Southeast vs. West: Little League World Series US Championship Preview

Southeast champion Goodlettsville, Tenn. and West champion Petaluma, Calif. will cross paths for the second time in the Little League World Series, this time battling for the United States championship.

The winner will move on to the last game of the tournament. Whoever emerges from the U.S. title games will play the winner of Japan and Latin America's contest in the LLWS championship.

The West enter into this upcoming game after blowing out Southwest thanks to an offensive outburst, scoring 11 runs and allowing just one for its opponent.

Southeast also advanced to the U.S. championship game by defeating Southwest, but it was a much closer affair. The team from Goodlettsville pulled out a tight victory by a score of 4-3.

Southeast manager Joey Hale chatted with Tom Robinson of The Tennessean about the the upcoming championship game, saying:

"

At this level, you’ve got to do everything the best you can on every single play because the game is going to be so tight.  [West] is such a good hitting team — the best hitting team we’ve faced to date.

"

Both teams have shown the ability to put plenty of runs on the scoreboard, but Southeast hasn't posted more than four runs since Game 14 where it scored nine in the 9-6 victory over West. The Petaluma based team has scored 21 runs in its last three games.

West manager Eric Smith spoke with George Thompson of LittleLeague.org about the team's recent ability to put runs on the score board, explaining that since losing to Southeast earlier on, "[the team's] approach has been a lot better at the plate."

Southeast will need to find its previous mojo that led to 21 runs combined against West and its first LLWS tournament opponent, Midwest.

Overall, this game is going to come down to who scores more, with West having the most recent success in that department. With West having a great deal of momentum and displaying plenty of firepower in recent games, this contest should result in a U.S. championship for this team.

Prediction: West 6, Southeast 4