The American side weren't quite at their best but were able to squeeze through to tomorrow's showpiece contest after they recorded a narrow 4-3 victory in the semi-final encounter.

"They didn’t put their head between their tail," US coach Ken Eriksen said. 

"Stewart comes up with a really good ground ball play to get out of a big inning with runners on base and Delaney made a couple of nice plays. 

"We all picked each other up and we all looked at each other and said ‘I got you'".

Japan have another chance to reach the gold medal match as they will take on Canada, who proved too strong for The Netherlands with a comfortable 8-2 success.

Canada kept their hopes of reaching the latter stages alive when they beat China and blew the Dutch team away with a strong performance to ensure they will get the opportunity to end with a medal.

They delighted the home crowd of around 3,250 people by knocking out The Netherlands, thanks largely to Jenn Salling slamming a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth.

"These two events [Worlds and Pan Am Games gold in Toronto in 2015] are the reason why I came back to play for Canada,” said Salling, 

"It’s like the coolest thing ever and it’s like it’s supposed to happen."

The bronze and gold medal matches are scheduled to take place tomorrow.