WILLIAMSPORT, PA. >> The test kept coming for Honolulu Little League as it took on Michigan in Saturday’s Hank Aaron Bracket Championship at the Little League World Series.
Michigan jumped out to an early lead as Cameron Thorning, who was robbed of a home run by Honolulu on Wednesday, blasted a shot over the right-field wall in the opening inning.
The early offense held for Michigan, which picked up a 2-1 win over Honolulu to advance into today’s championship game against Ohio.
“They are really disappointed,” Honolulu manager Brandon Sardinha said. “We still have a game to play, which is good.”
In Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Honolulu, Thorning was robbed of a home run in center field by Kaikea Patoc-Young. This time he wasn’t going to risk it, as the shot cleared the bullpen and outer row of bushes surrounding Lamade Stadium.
“The game was still early,” Sardinha said. “We had a lot of innings left to try and battle back. Michigan is a great team, with great pitching. They just pulled out ahead.”
Thorning walked Zack Bagoyo to lead off the bottom of the first, but came back to strike out the next three batters, including Ryan Keanu, who has been one of Honolulu’s top hitters.
“Our kids weren’t even mad about the situation,” Michigan manager Rick Thorning said of Wednesday’s loss to Hawaii.
“We weren’t upset about it. We knew we were going to play Texas again. We just had to play our game.”
Honolulu’s defense responded after the first inning to post a 1-2-3 top of the second. Micah Bennett earned a strikeout to open and then forced two groundouts.
Cameron Thorning returned the favor in the bottom half.
“I felt really confident, because I knew we were going to keep hitting the ball the way we always hit,” Cameron Thorning said. “After the first inning, after my home run, I was pretty confident to go out and pitch. It gave me a lot of confidence to throw hard.”
In the third, Lucas Farner lashed a ball deep down the right-field line. It bounced into foul territory, which allowed Farmer to reach third for a standup triple.
Bennett earned a strikeout for the inning’s second out, but then pitched around Thorning to put a runner on first. Jack Surma, who has been tough offensively behind Thorning in the lineup, faced Bennett with the chance to do some damage. But Bennett struck him out to end the inning.
Honolulu’s usually dominant offense struggled all game. Chasen Uyetake reached on an error and scored Honolulu’s only run on a single by Kaikea Patoc-Young in the bottom of the third.
“They were mixing up the speeds and keeping our kids off balance,” Sardinha said. “Other than that, they are a great team.”
Keanu came to the plate with a runner on first, but Thorning stopped the bleeding with his second strikeout of Keanu.
“It’s obviously one of the greatest moments of my life,” Cameron Thorning said. “It’s in the Little League World Series, so it means a lot more. I feel great.”
Honolulu turned to Patoc-Young to pitch in the top of the fourth and he retired Michigan in order as the defensive duel continued.
In the bottom of the fourth, Thorning was pulled after a single from Kekoa Payanal.
Michigan turned to Jakob Furkas to record two outs and take the game into the fifth inning.
Furkas struck out Eli Iopa on three pitches for his first out. Patrick Murray then came on as a pinch hitter and popped out to shortstop for the final out of the inning.
Before the game Honolulu Little League was recognized with the Jack Losch award as the team to display the best sportsmanship at the LLWS.
