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Surrey’s Whalley Major Allstars lived to play another day Saturday at the Little League World Series, defeating Spain 2-1 in a 10-inning nail-biter in South Williamsport, Pa.

Joey Marino played the hero, sending a line-drive single to centre field that scored Nate Colina and ended the game in a walk-off.

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It allowed the team representing Canada to breathe a sigh of relief after nearly letting a game they led from the beginning, and with it the tournament, slip away late.

Photo by Tom E. Puskar / AP

Whalley got off to a great start, taking a lead in the first inning when an error by Spanish pitcher Ronald Vizcaino allowed Colina to score the game’s first run.

It looked for a time as though it might be the game’s only run. Neither team could muster much offence after that, thanks to strong pitching from both sides. Canada’s pitchers struck out 18 batters on the day, the bulk of them by Zaeden Pleasants, who threw 5 1/3 innings in relief out of the bullpen and struck out 12.

But Spain refused to give up, and in the sixth, just two outs from defeat, the team representing Europe-Africa got the equalizer when Lucas Iriarte stunned Pleasants and the Canadian side with a solo home run to send the game to extra innings.

Photo by Tom E. Puskar / AP

Little League World Series games typically last six innings. This one went 10.

Four innings after Spain tied it up, Whalley finally answered back with three timely singles. Colina led off the inning with a ground-ball single to centre field. Ian Huang followed suit, spraying a line drive into centre field to advance Colina into scoring position. And finally, after pitcher Toni Cortes struck out Dio Gama, Marino stepped to the plate and got the job done, ending the game with another single up the middle.

Marino’s teammates charged out of the dugout to celebrate the moment Colina crossed home plate, mobbing the young shortstop and ending one of the longest Little League World Series elimination games in recent years. Saturday’s pitching duel was just the fourth elimination game to last 10 innings since 2001, and the first since 2007.