How these star players are powering their teams at Little League World Series

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Juan Reyes has thrown two complete-game shutouts for Venezuela. Nevada's Garrett Gallegos has yet to let an opponent score. Liu Wei-Heng struck out the side in back-to-back innings for Taiwan. Tommy D'Amura generated a hitting frenzy that kept Connecticut's run alive. Star players are powering the four unbeaten teams at the Little League World Series, who meet in games Wednesday with a spot in the weekend semifinals at stake. Juan and his curveball help out Venezuela Juan struck out nine in each of his shutouts, a dominant start to Venezuela's run in Williamsport. Through his translator, Juan said "he's happy with the results he's been getting." And with a little bit of a smirk, he mentioned that he would like to try for a third straight shutout. Juan threw 77 pitches, which means he is ineligible to pitch in Venezuela's international bracket game against Taiwan. He is expected to be back for the game after that, which could be to determine the international bracket winner. The rest of Venezuela's pitching staff has been dominant, too. In its second game, Andres Reyes Querales pitched five innings and fanned seven batters, helping Venezuela become the first team since 2021 to blank its first three opponents. "We know we're going to have tough games, but we have the confidence to go ahead and face every challenge," manager Luis Bermudez said. Garrett and his lucky necklace Garrett received an unusual package from another Nevada Little League team a few days before an outing against South Carolina — a red, white and blue studded necklace meant to spread good luck. It's worked for him so far: He struck out 12 against South Carolina, the most by a Nevada pitcher ever in Williamsport. "My arm was feeling amazing today," Garrett said. "When I was warming up, I just thought to myself, there's no way I'm going to give up any runs today." And he succeeded. He only gave up five hits. When Garrett reached the 85-pitch maximum and moved to third base, the Lamade Stadium crowd gave the 12 year old a standing ovation. It was a pitching duel with Joe Giulietti throwing six no-hit innings, which fueled Garrett's motivation. "I love tension," Garrett said. South Carolina couldn't get anyone past second and Nevada ultimately won in extra innings after Cutter Ricafort hit the winning single. "We don't play against time, we play against outs and for the ability to hang in there mentally, keep it strong pitch by pitch, maintaining focus and discipline," Nevada's manager TJ Fechser said. Liu's ability to focus Taiwan manager Lai Min-Nan thought Liu matched up well against Monday's foe, Aruba. That strategy worked out. In 4 2/3 innings, he struck out 11 batters and gave up just three hits. Only three batters on Aruba reached in the first four innings. Liu struck out the side in both the second and third innings. "I want to maximize each player, either the curveball or the fastball," Min-Nan said. "I allocate different pitchers depending on the opponent." Liu isn't even the team's fastest pitcher. Lin Chin Tse, who pitched in Taiwan's 3-0 win over Mexico, can throw 80 mph. He faced one batter in Monday's game and struck him out — with bases loaded. "I've been very satisfied with our pitching staff," Min-Nan said. "This is probably the most complete pitching staff I've had." Tommy kickstarts Connecticut's offense Connecticut is the first team from the Metro region to win three games since the area was added as part of a LLWS expansion to 20 teams in 2022. The most recent victory was a 13-1 romp over South Dakota on Monday. Fairfield National Little League trailed before Tommy rocketed Connecticut's first hit: an RBI triple to center field. "I felt that was the moment we knew we were back in the game, and we just had so much momentum that I knew we were going to just keep on scoring and Luca (Pellegrini) was going to pound the zone," Tommy said. The team's bats came alive in the sixth, when 12 straight batters reached safely, tying a LLWS record. Ten runs scored, and Tommy nearly hit the ball out of the park. It bounced just before the right-field wall. As the third man in the lineup, his three RBIs led the team. "I always told the guys, first practice, we have a target on our back," manager Brian Palazzolo said. "The teams, at least in Connecticut, knew who we were. We got to play the best baseball we could possibly play day in and day out. So if we could play that way, if we could play that way here, we'll be okay." ___ Alexandra Wenskoski and Amanda Vogt are students in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. ___ AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports