2 ILLAM teams in Little League World Series semis

MANILA, Philippines - The International Little League Association of Manila continued to carry the fight for the Philippines in the 2009 World Series yesterday when it sent two teams to the semifinals of their respective divisions in different venues in the US.

Coming off big wins over teams from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania (4-3) and Utah (18-1), the ILLAM Junior League team continued to make heads turn following a 9-6 win over Italy at the Everest Park in Kirkland, Washington.

With a 3-0 record, the ILLAM Junior League squad safely advanced to the next round of the 13-14 years old division.

Up next for the team, the first RP team to reach the Junior League semis in the last three years, is Elyria, Ohio of US Central, which also remained unbeaten.

The ILLAM Juniors rattled off five runs in the opening inning but suddenly turned cold and yielded six runs in the third and fourth innings.

In the Senior League (15-16), ILLAM had another brush with defeat but had enough steam left to beat Canada, 5-4, to make it to the semifinals at the Shawn Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, Maine.

The ILLAM Senior League batters became the first Asia-Pacific team to make it to the semis in recent years.

Canada staged a late rally but was turned down in the end by the ILLAM team that came from behind to post a 4-3 win over South Carolina the other day.

The ILLAM Seniors got off to a very slow start, and broke the ice only in the sixth inning when Jose San Juan hit a grounder that scored Niklas Sarda and Charles Catangui. They went up 3-0 courtesy of Vincent Ching.