West Side wins again, is 2 victories away from winning World Series

West Side won its third straight elimination game Thursday night, avenging its only loss in the process. Four days after losing 9-0 to the Torrance, Calif., it rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to win 4-2 at Lamade Stadium.

West Side will play Sioux Falls, S.D., at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Lamade in the final of the Tom Seaver Bracket. The game will air on ABC. The winner of that game will play at 3 p.m. Sunday for the Little League World Series championship.

For West Side or Sioux Falls, the opponent Sunday will be Taylor (Mich.) North Little League or Honolulu, Hi. Michigan and Hawaii play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the final of the Hank Aaron Bracket.

Against Torrance, West Side escaped a jam in the first. After a leadoff walk and then a wild pitch and groundout, Torrance had a runner at third with one out. Chance Retherford got a strikeout and flyout to end the inning.

West Side threatened in the third with singles by Krew Brown and Levi Smith, but they were stranded at first and second.

» PHOTOS: West Side vs. New Hampshire

Torrance took a 2-0 lead on back-to-back, two-out singles in the third.

In the fourth, Retherford scored on a wild pitch to get West Side on the board.

Then in the fifth, a triple down the right-field line by Retherford scored Brady Baumann and JJ Vogel to give West Side a 3-2 lead. A single by Noah Davidson scored Retherford to provide an insurance run in the same inning.

On the mound, two pitchers combined to limit Torrance to seven hits. Retherford started and pitched two innings, allowing one earned run on one hit and striking out four. Davidson followed with four innings. He allowed one run on six hits and struck out six.

» PHOTOS: West Side vs. Lafayette

After going 3-8 in its first four trips to the Little League World Series, West Side is 4-1 in this tournament. Other sports figures from Ohio have taken notice of West Side’s run.

On Wednesday, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team shared a video on Twitter of a number of players — Javontae Jean-Baptiste, Zach Harrison, Sevyn Banks, Master Teague III and Nicholas Petit-Frere — wishing West Side luck.

The Cincinnati Reds released a similar video with Kyle Farmer and Amir Garrett talking about West Side.

Miami RedHawks baseball coach Danny Hayden sent his best wishes via a Twitter video as well.