SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Talking to Japanese manager Yohichi Kubo before the game, it was really odd to hear his way of motivating players: a "refuse to lose," attitude. Kubo said his was not a very intimidating team, so the objective was to stay close in the game, and ultimately score just one more run than the opponent.

	Takaaki Ohno forces lead runner Zach Zwieg in the second inning.

That's exactly what happened.

Kubo built this team on pitching and defense, and that's what we saw. We also saw the discipline of the Japanese players, and the way they fundamentally executed everything. They didn't beat themselves at all.

This game took on a similar pattern to Saturday's International final against Curacao. Japan went according to the same plan -- keeping it close and letting good pitching and execution be the difference.

On the other side, this game was very tough for Apopka third baseman Zach Zwieg. By the sixth inning, the field was a little moist from the possible storm coming in, and the rubber spikes the kids wear, as opposed to the metal cleats worn by Major Leaguers, makes the field a little bit slippery. I can't blame either of the balls hit in the sixth inning on Zwieg.

In watching the replay, his front foot slipped when he went to throw and because he had no bracing, the ball sailed high. The throw would have beaten the runner otherwise. Both mentally and physically, he did everything he needed to do. His spikes simply slipped on the grass.

What a great day for him, though, to meet the President -- a guy he wanted to meet -- the most important person in his life. He nailed a base hit when Mr. Bush was there. He had a tough sixth inning, but his team had a great run, and I wouldn't blame the loss on him.

Justin Lafavers only threw 73 pitches in the game, so he didn't appear tired heading into the sixth. The two grounders that started the Japanese rally were weakly hit, and Stuart Tapley looked like he had a real good chance at getting the winning hit, and ended up deflecting it.

That's just baseball. The odds were in Japan's favor at the time because they put the ball in play.

Apopka manager Bob Brewer warned us about the attitude of the team coming in. He said the win against the Bronx was so emotional, with the "us against the world" theme. Now looking at Japan, Florida had become best friends with them. They lived one floor apart in the dorms here, and Brewer was worried that would have an effect on his boys.

And it might have shown. Apopka might have been flat, especially with the bats. They played pretty solid throughout the game, but didn't show the world Sunday, as they did with everyone else in this tournament, the power in that lineup.

On the night, Apopka left nine men on base.

They were very aggressive on the bases. The rundowns that Brandon Brewer and Jeff Lovejoy got into -- one might call them errors -- most likely occurred out of exuberance.

Overall, it was an outstanding game, and a great finish to a memorable Little League World Series.

Former NL Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser is an analyst for ESPN/ABC's coverage of the Little League World Series.