The 2011 Hawaii State 10-11 Little league State Championship game is set. Pearl City emerged from the loser's bracket with a 7-5 win over MKH (Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale) on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 to advance to the championship game against Waipio on Thursday, June 23.
Pearl City will need to defeat Waipio twice on Thursday to take the championship title. Waipio is undefeated in the double elimination format tournament and can walk away with the championship with a win in game one which is scheduled for 1:00pm. If necessary, game two will start at 3:30pm.
Pearl City ran into a tough, and well coached MKH team on Wednesday, that had beaten Pearl City, 2-1 in the opening round of the tournament on June 17.
In the top of the first inning on Wednesday, Pearl City sent their ace, Alihikaua Rodrigues to the mound to face the top of the MKH batting order. MKH scored one run in the inning on a pick off attempt from the catcher to first base that went through to the outfield scoring #4 Keith Torres. MKH led 1-0.
Pearl City came back in the bottom of the first inning with two runs off of MKH starting pitcher, Keith Torres. Lead off batter, Darian Obara was hit by the first pitch and took first base. #10 Kahiau Anderson struck out for out number one. Obara advanced to second base on a pass ball at the plate. Rodrigues hit a single to left field that advanced Obara to third base. #2 Kanoa Meredith entered the game as a special runner for Rodrigues at first base. Meredith reached second base on a steal. Mason Cordero hit an RBI single to left field that scored Obara from third. MKH made a pitching change with one out and one across, bringing in #88 Kincaid to the mound. Cordero advanced to second base on a pass ball. Meredith moved to third base. Next batter, #5 Brannon Liu hit an RBI infield single that scored Meredith from third for the second run in the inning. Liu got picked off attempting to steal second base and Cordero was gunned down trying to score at home to end the inning. Pearl City took a 2-1 lead going to the top of the second inning.
Both teams put up 2 runs a piece in the top and bottom of the second inning. No scoring in third inning.
Pearl City went up on MKH, 7-3 with three runs in the bottom of fourth inning. MKH made a pitching change in the bottom of the fourth inning, bringing in Chance Beyer from center field to the mound. Lead off batter, Kanoa Meredith reached first base on a pop up single that dropped in between second and third base. #4 Ethan Kwon reached first base on an infield single. Meredith took second on a throwing error. #1 Sam Prentice came in the game to pinch run for Kwon at first base. Darian Obara hit a single to right field that scored Meredith from second and Prentice from first. Obara hustled to second base on the play and reached third on a throwing error at second. Next batter, Kahiau Anderson hit an RBI single that drove in Obara from third for the third run in the inning. Next batter, Rodrigues hit a line drive to the right fielder who fired the ball to first base to get Anderson out at first base. MKH made a pitching change, bringing in #13 Andrei Stoyanow in relief and sending Beyer to center field. Next batter, Mason Cordero reached first base on a walk that was contested by the MKH manager. There was a question with regard tto the pitch count on Cordero. After about a 25 minute delay, while tournament officials went over the pitch count with the umpires and scorekeepers, a decision was made after a call to Little League officials in San Bernadino, California to go with the umpires pitch count, which resulted in Cordero taking first base on a walk. Next batter #5 Brannon Liu reached first base on error by the third baseman. Cordero advanced to second base on the play. #20 Jzayven Moreno grounded out to the third base for the third out of the inning.
MKH picked a couple runs in the top of the fifth inning to close the deficit to 7-5. Pearl City made a pitching change after MKH got a runner on in scoring position with not outs in the inning. Pearl City brought in #2 Kanoa Meredith in relief of Rodrigues. #4 Torres drove in Kincaide from second base with an RBI single. Next batter, #13 Stoyanow reached first base on an infield single that pushed Torres to second base. MKH loaded the bases on a hard hit ball by #5 Noja Ramiscal to Liu at shortstop who threw to second but was too late to get the runner. Next batter, #1 Tony Montoya hit an RBI single to right field that scored Torres from third with one out in the inning. Meredith struckout the next batter, #12 Destyn White for out number two. #3 Isaiah Ferry grounded out to third base for the third out.
No scoring in the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth inning. The game ended on a flyout to Pearl City center fielder, Sam Prentice for the third out in the top of the sixth inning.
Congratulations to the MKH team for a great tournament!
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City starting pitcher, Alihikaua Rodrigues earned the win against MKH. Rodrigues threw four complete innings in the win.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
#11 Darian Obara came, once again for Pearl City with a 2 RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning that put Pearl City up 6-3 over MKH. Obara would later score in the inning from third base on an RBI single by Kahiau Anderson.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
#4 Keith Torres scores for MKH in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by #1 Tony Montoya.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City and MKH players and coaches congratulate each other at the end of the game.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City teammates "grinding out" after Wednesday's win over MKH.
@ Aikahi Elementary School
MKH 1 2 0 0 2 0 5
Pearl City 2 2 0 3 0 x 7
WP Rodrigues
LP Torres