Williamsport, Pa. >> Honolulu Little League will take on a familiar foe in today’s United States Championship of the Little League World Series.

Honolulu defeated Southeast Region champion Nolensville, Tenn., 13-0 in four innings to earn a spot in the title game. It all clicked for the Honolulu boys as a towering grand slam in the opening inning all but iced the contest.

Tennessee starter Nash Carter was taken out in the opening inning as Honolulu piled up the runs and forced Southeast to plan for the long term. Today’s game might be a little different, as Tennessee is likely to go with ace Jack Rhodes, who injured his hand and was unavailable to pitch Wednesday.

“Jack’s been our ace the whole time, but he’s been hurt,” Southeast manager Randy Huth said at a press conference Thursday after Southeast defeated Southwest 7-1. “Our strategy tonight was to start Drew (Chadwick). If he got into trouble, Jack was ready to come in.”

A telling sign for things to come happened in Thursday’s must-win game for Tennessee. As it held a lead over the Southwest champ Pearland, Texas, Rhodes was subbed out at catcher and moved into the outfield in the fourth inning.

“If you catch four innings you can’t pitch in Little League rules,” Huth said. “We pulled him and put him in right field so if we needed him to close it down, we could go to him.”

Honolulu has been just as thoughtful with its pitching. Nearly every arm will be available today as it hopes to finish off a dominant run through the United States bracket.

That thoughtfulness also includes believing in pitchers. Honolulu turned to Jonnovyn Sniffen against Tennessee.

“We’re proud of Jonnoyvn,” Oda said. “We were joking around with him that the other night he only lasted two batters. Hat’s off to that kid. We told him that he was going to start and he really focused and did his job.”

Honolulu has gotten rebound pitching performances and pinch-hit home runs through its four-game winning streak. Honolulu easily leads the field in home runs with 11 and in hits with 38.

Contributions have come from all over. That includes leadoff home runs from Kekoa Payanal, who has accounted for two in four Little League World Series contests.

“They had their moments and they’ve stepped up at the opportunity,” Oda said. “We’ve felt as coaches we really wanted to give these other kids a chance. Hat’s off to Cohen (Sakamoto) and Jaron (Lancaster) — they have pitched a lot of innings for us. We wanted to let Jaron rest.”

Sakamoto will get the nod to open today’s championship contest, Oda confirmed Friday.

Sakamoto hasn’t given up a hit in three appearances. He appears confident in his abilities in both hitting and pitching.

“Pitching in front of the crowd is really exciting,” Sakamoto said. “It gets the adrenaline going.”

Lancaster will likely make an appearance at some point today or Sunday if Honolulu advances to the World Championship. Even if he doesn’t pitch, Lancaster will likely have an impact on both defense and offense.

He has been outstanding in the middle of Honolulu’s defense. Lancaster’s arm strength almost gives him the ability to just stop grounders to make throws across the infield for outs.

“Me being able to make those plays really backs up the pitcher,” Lancaster said. “It gives the pitcher confidence when I can make those kinds of plays. With my bat, I always try to hit well and back up the pitching.”

Lancaster has even helped himself at times with timely hitting.

“If I have to go on the mound, I can back myself up with those hits,” Lancaster said.

The entire team has backed up its pitching and hitting at times, cruising to its impressive 4-0 start to the Series. Honolulu enters as the clear favorite, but don’t let any of the players know.

“People say we live up to those high expectations,” Sakamoto said. “We don’t try. We just play for fun and all that.”

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TV: 9:30 a.m. today, KITV