SASKATOON, Saskatchewan -- Teri Goldberg hit a pinch-hit, RBI-single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the United States to a 1-0 victory over Japan on Saturday night and into the gold medal game.

"I've known since this tournament started that pinch-hitting was one of my main roles, and I'm just glad I could come through,'' Goldberg said.

The United States (9-0) is looking to win its fifth consecutive world championship. The opponent for Sunday's gold medal game won't be known until Sunday morning. Japan, China and Taiwan are vying for the spot in the championship.

"It was a great team effort tonight, from top to bottom,'' U.S. head coach Mike Candrea said. "Teri's sitting there waiting for a chance to come into the game and contribute, and she cashed in on the opportunity.''

Michele Smith started the bottom of the ninth on second base due to the international tiebreaker. Goldberg hit a high, hard chopper up the middle that scored Smith and ended the game.

The United States stranded 12 runners. Japan left seven on the bases.

Counting runners placed on base during the two extra-innings, Japan worked a runner as far as second base in seven innings. The United States put a runner on second in six innings.

Japan had a runner on third in the fourth and fifth innings, but was unable to score off Lisa Fernandez.

"We had a lot of opportunities to score tonight and were unable to cash in on them,'' Fernandez said. "We had to stay positive and wait for our break, and it came with Teris pinch-hit.''

Fernandez, who pitched the whole game as did her counterpart, Hiroko Sakai, earned her third win of the tournament. Fernandez allowed four hits and two walks, and struck out 10.

Sakai gave up eight hits and three walks. She finished with five strikeouts.