Honolulu opens the Little League World Series with an emphatic win, will play on Sunday

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Hawaii’s Kekoa Payanal slid into third base after a passed ball as Connecticut’s Ryan Gorman covered the base during the fifth inning on Thursday.

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Hawaii’s Kekoa Payanal slid into third base after a passed ball as Connecticut’s Ryan Gorman covered the base during the fifth inning on Thursday.

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Ryan Keanu, above, gave up a home run to his first batter but didn’t allow any scoring after that.

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Honolulu wins Little League World Series opener

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Williamsport, Pa. >> It was a devastating start as Arlen Peyman lifted a ball over the center field fence for a solo homer and Connecticut drew first blood against Honolulu.

Peyman represented the first batter of the 2021 Little League World Series. Honolulu made up for the opening run with nine unanswered to claim a 9-1 win over Connecticut at Volunteer Stadium in Williamsport.

“I slipped up on the mound, but I had to get my head around that problem,” starting pitcher Ryan Keanu said. “I had to just keep my head high after that home run.”

Keanu’s positivity seemed to work as he gave up just three hits after the opening knock. That included a run of five consecutive outs in the fourth and fifth innings. Four of the outs were by strikeouts as Keanu finished with eight.

“It’s always been our goal to win the first game and get the ball rolling,” Honolulu manager Brandon Sardinha said. “It was a slow start, but we came back strong after that. You could tell they were having fun doing it.”

Chase Thompson hit a double in the opening frame to break the ice for Honolulu’s powerful offense.

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In the second, a string of three consecutive singles gave Honolulu the lead for good.

Chasen Uyetake connected with a double to clear the bases and give Honolulu a lead it would hold for the remainder of the day. Pele Payanal, Eli Iopa and Kekoa Payanal scored on the double. Zack Bagoyo helped cap the scoring in the second when he chipped a ground ball back to the pitcher to score Uyetake.

“We have a lot of great hitters, anyone can get hot,” Sardinha said. “Today we got a lot of good hits from the players.”

Honolulu finished with nine hits from eight different players. Payanal, who singled in the second, was the only player to record multiple hits. Along with his single in the second inning, Kekoa Payanal also connected with a single in the fourth and was hit by a pitch in the fifth. He scored all three times he reached base.

Honolulu broke the game open in the fourth when Micah Bennett drove in two runs with a single. Two more runners scored in the fourth and Kekoa Payanal crossed the plate in the fifth to set the final score.