Little League World Series 2016: Saturday Scores, Bracket Results and Highlights

Saturday marked the first slate of elimination games at the 2016 Little League World Series. The annual showcase is contested under a modified double-elimination format, and the third day of play in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, featured teams that were attempting to fight back from the brink.The most surprising club on the schedule was Japan, which suffered a 10-4 loss to Canada on Friday, It was the nation's first opening-round defeat since 1965, per ESPN Stats and Info. Japan has also won four of the tournament's last six overall titles.So let's check out all of the important information for Saturday's games, which will get updated through the conclusion of play. That's followed by a recap of the action. Saturday's Schedule and ResultsMexico vs. Europe-AfricaMexico (San Nicolas Little League) built a 4-0 lead and eventually posted a five-run victory over Europe-Africa (Emilia Little League; Italy) to keep its LLWS hopes alive.The Mexican pitching staff shined across the first five innings. Jose Angel Leal, Gael Isaac Cortez and Milton Gonzalez combined to give up no earned runs and strike out eight batters in those frames. Italy did put together a rally in the sixth, but it wasn't enough to complete a miracle comeback.Cortez also paced the Mexico offense with a pair of homers, including a tape-measure shot to left-center field in the top of the sixth to help put the contest out of reach. In all, it was one of the top individual performances of the tournament to date.Ben Brigandi of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette noted Cortez's second homer would have soared for a while if it hadn't hit the scoreboard:Samuele Gamberini had a terrific day at the plate for Italy, picking up hits in all three of his at-bats and scoring a pair of runs. His team is eliminated from title contention after the loss, however.Looking ahead, Mexico's back is still against the wall after the opening loss to Latin America, which leaves no further margin for error. That said, the team's all-around effort Saturday showed it's still a threat capable of making some noise in the coming days. All game statistics courtesy of the tournament's official site.
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