In case any of the honorees of Thursday’s parade of Hawaii’s youth baseball champions needed an absence note, proclamations and certificates signed by the governor and mayor figure would suffice.
The celebration of the
titles won this summer by Honolulu Little League and Kado Hawaii continued with ceremonies at Washington Place and Honolulu Hale. A festive midday parade down King Street bridged the presentations.
Along the way, family and fans of the teams were joined by workers from the office buildings lining the route in cheering on the Honolulu Little League team that returned from Williamsport, Pa., with Hawaii’s fourth Little League World Series championship, and the Kado Hawaii team that captured the Babe Ruth 13-U World Series title in Glen Allen, Va.
One young fan in front of Iolani Palace held up a sign reading, “Ditched school to see The Champs.”
“To be honest, I didn’t think anybody was going to come out today because it’s a school day and a workday,” said Honolulu’s Kekoa Payanal, who got a day off from his seventh grade classes at Punahou. “But I was really thankful they came to see us.”
The teams began the morning with a reception at Washington Place where Gov. David Ige proclaimed Sept. 8 “Honolulu Little League Day” and “Kado Hawaii Baseball Day” in the state and praised the teams’ demeanor as much as their performances on the diamond in rolling through their respective tournaments.
“Thank you for being terrific ambassadors of aloha to the world,” Ige said in his remarks to the players.
A city bus reserved for the players and their families shuttled them to Aala Park for the start of the
parade, which celebrated Hawaii’s history of youth baseball champions.
Upon the teams’ arrival at Honolulu Hale, Mayor Rick Blangiardi bestowed similar praise and proclamations to the teams and presented Honolulu coach Gerald Oda, now a two-time LLWS champion, with a key to the city. Each Honolulu player also received a personalized Louisville Slugger bat.
“Just nothing but appreciation for the mayor for throwing such a big celebration for the kids,” Oda said as the festivities began to wind down. “At the same time, we just deeply appreciate this opportunity for all of us — the players, the parents and the coaches — to really thank everyone in Hawaii for giving us the love and support while we were playing in the World Series.”
While waiting for the
introductions, Jaron Lancaster, Honolulu’s power-
hitting shortstop and co-ace of the pitching staff, signed autographs for some of the players from younger divisions who took part in the parade — already a role model at 12.
“It’s unbelievable knowing how much love and support we had,” Lancaster said. “It’s good for us being able to show the world what Hawaii has, and hopefully we can have the youth look up to us. I hope I set a good example for the younger kids.”
A few members of the Kado Hawaii team played for Oda in the younger division last summer. Under coach Donny Kadokawa, the team captured the Pacific Southwest Regional title in Price, Utah, on its way to the Babe Ruth 13-U World Series in Virginia.
“It’s just been awesome,” said La‘akea Inglis, a Mid-Pacific eighth grader. “I was with (Oda) last summer, so it’s good that they won and we won, and it was a great experience the whole summer being with all my friends in all these states.”
Along with the championship banner, Kado Hawaii came home with the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award.
“It’s just amazing for the kids, the families, and I think it’s amazing for baseball and sports in general in Hawaii,” Kadokawa said after the Washington Place ceremony. “It pays tribute to the Shane Victorinos, the Kolten Wongs and the pro guys who played before. For these kids to carry on their tradition is phenomenal.”
Several other teams that advanced to national tournaments took part in the parade, including Honolulu Little League’s team that reached the Junior League (ages 12-14) World Series in Taylor Mich. Much of that team had prepared for a run at the 2020 Little League World Series before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down those hopes.
“It’s so awesome because we practiced so hard that year,” coach Donn Arizumi said. “We knew all the plays, we knew everything (Oda) coached these guys to do, and then we didn’t go. So for us to go as 14s and have this kind of celebration, it means so much for these kids.”
Along with honoring the state’s newest champions, the city-sponsored parade paid tribute to the past by including members of the Ewa Beach team that won Hawaii’s first Little League World Series title in 2005 and Honolulu Little League’s 2018 world champions.
“It definitely brings back a lot of memories,” said Alakai Aglipay, an Ewa Beach standout in ’05 and now the head baseball coach at Maryknoll. “I wasn’t expecting it, but really thankful for the opportunity. … That was exciting, and it’s a good excuse to have a reunion with our boys again.”
The Ewa Beach championship was followed by Waipio’s LLWS title in 2008. Honolulu broke through again in 2018, and this year’s group of 12-year-olds again captivated the state with a dominant run through the U.S. bracket in Williamsport and a win over Curacao in the title game.
Aglipay said the 2005 title,which ended with Michael Memea’s memorable walk-off home run, “opened the conversation of ‘everything’s possible now.’”
“You broke the barriers of winning on that world stage, so I’m glad to see three other teams win it after us,” Aglipay said.
The Ewa Beach players were among the early groups making the walk down King Street along with the Marine Corps band, high school marching bands, pageant queens and dignitaries.
The Kado Hawaii team waved to supporters from a trolley and the Honolulu team made the ride on the back of a fire engine, just as the 2018 team had four years ago.
“I know they totally enjoyed it, but I don’t think they’re going to really appreciate this until they get older when they look back,” Oda said. “Especially when they have kids and they can share these stories with their own sons and daughters and say when they were 12 years old, guess what, they were able to have a parade through Downtown Honolulu and sit on a fire truck. That is pretty amazing.”
