Little League World Series 2013: Analyzing Thursday's Championship Semifinals

Two championship semifinals in the 2013 Little League World Series will be contested on Thursday, and the winner of these elimination showdowns will go on to their respective finals, just one step away from playing for the overall crown.

At 4 p.m. ET on ESPN, the Latin American club from Aguadulce, Panama, takes on Mexico's Tijuana squad, whose bats were uncharacteristically held in check by reigning champion nation Japan in Round 3.

To cap off the evening, beginning at 8 p.m. the Northwest's Sammamish, Wash. takes on Westport, Conn. in the U.S. semifinals. This will be a rematch of last Sunday's game, which the New England team won 9-7.

Below is a more detailed analysis of each game, along with predictions as to who will advance to their respective championships and to the cusp of the World Series.

Note: Statistics and results are courtesy of LittleLeague.org.

Latin America vs. Mexico

The Tijuana team had beaten the previous two opponents by a combined score of 25-0 before losing 5-2 to Japan on Wednesday.

Thankfully, the latter of the two foes Mexico blew out was Latin America, which gives the team a great chance of exacting redemption on the team from Tokyo in the International Championship.

It will be interesting to see how Tijuana star Ramon Mendoza bounces back from the Japan loss. He smashed two home runs the last time he faced Panama, including a grand slam, but against Japan he was tagged in the three-run fifth inning that broke a 2-2 tie and ultimately cost his side the game.

After the humiliation of getting mercy-ruled less than a week ago, Panama will look to recover with a far better performance against Mexico this time around, too.

The first meeting between these two teams met was so lopsided that it shouldn't translate to a different outcome. Mexico's bats are too potent to be quieted for two consecutive games. Look for Brandon Montes, who hit his third homer on Wednesday, and Mendoza to lead the charge and boost Mexico to a win.

Prediction: Mexico 7, Latin America 5

Northwest (Sammamish, Wash.) vs. New England (Westport, Conn.)

A seven-run second inning put New England in a commanding position, which made even Sammamish's best attempt at a rally fall short.

It's hard to count on Westport to generate that kind of breakout offensive explosion yet again, but the team had found all sorts of ways to win 20 consecutive contests this summer before the heartbreaking, nine-inning loss to Chula Vista, Calif. in the third round.

As devastating as that defeat had to be, there is plenty of positive prior experience for New England manager Tim Rogers to draw on.

The extraordinary effort by Westport was highlighted early by Matt Brown, who hit a three-run dinger off of West superstar Grant Holman:

Sammamish is a scrappy bunch who scored all six of their runs in the third inning of a 6-5 win over the Southwest—despite not hitting any home runs in that span.

These two teams know how to grind out victories with the best of them, which is why they've made it this far. An argument could be made against Westport after their exhausting epic against the Californians, but look for that close call to fuel a triumph over the more rested Northwest club.

Prediction: New England 8, Northwest 3