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TIM WRIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
A crowd greeted Hilo baseball players and coaches when they landed at Hilo International Airport on Friday.
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The Hilo youth baseball team returned Friday, bringing home Hawaii’s first Pony League World Series title in 34 years.
The Hilo team went undefeated in the double-elimination tournament for youths 13-14 years old played at Washington, Pa.
Hilo defeated Chesterfield (Va.) 4-1 on Aug. 9, Los Mochis (Mexico) 4-0 on Tuesday, Chesterfield again 11-2 on Tuesday and Taoyuan County (Taiwan) 5-3 in the championship on Wednesday.
In the championship, Joe Jarneski went 2-for-3 with a solo homer and three RBIs and pitched his second complete game of the tournament at Lew Hays Pony Field.
It was the third time a team from Hawaii won the title and first since Maui won it in 1980. It was the first time Hilo won the title.