their championship final win over Japan--stick around long enough and something just might happen.

"We went into this the same as game one," said Warner Robins manager Mickey Lay. "Go out, have fun, hit the ball and run the bases. Hopefully everything would work out and it did today."

Despite the fact that most of Georgia's home runs in the tournament were to right field, Japan's strategy was to pound the ball on the outside corner and make the Georgia hitters chase. And it worked... for seven innings. But in the bottom of the eighth, with the score tied 2-2, Japan's Junsho Kiuchi threw an off-speed speed pitch to Carriker that caught too much of the plate.

"I was looking for a fastball but he threw me a curveball," said Carriker. "I just kept my weight back and drove it to right field. Right off the bat I pretty much knew it was out of there."

Overcome with emotion, Carriker almost didn't make it to home plate during his home run trot.

"Around the bases I was thinking I just hit a walkoff home run to win the Little League World Series," said Carriker. "And I almost fainted right there."

Still, there would have been no end-of-the-game heroics without the stellar pitching of Kendall Scott. With a devastating curveball that danced around the plate, Scott allowed just one hit over 5 2/3 while striking out 10. Though not for a lack of effort on the part of Japan to rattle Scott.

"I think they (Japan) were trying to intimidate me by screaming or something," said Scott. "So I gave them a dead look and threw the ball and they just couldn't hit it."

Any gamesmanship on the part of Japan was quickly forgotten as Georgia players helped console players from Japan who were in obvious emotional distress at the conclusion of the game.

"We knew the Japanese team pretty well," said Carriker. "They're some of the nicest kids you'll ever meet. Just seeing them fall down and cry, you just couldn't let them do that. You just had to pick them up."

A sentiment that Carl E. Stotzthe man who created Little League some 70 years ago in the small town of Williamsport, Pennsylvaniawould certainly have approved of.

Three is the Magic Number

Maybe Warner Robins manager Mickey Lay is right. There is something in the water down in Georgia.

Three teams from Georgia have reached the Little League World Series and each time that team has gone on to win the title. In addition to last year's winner Columbus Northern Little League, National Little League from East Marietta beat the Dominican Republic in 1983 3-1 to give the Peach State its first Little League champion.

This year's victory puts Georgia fifth among U.S. states for most Little League World Series championships, just ahead of New York and Texas who have two a piece. California is still the leader with five Little League World Series titles--the last being Sean Burroughs' Long Beach team in 1993.

For more cool stuff on the Little League World Series check out Active's The Road to Williamsport special section.

Tokyo Kitasuna Little League manager Youichi Kubo doesn't know many words in English--but "unbelievable" is definitely one of them.

After Ryo Kanekubo's walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning in a 7-4 victory over Pabao (Curacao) Little League, Kubo was eagerly showing off his foreign-language skills as his shortstop rounded the bases.

"I believed in him," said Kubo through a translator. "I didn't think he'd hit a grand slam, but I believed in him. Unbelievable!"

For Japan it was the second straight game they've won with a walkoff home run. The day before Junsho Kiuchi sent home Chinese-Taipei with a dramatic 10th inning home run.

Kanekubo  made an unlikely hero in the international finalhe had struggled recently to  adjust to the high amount of curveballs thrown at himbut a little tinkering  with his swing seems to have paid off.

"I missed the ball on several chances the last three days," said Kyle Kanekubo. "The manager told me not to open my hip and legs when I start to swing. Very good advice."

Japan didn't figure to bash their way into the Little League World Series final. Early scouting reports on the team described them as a fundamentally-sound squad with outstanding pitching, if a bit undersized and lacking that big power bat. But Kubo believes his team is a resilient group that makes them very difficult to put away at the end.

"The slogan for this team is ' Never give up,'" said Kubo. "Even as Kanekubo was getting ready for his final at-bat, he was saying, "We can win."

Japanese ace Ryo Ogawa, who kept the game close with four runs allowed over 5 2/3, delivered the understatement of the tournament.

"The mood on the team bench is very nice," said Ogawa.

It should be. Tokyo Kitasuna is just one victory away from becoming the seventh Japanese team to claim the Little League World Series title, and the first since Musashi Fuchu Little League in 2003. Does Kubo, a proponent of spontaneous practice sessions, have anything planned in preparation of Little League World Series final matchup against the U.S. Representative, Warner Robins (Ga.) Little League?

"Nothing special," said Kubo. "We just want to have a good game."

Knowing Tokyo Kitasuna's flair for the dramatic that's exactly what were going to get.

Maybe He  Was Looking for a Point Guard

You might have noticed, if you were watching the games on ABC today, a certain Texas Tech basketball by the name of Bobby Knight hanging out near the press box. I'm sure Bobby never likes being quite that close to reporters, but he was a good sport and talked glowingly of Lubbock Western Little League.

"They've done the state proud," said Knight. "I just love coming up here."

No word on whether Knight found any early recruits for his Texas Tech frontcourt.

For more cool stuff on the Little League World Series check out Active's The Road to Williamsport special section. 

Some call it momentum. Others call it luck. Lubbock Western (Texas) Little League manager Ed Thorne calls it "Texas mojo."

"We rarely go against the mojo," said Thorne. "We try to repeat things when things are going well and it's worked."

It certainly has. The team's 8-2 victory over Lake Oswego (Ore.) in the Little League World Series U.S. semifinal marked its 20th straight win since the all-star team was formed nearly two months ago. During their undefeated run, the West Texas squad has dominated every level of tournament play, with not a single team coming within three runs.

The formula is quite simple: give the ball to staff ace Garrett Williams and wait for a three-run home run. That's why Thorne brought in Williams, the hottest pitcher in Williamsport, with two runners on in the second inning to snuff out an early Lake Oswego rally.

"I knew we were going to get a smoke fire from Oregon," said Thorne. "With Garrett we have the best smoke."

At first it appeared the mojo might've abandoned Lubbock Western. Williams, forced to avoid the curveball for fear of a wild pitch, was punished when pitcher Calvin Hermanson hit a fastball down the left-field line to drive in two. For Williams, who struck out 17 in his last appearance, it was a bit of a wake-up call.

"I just had to focus a little more and put the ball in the strike zone," said Williams. "If I did that. I knew they couldn't hit it."

As for the three-run dinger that put Lubbock Western up for good, those duties belonged to Bryndan Arredondo and Taylor Bridges. No one was quite sure who was more excited--the 12 year-olds who knocked the ball over the fence or their manager/first base coach, Thorne, who excitedly ran down the line with them.

"The most miraculous thing I get to do is watch these kids launch from first base," said Thorne. "It's a great view. They're amazing."

With the victory, Lubbock Western clinched a matchup with the winner of the Arizona/Georgia game in the U.S. final on Saturday--putting them just two wins away from a Little League World Series championship title.

For now, the team from the Lone Star State will continue to step over the baseline, take infield practice in the same order and try to eat the same pizza and hot dogs they have all week. You don't mess with something as powerful as "Texas Mojo."

For more cool stuff on the Little League World Series check out Active's The Road to Williamsport special section. </em></b>

Not even three inches of torrential rainand an 18-hour game delaycould stop Dalton Carriker from leading his Warner Robins (Ga.) Little League team to the United States semifinal at the Little League World Series.

With a devastating fastball that reached the upper 60's and a curveball that kept Walpole (Mass.) Little League hitters off balance, Carriker pitched four- plus strong innings in an 8-1 win over the New England champion--leaving Warner Robins just two victories away from the Little League World Series championship game.

But Carriker didn't just dominate on the mound. He chipped in an opposite field home run in the second inning and made some astounding defensive plays that caught the notice of Walpole manager Brian Oberacker.

"He did everything," said Oberacker. "He made two or three plays up the middle that would've been singles any other day. He hit the ball out. We didn't have an answer for him."

Even Carriker admitted feeling jubilant as he ran the bases after his dinger.

"It's a great feeling knowing no one was going to catch that one," said Carriker. "Seeing those little kids in the outfield trying to catch it. That's really cool."

Most of the offensive damage, including a two- RBI single from Payton Purvis, was done by hitters using the whole field. A philosophy Warner Robins manager Mickey Lay has stressed to his players throughout the tournament.

"Part of our discipline is to hit the ball hard and close off the strong side so we can stay back on the ball," said Lay. "That's what we try to focus on. For the most part, everybody hit really well today."

"Those fences are a long way away"

How big of a part did the numerous delays play in Walpole's tournament performance? Oberacker wouldn't say. He did admit, "It's hard to keep 12 and 13 year- olds concentrated on the game with a break in the action like that."

Still the distance of the fences at the Little League World Seriesmoved to 220 feet two years agomight have had more to do with silencing an offense that came into the tournament slugging at an enormous rate.

"We were a power hitting team when the fences were at 200 in district," Oberacker said. "We' re a little undersized and it really shows here at the Little League World Series."

For Oberacker the only regret was how some supporters of Warner Robins conducted themselves in the stands. An ESPN microphone caught Oberacker referring to a certain "clown" making comments from the Georgia rooting section.

"Anytime you get a bunch of people together, there's always one in the crowd," said Oberacker, reluctant to broach the topic. "Today there was that one. I won't comment on on it any further."

The Mighty Underdog

Warner Robins was not a favorite to win the Georgia state championship--let alone make it to the Little League World Series. But now the loose and carefree team from Georgia, whose main focus seemed to be the dormitory pillow fights they exchange with the team from Mexico on a daily basis, is now on the verge of allowing their home state to boast back-to-back Little League World Series champions.

"At the start of the regular season, nobody thought this all-star team was going to be anything," said Carriker. "We showed them we could pull it out."