Pearland’s 19-0 win puts it in Southwest title game

Manuel Castillo hit a grand slam in a 14-run fourth inning that carried Pearland to a 19-0 runrule victory over Abilene Wylie on Sunday and a spot in the Southwest Region Little League Championship game in Waco.

Pearland (Texas East) will seek its fourth trip to the Little League World Series since 2010 when it plays at noon Tuesday in the title game.

Pearland will face the winner of Monday’s 4 p.m. elimination game between Tulsa (Okla.) National and Abilene Wylie (Texas West).

Kaiden Shelton crushed a two-run homer to ignite the fourth inning, providing Pearland with a 7-0 cushion in a game shortened to four innings because of the mercy rule.

Jackson Wolfe, Landon Karel, Malachi Clark, Corey Kahn, Austin Cummings, Jacolby Mayberry and Ethan Richardson also collected hits in the inning as Pearland sent 20 players to the plate and collected 13 hits.

Jacob Zurek crushed a leadoff home run and doubled in two more runs in contributing to the Pearland offense.

Zurek launched the game’s third pitch over the center-field wall to give Pearland a 1-0 lead. He doubled home Clark and Richardson, who had each singled, in the second inning for a 3-0 cushion.

Shelton and Karel followed with a run-scoring singles to left to boost the lead to 5-0, setting the stage for the explosive fourth inning.

Pearland outhit Abilene Wylie 20-1. Wolfe was the winning pitcher after working the game’s first three innings.

Pearland is now 12-0 in the postseason, having won district, sectional and state tournaments in addition to its three victories at the Southwest Region tournament.

Pearland advanced to the 2010, 2015 and 2016 Little League World Series.

The 2010 Pearland team reached the United States championship game.