Canada recovered from a disastrous third inning Friday to kick off the Little League World Series with a 6-5 win over Saudi Arabia. Colby Ring scored the winning run for the team from Langley, B.C., in the bottom of the sixth after a wild pitch from Saudi reliever Gustavo Leon. Ring led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Ian Burns. With Nick Atkinson at the plate, Ring scampered home when Leon's 1-1 pitch got past catcher Hadi Fadlallah. Canada's Cole Cantelon finished the day 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Canada, which defeated a team from Valleyfield, Que., to advance to the tournament, is in an eight-team international bracket. There is also an eight-team division for teams from the United States. Double-elimination rules remain until the tournament's final weekend, with the championship game set for Aug. 28. A team from Tokyo won the 2010 title, snapping a five-year winning streak for US teams. The Saudi Arabian team from the city Dhahran has been a regular at the tournament with 12 straight appearances — although this year's trip came by virtue of a disqualification. A team from Uganda had initially won the Middle East & Africa region, but was denied visas by consular officers after the US State Department said there were inconsistencies with players' ages and birth dates. Kentucky 1, Clinton County 0: Kentucky starter Griffin McLarty silenced Pennsylvania's hitters and their huge cheering section, getting solid defense and providing his own offense. The lanky, 6-foot pitcher from LaGrange, Ky., struck out 12 and hit a homer in a 1-0 win over the hometown favorites from Clinton County, just 30 miles down the road from South Williamsport. Huntington Beach 11, Cumberland 0: California didn't have quite as difficult a time Friday, though there was a scary moment when pitcher Braydon Salzman missed getting hit in the head by a comebacker. The hard shot didn't keep the 13-year-old right-hander down on the mound long. He dusted himself off to finish the third inning with a strikeout and scored three runs too. A scary scene turned into a lighthearted moment after the convincing win. Venezuela 6, Netherlands 1: Omar Conoropo Jr. knocked in three runs, two on a homer in the fifth, and Keny Marquez struck out 10 for Venezuela. Aaron de Groot walked and later scored the Netherlands' only run on a wild pitch in the fifth inning, while Darryl Jamoena added a double.
