Little League Softball World Series Championship Matchup Officially Set
The Little League Softball World Series championship game is officially set, and the title will come down to the Central Region (Floyd's Knob, Indiana) and the Mid-Atlantic Region (Johnstown, Pennsylvania) on Sunday at 3 p.m. EST on ABC.
The hometown team, North Carolina, will play the consolation game against the Southwest Region on Sunday at 11 a.m. EST on ESPN.
Game 19: Central Region, 2; North Carolina, 0 (Orange Championship)
The Central Region defeated Team North Carolina 2-0 as the combined performance from pitchers Grace Fiore and Briley Mercer and an errorless game on defense led to a shutout.
The game came down to the seventh inning when Central finally tacked two runs on the board. To lead off the inning, Sawyer Abel dropped a bunt for a single to the opposing pitcher.
This was the spark Central needed as their next two batters in Scarlett Renn and Fiore, grounded out, but those plays knocked in two runs before the inning closed.
INDIANA TAKES DOWN THE REIGNING CHAMPS AND ADVANCES TO ITS FIRST LLSWS CHAMPIONSHIP 🙌 pic.twitter.com/OLRMMWpZud
— ESPN (@espn) August 9, 2025
Again, the game was mostly decided in the circle as Central's lethal combo of Mercer and Fiore only allowed five hits, three walks, and struck out six batters.
For North Carolina, in the loss, Makayla Montgomery, who has shone and carried the team all week, gave up just three hits, one earned run, four walks, and five strikeouts.
Game 20: Mid-Atlantic Region, 4; Southwest, 0 (Purple Championship)
In the second game on Saturday, Reagan Bills of the Mid-Atlantic Team continued her dominance in the tournament as she threw a complete game shutout with ten strikeouts in the 4-0 victory.
PENNSYLVANIA ADVANCES TO THEIR FIRST LLSWS CHAMPIONSHIP SINCE 2018 👏 pic.twitter.com/uB9qc7grpi
— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) August 9, 2025
Bills has had an unbelievable tournament as she has yet to concede an earned run and has tallied 44 strikeouts and has only allowed 11 hits.
Bills also contributed the spark offensively as she singled to left field in the third inning and scored the opening run of the game.
The Mid-Atlantic team scored again in the top of the fifth inning after an error started the inning, and a double to right field from Leilah Schilling-Mansour put the pressure on the defense and two runners on the base pads.
Team Mid-Atlantic continued to pass the bat in the top of the fifth with Mara Keefe's single on a ground ball to the shortstop that scored the second run of the game. Sadie Divido would single to right field and score Schilling-Mansour for the third and final run of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Team Mid-Atlantic pushed across another run in the top of the sixth thanks to a fly ball into right field from Mallory Bailor.
Bailor scored Fees, who advanced to third base on a wild pitch that advanced her reached base earlier in the inning off an error from Team Southwest's left fielder.
Unfortunately for the Southwest Region, Bills and the flawless defense behind her were too tough to handle; the team only managed four hits on the day.
World Series Championship Game Preview
As Central and Mid-Atlantic square off on Sunday, will the game once again come down to pitching?
The trends are definitely pointing in that direction.
Central's combination of Fiore and Mercer have only allowed one earned run all tournament, while Team Mid-Atlantic has conceded no earned runs. However, all the work for Team Mid-Atlantic has been laid on Bills' arm, the team has not thrown another pitcher all tournament.
The key for the championship game will be which team can break through and score first.
Both teams have consistent and timely hitting in their arsenals along with superb defense, but the game will most likely be determined by whoever scores first.
Central's opening game is the only game of the tournament in which they have not won by a shutout. Similiarly, Team Mid-Atlantic allowed its only run of the tournament in their opening game.
However, the Mid-Atlantic Region stayed in the winner's bracket, meaning they have played one less game than the Central Region Team.
Thus, time will tell if this extra day of rest catapults the Mid-Atlantic to the win.
Allison Smith is an expert in leadership and organizational behavior in collegiate and professional women’s sports. Smith is a professor (Georgia State University), researcher, and writer. Smith holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Kinesiology and Sport Studies. Smith’s research centers on combatting the underrepresentation of women leaders in sport, lack of organizational structure for work life integration for sport employees, and lack of programming and oversight for preparing athletes to transition to life after sport. Since graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism in 2011, Smith has sought opportunities to write about sports as a contributing writer focused on the growth of women’s collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports in this new age and movement for multiple outlets including Athletic Director U, and now Forbes.com. As a former Division I and II pitcher and Division III pitching coach Smith will bring unique insight and expertise to Softball on SI.
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