Day 16:
Puerto Rico 3, Japan 1
The first semifinal featured what seemed to be a mismatch, but was far from it. In a win-or-go home environment, it was the Puerto Ricans who struck first. Japan started Kenta Maeda, who in 10 innings had allowed only two hits and one walk, would struggle in his first inning of work. After getting Angel Pagan to ground out for the first out, Maeda would throw eight straight balls to put runners on first and second, but settled down to strike out Yadier Molina for the second out. The inning wasn't over just yet with Mike Aviles coming to the plate. Aviles lined a single to center, scoring Irving Falu from second to give Puerto Rico a surprising 1-0 lead. This would be the only trouble Kenta Maeda would be in, as through the second to fifth innings he pitched like we all expected him to by only facing one batter from the minimum in that span. His counterpart, Puerto Rico's Mario Santiago was the winner in this pitcher's duel.
Santiago got off to a great start, retiring the first ten Japanses hitters he faced until Hirokazu Ibata singled to center with one out in the bottom of the fourth; Santiago would force back-to-back groundouts to end the inning. Japan entered the bottom of the fifth trailing by one run and looked poised to make a rally. Hayato Sakamoto led off with a single to center and advanced to second on a ground out, driving Santaigo out of the game. Jose De La Torre took the mound for Puerto Rico and after walking the first batter he faced, would bounce back to strike out the next two Japanese hitters to get out of the jam unscathed. Puerto Rico added some much needed insurance when Mike Aviles began the top of the seventh with a single and Alex Rios followed with a two run home run to left, making it 3-0. 
The Puerto Rican bullpen kept the Japan lineup in check until the bottom of the eighth when their lead was once again challenged. Down to their last six outs and trailing by three, Japan needed a spark and they got it when Takashi Toritani tripled to center with one out. Hirokazu Ibata followed with a RBI single to give Japan its first run. Seiichi Uchikawa made it three consecutive hits with his single to right, putting runners on first and second with one out for the most feared guy in their lineup, Shinnosuke Abe. Evrything looked to be falling into place for a furious Japanese comeback, until Seiichi Uchikawa committed a mental blunder and got thrown out trying to steal second. On the play Hirokazu Ibata was on second and bluffed a steal to third, but Uchikawa misread the bluff and took off full speed thinking that it was a double-steal only to look up seeing his teammate standing stationary on second base and realizing that he was a sitting duck for our number two. Abe would end up grounding out to first which ended the inning and the collective dream of a comeback for Japan. Fernando Cabrera would get Kazuo Matsui to fly out to center to end the game, completing the Puerto Rico's major upset. Mario Santiago got the win, allowing just two hits and one walk in 4.1 innings while striking out two. Alex Rios' seventh inning two run home run and Mike Aviles who had two hits, a Run, and a RBI to lead Puerto Rico offense. Hirokazu Ibata and Seiichi Uchikawa each had two hits to lead Japan, who only had a total of six hits on the night. With the win Puerto Rico pulls off the biggest upset of the tournament, unseating the two-time defending champs, and puts themself in the Tuesday night Championship game. Japan's run of glory has come to an end as they are eliminated.
*The second semifinal is Monday night, between the Netherlands and Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico awaits the winner in the championship on Tuesday night.
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