SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Zach Osborne pitched unbeaten Louisville, Ky., into the championship game of the Little League World Series. Next up is a Japanese team that's just as perfect.

	Zach Osborne struck out 11 and had an RBI double for Louisville.

Osborne struck out 11 and had an RBI double in Louisville's 4-0 victory over Worcester, Mass., in the U.S. championship Saturday night to set up a Sunday finale against undefeated Sendai, Japan.

``Awesome job,'' Worcester manager Fran Granger said of Osborne's effort. ``He kept us off balance all night and kept hitting the corners -- probably one of the best pitching performances of the series.''

Osborne's shot to center field scored the first of Louisville's four runs in the third inning.

``It was curveball, and I just waited on it and came around on it,'' Osborne said of the hit, the first of two he had in the game.

Alex Hornbeck, who reached base when catcher Ryan Griffin obstructed his path after a bunt, came home on Aaron Alvey's sacrifice fly to left field, and Ethan Henry added a two-run homer to right to complete the scoring.

``I thought it was foul when I hit it,'' Henry said of his home run, which was just a few feet inside the foul pole. ``I just ran it out, and the umpire said it was fair. That was real exciting, because we had more runs and it put more pressure on them.''

Louisville, the first Kentucky team to reach the title game, was 5-0 in U.S. play. Sendai, also 5-0, beat Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, 4-1 on Saturday in the international final.

Osborne (3-0) had at least two strikeouts in each inning except the fifth, when the first two batters grounded out to the pitcher. He gave up just two hits and one walk, and no Worcester runner made it past first base.

``I know he had 11 strikeouts, and he had four assists on the mound. They kept hitting to him,'' said Louisville manager J. Troy Osborne, the pitcher's father. ``I think we kept them off balance enough that they kept hitting the ball into the ground instead of hitting it into the air.''

Worcester's Frank Flynn (1-2) had nine strikeouts, but gave up three hits, walked one and hit two batters.

Worcester (3-2) will face Willemstad in the third-place game.

Japan 4, Curacao 1
In the international championship, Japan finally gave up a run, but Yuuji Nakane had eight of his 10 strikeouts in the last four innings to shut down Curacao.

"We started out not playing as well as we typically do,'' said Japan's manager, Kazutomo Takahashi. "Giving up that run was a bit of a shock to us.''

Japan (5-0) is seeking its second straight title. Last year, Tokyo Kitasuna beat Apopka, Fla., 2-1 in the championship game.

Nakane (2-0) pitched a three-hitter and scored the first run on an error after drawing a walk. Satoru Mizukoshi later scored on a wild pitch by Reinius Roosberg (1-1), who also allowed three hits.

Numakura's RBI single to left field made it 3-0, and he eventually came home on a passed ball by Rudney Balentien.

"The guys were really nervous, and we made some errors,'' said Curacao's manager, Mark Van Zanten. "They scored some runs, and that was it.''

Balentien scored the only run for Curacao (3-2) -- the first given up by the Japan in the series. Balentien reached on an infield single in the second, and scored on Richently Kenepa's double to center field.

Curacao failed to advance a runner past first base after that, with Nakane striking out two in each of the last four innings.

"Starting out, I just didn't feel as comfortable as I did later on,'' he said. "But I continued to get stronger as the game went on.''

Curacao had a chance to score in the first, when Steve Van Delden hit a looping leadoff single to right field, then advanced on a sacrifice and an infield error. But he was tagged out at the plate by Numakura trying to come home on a double steal.

That also was a mistake.

"At third, the runner got the wrong sign and took off when he saw the runner at first leave,'' Van Zanten said.