Little League World Series 2012: Teams in Must-Win Situations on Day 2

Day 2 of the Little League World Series is "elimination day" of the tournament. All teams who lose on Saturday will are eliminated from contention but will still play on Monday, regardless.

Today’s games feature Curacao against Germany at noon (ET), Connecticut vs. Nebraska at 3 p.m. (ET), Mexico vs. Uganda at 6 p.m. (ET) and New Jersey vs. Oregon at 8 p.m. (ET).

Curacao and Germany were both trounced in their respective opening round games on Friday. Curacao was blanked in a 7-0 shutout by Japan while Germany was routed 14-1 by Chinese Taipei in a game that was stopped in the fourth inning due to the 10-run “mercy” rule.

Oregon and Nebraska were just as futile on Friday. Oregon was shutout against Indiana, 4-0, while Nebraska was blasted 12-1.

Connecticut, Mexico and New Jersey were close but ultimately came up short in their openers. Connecticut dropped a close on to California, 6-4; Mexico was in an early shootout that settled down with Canada, losing 13-9; New Jersey could not come back to close the gap against Texas and dropped that game 5-2.

In a day of the “losers” facing off, desperation may lead to unexpected results for these youngsters. They aren’t the finely tuned mental and physical machines that the professionals pretend to be, but they do know urgency the same as you and I.

Look for another display of high scoring as all of these teams, for the most part, struggled with pitching in their opening games.

If I were a betting man, I’d bet on at least one or two upsets in today’s matchups on the diamonds of Williamsport, Pa.

Follow me on Twitter @BigHoagowski