Central East Maui capitalized on wildness and mistakes over the first three innings to beat Litchfield Park (Ariz.) 13-9 on Wednesday at the Little League 12-U West Regional in San Bernardino, Calif.
Central East Maui (2-1) had seven hits, drew seven walks and got hit by pitches three times. Litchfield Park threw six wild pitches and committed four errors, which led to five unearned runs.
Central East Maui will play Eastvale (Southern Calif.) in Friday’s final at 3 p.m., with a berth in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., on the line. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Eastvale defeated Central East Maui 11-3 on Tuesday.
Central East Maui jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Litchfield Park.
Brextyn Hong hit a two-run homer to right, Kellen Takamura was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Cam Kaneshiro had a run-scoring groundout, and Eassie Miller and Takamura scored on a pair of errors by the shortstop.
Litchfield Park got within 6-4 in the bottom half of the inning. Central East Maui extended the lead to 9-4 in the second when Kamalei Leynes-Santos scored on a wild pitch, Evan Tavares hit an RBI single and Kanon Nakama hit a sacrifice fly.
Litchfield Park scored one in the bottom to cut the deficit to four. Litchfield Park left the bases loaded.
Central East Maui went ahead 12-5 in the third when Miller scored on a wild pitch and Matthew Yang ripped a two-run double.
Litchfield Park scored four two-out runs in the fifth to get within 12-9.
Central East Maui added an insurance run in the sixth on Kolten Magno’s single, which scored Takamura.
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LITTLE LEAGUE REGIONAL
12-U West Regional
At San Bernardino, Calif.
Wednesday
Central East Maui 13, Litchfield Park (Arizona) 9
W—Kamalei Leynes-Santos.
Leading hitters—Central East Maui: Evan Tavares 2 runs; Brextyn Hong 2-3, HR, 2 RBIs; Eassie Miller 2 runs; Kellen Takamura 3 runs; Matthew Yang 2b, 2 RBIs.
Friday
Championship: Eastvale (Southern California) vs. Central East Maui (2-1), 3 p.m., ESPN
Winner goes to Little League World Series
Cal Ripken
9-U World Series
At Florence, Ala.
Wednesday
Lineville (Ala.) 4, Central Oahu 3
Leading hitters—Central Oahu: Kolten Ka‘ai 2-3; Baron Lopez 2-2; Knoxin Reyes 2 runs; Tripp Chun 2b.
Note: Central Oahu (2-2) will play Muscle Shoals (Ala.) in today’s quarterfinals at 4 a.m. (HST).
11-U World Series
At Florence, Ala.
Wednesday
Manoa Youth Baseball 8, Fairhope (Ala.) 0
W—Noah Yamada.
Leading hitters—Manoa Youth Baseball: Jake Owens 2-3; Zayden Ito 2-3; Alex Iwane 2-3, 2 runs.
Note: Manoa Youth Baseball’s Cameron Higuchi (22⁄3 inn.) and Noah Yamada combined on a one-hitter.
Manoa Youth Baseball (3-1) will play Florence Red (Ala.) in today’s quarterfinals at 7 a.m
