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Pele Payanal is living a dream. He gets to play in the Little League World Series and miss the start of school as well.
Payanal ripped a two-out, two-strike, bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning to rally Honolulu past Torrance (Calif.) 7-2 on Saturday in the championship game of the Western Regional in San Bernardino, Calif.
“I’m feeling really excited,” said Payanal, a rising seventh-grader at Punahou, which will start school the day before the World Series begins. “Now we get to go down in history.”
“I don’t know if it set in yet,” said Honolulu coach Brandon Sardinha, a fire fighter. “The kids are extremely happy. Super excited.”
Both teams had already qualified for the prestigious Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., by finishing in the top two in their region. Hawaii will play Connecticut at 7 a.m. Thursday and Torrance plays New Hampshire 1 p.m. Thursday. Games will be telecast on ESPN.
Honolulu, called the “HNL Boys,” trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth of the six-inning game before Payanal’s decisive hit gave Honolulu a 4-2 lead.
“At that point, I was just thinking I was going to put the ball in play and get a hit,” said the left-hand hitting Payanal. “It was down and in.”
Honolulu got the first two runners on to open the inning and had runners on second and third with two out when Torrance decided to intentionally walk 5-foot-9 Ryan Keanu (2-for-2, 2 walks) to load the bases. Then Payanal laced a drive over the right-fielder’s head that cleared the bases.
“We have very good hitters,” Sardinha said. “They’re very selective with their pitches, make good contact, and on the bases, we’re very aggressive.”
Ambidextrous Tyler Shindo relieved starter Eli Iopa in the fourth inning and got out of a bases-loaded jam with the help of third baseman Cade Nakama (2-for-3, 2 runs), who snagged a hard hit grounder by power-hitting Grant Hays.
That kept the score 2-1, and Shindo finished to get the victory.
Shindo, who batted 2-for-3, started at shortstop throwing right-handed. As a pitcher, Shindo would switch between pitching left-handed or right-handed depending on his comfort or for strategic purposes.
“Ryan Keanu is probably our hardest thrower,” Sardinha said. “We have five good pitchers that we can go with at any time (with Keanu, Shindo, Iopa, Payanal and Micah Bennett).”
Honolulu made it 7-2 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth with an infield grounder by Zack Bagoyo and run-scoring singles by Iopa and Keanu, who reached base all four times in the game.
Torrance, the Southern California representative, scored two runs in the first on a two-run double by Hays, who said during TV introductions that he “eats fastballs for breakfast.” Iopa gave up four hits in the inning but struck out two.
Hawaii cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the third on Xane Soares’ two-out single that scored Bennett.
Both teams will head to Williamsport, Pa., for the LLWS which starts Thursday and is scheduled to end Aug. 29.
Sardinha said Little League will make arrangements for the team to get to Williamsport.
“I believe they’re going to charter a flight for us tomorrow (Sunday) morning,” Sardinha said.
Unlike past years, no international teams will be involved in the World Series. Instead, the top two teams from each of the eight regionals in the United States qualified.
Honolulu qualified on Thursday by beating Petaluma, the Northern California representative, 13-3. Torrance qualified Friday by ousting Petaluma 6-0 in a game that went seven innings. Gibson Turner struck out 15 in the win.
Teams will be distributed evenly in the World Series, with four region champions and four runners-up in each division — called the Hank Aaron Championship Teams and the Tom Seaver Championship Teams.
The first round of pool play will pit the winners of one region playing the runners-up in another region. While teams from the same region are placed in the same division, they are not scheduled to meet in pool play.
Hawaii 7, Southern California 2
W—Tyler Shindo. L—Dycen Miyake
Leading Hitters—Hawaii: Ryan Keanu 2-2, run, RBI; Pele Payanal 3 RBI, 3B; Tyler Shindo 2-3, run; Cade Nakama 2-3, 2 runs. So. Cal: Xavier Navarro 2-2, run; Andrew Nuruki 3-4, run; Grant Hays 2 RBI
Hawaii drops game in ALWS
Hawaii’s Team Central fell to Tupelo Post 49 of Mississippi at the American Legion World Series 4-0 on Saturday at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
Hawaii fell behind right away, as Tupelo scored two runs in the first inning. From there, Hawaii was unable to muster the offense to mount a comeback, managing just three hits for the game.
With the win, Tupelo clinches the automatic berth into the semifinals on Monday. Team Central will have to wait to see if they will advance, depending on the winner of the Ridge, Maryland and Fargo, North Dakota game today.
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