Underdog Canadian squad eliminated from Little League World Series by Japan

The players and coaches from Vancouver’s Little Mountain team that represented Canada at this year’s Little League World Series. Photo: Little League World Series (website)

August 27, 2026

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Canada’s underdog run at the Little League World Series ended on Wednesday with a 7-3 loss to Japan.

Representing Canada, Vancouver’s Little Mountain squad won three games in the tournament - the most by a Canuck squad since 1998 - but fell just shy of advancing to the quarterfinals.

Japan tallied four runs in the second inning and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on Wednesday.

The gutsy Canadian squad responded with a run in the fourth when second baseman Connor Ross stole home.

The Canadians added two more runs the next inning thanks to an RBI single from Lucas Izen and an RBI grounder from Jean Ramos.

On the mound, Felix Hoyano started for Canada while Cruz Krpan and Sha Hassko each contributed two innings of relief.

Taiga Yumitori led Japan’s offence, knocking in three runs while also scoring twice.

The Little Mountain team advanced the farthest Canada has gone in the Little League World Series since 2017.

Canada had upset South Korea 5-1 on Tuesday and beat Panama on Monday in a 3-2 extra-inning thriller.

On Saturday, they defeated Australia 4-0 for their first win of the tournament after losing 7-0 to South Korea in the opener.