Little League champs reflect

In a quiet family home on a West Loch cul-de-sac, Michael Memea attends to homework for his full load of classes at Leeward Community College. He has the day off from his job at a 7-Eleven in Kapolei.

By all appearances, he’s a typical 22-year-old in Hawaii.

He has goals and dreams. They include attaining a bachelor’s degree, perhaps at the University of Hawaii, en route to becoming a fire fighter.

"Maybe try to walk on to the baseball team," he adds. "Doesn’t hurt to try one more time."

Memea seems to always be smiling. He’s polite and friendly. He has big hands, like those of a catcher, the position he played as a kid.

He also has the ball and the bat with which he made history as a 12-year-old.

"I still remember it like it was yesterday," Memea says of the most famous home run hit by a Hawaii baseball player, at least this side of Shane Victorino or Benny Agbayani. "The count was 3-2. Fastball, high and outside."

He hit it 10 years ago today, half an ocean and a continent away, over the fence at Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pa.

Memea’s seventh-inning blast gave the team from West Oahu a stunning 7-6 walk-off victory over Curacao in the championship game of the Little League World Series. It was the first time a team from Hawaii won the LLWS and the first time any team won the series on a walk-off homer.

"Someone brought (the ball) back and made sure I got it, which was nice," Memea says.

He was described in the next day’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette as extremely quiet, which seems out of character for the personable young man he is now.

"I was pretty shy as a kid," Memea says, and admits that all the media attention at that age was a bit daunting.

The kids from Hawaii were quiet, overall. They did their talking with their bats, blasting 13 homers in six series games, Memea with three of them.

And without Sheyne "Bubbles" Baniaga’s homer in the U.S. semifinal against a dominant Louisiana pitcher, there might not have been a championship game against Curacao. It was truly a team effort.

When they had to, they could pitch and play small-ball, too. Alaka’i Aglipay beating out a double play ball to keep a rally alive and Ty Tirpak’s key bunt single come to mind.

As he advanced into his teen years at Damien and then Campbell High School, Memea was often reminded what a big deal the win, and his role in it, was for the state.

"When I was around 15 and 16 I thought about it more, because it seemed like people kept bringing it up," he says.

When a child accomplishes a remarkable feat like that on a huge stage, you might wonder. What can compare?

Maybe making it to the big leagues, or getting married and having kids. The first is unlikely for Memea, who hasn’t played much baseball since a season at Linn-Benton (Ore.) Community College a few years ago. Raising a family will come later, he says.

Still, after careful consideration, Memea says he rates the home run a close second on his list of accomplishments. At the top is playing a role on another successful team: Memea returned last spring from Houston, where he and 16 other Mormon missionaries converted "around 20 people" to their religion.

"Well it depends how you look at it," he says. "I realize winning that game was huge for the state because it was the first time, and us, because we worked so hard. … They’re both good. I think helping converting those people was a bigger deal. It’s not only for me, but it’s for them. And of course it makes God happy."

Memea’s positive disposition helped him in his missionary work.

"For the most part is was pretty hard," he says. "A lot of people slam doors in your faces."

Memea says he and his teammates from Little League remain close. But while they all live on Oahu, some don’t see each other very often.

"I think once everyone graduated from high school everyone goes their separate ways doing their own things, but we kind of stay in touch," he says.

Vonn Fe’au was Memea’s best friend from the team, but he has seen him just once since high school days.

Fe’au — the most distinctive Ewa Beach Little Leaguer, with his blond hair, fierce stare and dominating fastball — mostly keeps to himself, Memea and other teammates say.

He graduated from Saint Louis School, as did Kaeo Aliviado, Baniaga and Myron "Kini" Enos.

Quentin Guevara and Zachary Rosete went to Waipahu, Alaka’i Aglipay and Tirpak to Punahou, Harrison Kam to Mid-Pacific and Ethan Javier to Pearl City. Zachary Ranit, like Memea, graduated from Campbell.

Some have finished college, most are working. Two are parents. Several play in softball leagues and tournaments together. Aliviado hopes for a shot at pro baseball after starting at UH four years.

Most of the nine players I got to interview this week say they watch the Little League World Series every year.

"As much as I can, and especially the championship game. I see a great play in every game," says Kam, who made a diving catch in center field that got a lot of play on ESPN. "I just remember how much heart we had as a team, and the three-run (sixth-inning) comeback to tie Curacao and set up Michael’s homer."

Tirpak and his dad, Clint, watch their championship game against Curacao once a year together, as well. Clint Tirpak, Andy Kam and Tyron Kitashima were coaches, assisting manager Layton Aliviado.

Guevara played four years of varsity at Waipahu, but went straight into the work force instead of continuing in baseball to help his family financially. He is now an apprentice electrician.

"That experience helped me later in life," he says. "When I look back at it, I was so young, it’s such a blur. I watch the championship game now, and the feeling comes back."

Javier loves his job with Solar Help Hawaii, and says the long baseball practices as a 12-year-old made him a believer in sweat equity.

"It really had an influence on my work ethic," he says. "What coach Layton always told us, work hard, play hard. Just having the satisfaction of working hard and accomplishing your goal is the best feeling you could ever have."

When Enos thinks about the summer of 2005 he remembers not just winning the World Series, but also seeing what there is beyond Hawaii. He went all the way to New Jersey to play college baseball.

"It made me think there’s more than just this," Enos says.