Ohio beats South Dakota 5-2, reaches LLWS championship game

By PRESTON SHOEMAKER
Associated Press

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Cooper Oden struck out six and allowed two runs over five innings Saturday as Ohio hung on to beat South Dakota 5-2 in a semifinal at the Little League World Series. The West Side Little League squad from Hamilton, Ohio, will be the first team from the state to play in the LLWS title game. It will face Michigan on Sunday. Trailing 5-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, South Dakota rallied for three straight singles off Oden to score a run. South Dakota then loaded the bases off Ohio reliever Kaleb Harden and brought the winning run to the plate with nobody out. But Harden picked up three outs, the last on a force at third, to send Ohio into the title game.