Maui brought home the championship trophy after beating Pearl City 7-6 to capture the 2012 Hawaii State Little League Junior Championship Tournament played at the Halawa Recreation Center in Aiea on Sunday, July 22, 2012.
Maui moves on to compete in the Western Regionals in Vancouver, Washington from July 31 – August 7.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Congratulations to the Champs!
Maui and Pearl City battled one another for fourteen innings in a double header for the championship that proved to be one most exciting finishes to date in Hawaii Little League tourmanemt action.
Pearl City forced a second game in the double elimination championship tournament after defeating Maui in a close 4-3 ball game that ended with Pearl City scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a balk called on the catcher for stepping out of the box before the pitch was thrown. Colby Hirano scored from third for with the winning run.
Game two followed thirty minutes after game one. Pearl City picked up two runs each in the top of first, third and fourth innings. The two runs scored in the top of the fourth inning gave Pearl City a 6-5 lead.
Maui scored one run in the bottom of the first inning and four more runs in the bottom of the second inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Maui found themselves trailing Pearl City 6-5 with one last chance at bat to pull out a win and claim the championship. Maui needed to score two runs and that’s exactly what they did in dramatic fashion. After loading the bases, Maui tied the game and scored the winning run on a ground ball hit to the shortstop by Linden Kanamu that was fielded, tossed to second for out number two but thrown away at first base scoring Noah Okamoto and Shadd Santos.
Pearl City was on the verge of pulling off the impossible on Sunday. Actually, they were two outs away from winning their third game of the day and the championship title. Pearl City started the day off at 9:00am with a match up against Aiea in a game that resumed play from Saturday’s rain out that suspended competition in the top of the fifth inning with no score and Pearl City at bat with the bases loaded. Pearl City scored a single run in the top of the fifth inning and held off Aiea the rest of the way for the win.
Scoring Summary for Game 2 (Top 4, Bottom 7)
Top 4
Pearl City took a 6-5 lead over Maui in the top of the fourth inning. Colby Hirano walked to lead off the inning. Next batter Kawaiola Takemura walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Sanyo Lo belted an RBI ground rule double to center field scoring Hirano from second base that tied the game at 5-5. Makoa Mau game into the game to pinch run for Lo at third base. Maui made a pitching change bringing in Colby Tam in relief of Kristian Gilliland with two runners on base, no outs and the score tied at 5-5. Next batter grounded out to the pitcher for the first out. Lawson Faria hit a grounder that was fielded by the third baseman who made a throw to home plate that missed its mark allowing Takemura to score putting Pearl City up 6-5.
Bottom 7
In the bottom of the seventh inning. Noah Okamoto walked with one out. Next batter Shadd Santos hit a single that dropped into shallow center field. Maui had runners on first and second with one out. Daniel Moreno got on base with a hard hit single to Colby Hirano at shortstop to load the bases. Linden Kanamu stepped up to the plate and hit an infield grounder that looked like it would be a game ending, championship clinching, 6-4-3 double play for Pearl City. It turned out to have the opposite result as the throw got pass the first baseman allowing Okamoto to score from third to tie the game at 6-6. Santos followed Okamoto home scoring the winning and championship clinching run from second.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
The celebration begins as Shadd Santos crosses home plate after scoring the winning run from second base in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Linden Kanamu pictured hitting an infield grounder that allowed Maui to score two runs to tie the game at 6-6 and win the championship title 7-6.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Maui's Kristian Gilliland dives head first at home plate to score in the bottom of the fourth inning. Maui scored four runs on two hits in the inning to take a 5-2 lead
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Sanyo Lo hits an RBI ground rule double to center field in the top of the fourth inning that scored Colby Hirano and tied the game at 5-5.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Kawaiola Takemura runs past Maui catcher Orion Farias to score from third base in the top of the fourth inning putting Pearl City in front 6-5.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Maui catcher Orion Farias defends the plate as Colby Hirano attempts to barrell through the block and score in the top of the second inning.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Farias won the battle by standing his ground but Hirano earned the respect for giving it his all while trying to score (the hard way).
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Maui starting pitcher Kristian Gilliland pictured on the mound in the top of the first inning.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Tyler Tashiro pictured on the hill for Pearl City.
Game 1
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Colby Hirano scores the winning run in Game 1 on a balk called on the catcher that gave Pearl City a 3-2 win and forced a winner- take- all Game 2 for the championship.
Congratulatiions to both Maui and Pearl City for a great championship finale!
Game 1
@ Halawa Recreation Center in Aiea
Maui (2-1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 5
Pearl City (4-1) 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 4 6
Game 2
@ Halawa Recreation Center in Aiea
Pearl City (4-2) 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 6 10
Maui (3-1) 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 7 6