Musashi Fuchu little league from Tokyo, Japan defeated Eastlake Little League from Chula Vista, California 6-4 to win the Little League World Series Aug. 25, making them back- to- back champions.

The Little League World Series is a world wide baseball tournament where all little league baseball teams from around the world participate in district, state, and regional tournaments over the summer to earn the rights to go to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to play in the Little League World Series.

The Little League World Series consists of  two brackets: the United States bracket and the International bracket. Each bracket has eight teams. The International bracket includes Japan, Asia Pacific, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Latin America, The Caribbean and Europe and Africa regions. The United States side contains the Southeast, Southwest, West, Northwest, New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Great Lakes regions.

Japan entered the championship game with a record of 9-0. Their last loss in the Little League World Series was back in 2011 when the team from Huntington Beach, California beat them 2-1 in the final game.

California, representing the West Region, defeated Westport, Connecticut 12-1 in the U.S. championship game to earn the rights to take on Japan, the international champions for a chance to win the World Series title. California has proven to be a dominant state in the World Series, making eight appearances since 2001. The state has won the title in 2009 and 2011.

The championship game began with Chula Vista, California getting off to an immediate 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Japan eventually responded when Gomi hit Shou Miyao home. Japan later scored in the that inning by capitalizing on a California throwing error, tying the game up in the bottom of the first.

“I wasn’t too worried when Japan was down 2-0 because I was confident in the Japanese batting. Although I was expecting California to have pitching dominance, I think Japan was ready for it,” said Anna Rain, sophomore and former little leaguer.

California’s star pitcher Grant Holman was on the mound, who earlier in the tournament pitched a seven inning no-hitter in game one against the team from Grosse-Pointe, Michigan. Despite Holman’s pitching efforts, California was unable to defeat Japan.

Shunpei Takagi of Japan hit two solo home runs and Ryusei Hirooka hit a double scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the 6-4 lead over Chula Vista, California.

This marks the second World Series win for Japan’s manager, Omae, who won it back in 2003 against a team from Florida.

Earlier in the tournament, Japan had defeated Mexico twice and beat the Czech Republic, Chinese Taipei once to advance to the world championship game. The team outscored their opponents 24-13 overall.

Japan now has nine Little League World Series titles; the second most, as they trail behind Taiwan  who has 17.