Pearl City brought home the 2013 Hawaii Little League Junior District 7 Championship after defeating Waipio 7-3 on Sunday, July 7 at Hans L ‘Orange Field in Waipahu.
It was the second win for Pearl City over Waipio in the double elimination tournament Pearl City defeated Waipio 8-2 on Friday, July 5 to advance to the championship. Waipio beat Waipahu 8-7 on Saturday, July 6 for a spot in the championship.
Pearl City will represent District 7 in the state championship tournament scheduled for July 12-15 at Hans L ‘Orange Field.
Pearl City's Ethan Momohara earned the win tossing five complete innings. Dillin Hasegawa and Micah Balderas worked the sixth and seventh innings in relief.
Carson Okada and Vance Miyamoto worked the hill for Waipio.
Congratulations to Waipio for a great District 7 Championship Tournament!
Mahalo to the followng District 7 Officials:
District Administrator: Karene Garma
Tournament Director: Karene Garma
Official Scorekeeper: Liane Nakamura
Official Pitch Counter: Je-Nell Abeshima
Umpire Coordinator: Clif Yaguchi
Host League President: Marie Barrozo/Rochelle Barcenilla
Congratulations to the Champs!
PEARL CITY
2013 Hawaii Little League Junior District 7 Champions!
Kawika Akutagawa – Micah Balderas – Jansen Bigornia – Nainoa Chun – Wil Cordes – Dillin Hasegawa – Joshua Kam – Drake Lee – Ethan Momohara – Kaleb Nishijo – DeShane Stevens – Elijah Turell
Manager, Travis Nishijo
Assistant Coaches:
Gary Hasegawa,
Dawn Akutagawa
PCLL President, Liane Nakamura
Scoring Summary:
Top 1
Lead-off hitter Micah Balderas hit an infield grounder with the throw to first base sailing past the first baseman allowing Balderas to take second base. Balderas advanced to third base on a balk by Waipio starting pitcher Carson Okada. Next batter Wil Cordes walked. The ball four-pitch got away from the catcher allowing Balderas to score the first run of the ball game from third base. Drake Lee drilled a shot into left/center field putting runners on second and third with no outs. Dillin Hasegawa drove in Cordes from third base with an RBI single. Lee scored from third base on a pick-off attempt at first base that got past the first baseman. Hasegawa moved up to second base on the play. Kaleb Nishijo popped out for the first out of the inning. Hasegawa got tagged out at third base attempting to steal from second base. Joshua Kam popped out to the catcher for the third out.
Pearl City scored three runs on one hit with no runners left on base.
Pearl City 3-0
Top 3
Wil Cordes walked to lead-off the inning. Cordes advanced to second base on a steal. Next batter Drake Lee flied out to deep left field for the first out. Cordes advanced to third base. Dillin Hasegawa grounded out for the second out. Kaleb Nishijo hit an RBI single scoring Cordes from third base. Nishijo moved up to second base on a pass ball at the plate. Next batter Joshua Kam struck out for the third out.
Pearl City scored one run on one hit with one runner left on base.
Pearl City 4-0
Bottom 3
Carson Okada led off the inning with a single to left field. Next batter Ethyn Muller hit into a double play. Ace Szalkus hit an infield grounder with the throw to first base getting past the first baseman allowing Szalkus to advance to second base. Next batter Matthew Aribal hit a grounder to the shortstop who threw the ball over the head of the first baseman allowing Szalkus to score from second base. Aribal made it to second base on the play. Hunter Mendiola lined out to Wil Cordes at third base for the third out.
Waipio scored one run on one hit with one runner left on base.
Pearl City 4-1
Bottom 4
Aaron Yamasaki reached first base on a walk with one out. Ethan Momohara walked the next batter Tyler Kobashigawa . Waipio had runners on first and second with one out. Chad Wakabayashi came into the game to pinch run for Kobashigawa at first base. Jensen Kaya hit a one out single into center field to load the bases. Yamasaki scored from third base on a sac fly by Carson Okada to deep left field. Momohara struck out Ethyn Muller for the third out of the inning.
Waipio scored one run on one hit with two runners left on base.
Pearl City 4-2
Top 5
Wil Cordes walked to lead off the top of the inning. Cordes advanced to second base on a steal. Next batter Drake Lee walked. Cordes hustled to third base on ball four. Cordes scored from third base on a pass ball at the plate. Lee moved up to second base on the play. Dillin Hasegawa hit an RBI double over the right fielder's head scoring Lee from second base. Pearl City took a 6-2 lead over Waipio. Next batter Kaleb Nishijo popped out for the first out of the inning. Joshua Kam flied out to center field for the second out. Next batter Ethan Momohara flied out for the third out.
Pearl City scored two runs on one hit with one runner left on base.
Pearl City 6-2
Top 6
Nainoa Chun flied out to lead off the inning. Elijah Turell hit a one out single into left field. Next batter Micah Balderas stroked a double down the left field line. Pearl City had runners on second and third with one out. Wil Cordes hit an infield grounder that trapped Turell in a rundown between third and home. Balderas broke for third base while Turell tried to score from third but was tagged out at the plate. On the play, Balderas reached third base while Cordes scooted to second base. Pearl City had runners on second and third with two outs in the inning. Next batter Drake Lee hit an RBI single into center field scoring Balderas from third. Pearl City pulled off a double steal advancing Cordes to third and Lee to second. Next batter Dillin Hasegawa flied out for the third out.
Pearl City scored one run on three hits with two runners left on base.
Pearl City 7-2
Bottom 6
Pearl City made a pitching change bringing in Dillin Hasegawa in relief of Ethan Momohara. Jensen Kaya jumped on Hasegawa with a double into left/center field to lead off the inning. Next batter Carson Okada walked. Kaya took off for third base and was tagged out for the first out. Ethyn Muller popped out to third base for the second out. Next batter Ace Szalkus walked. Hasegawa walked the next batter to load the bases. The following batter walked scoring Okada from third base. Pearl City made a pitching change bringing in Micah Balderas with the bases loaded and two outs. Balderas struck out Jayme Daszek for the third out to end the inning.
Waipio scored one run on one hit with three runners left on base.
Pearl City 7-3
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Starting pitcher Ethan Momohara pitched five complete innings to earn the championship win for Pearl City.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City's Dillin Hasegawa worked 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Ethan Momohara. Hasegawa
pictured on the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Micah Balderas took the mound in relief of Dillin Hasegawa with two outs in the bottom of the
sixth inning. Balderas pictured closing out the ball game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Play of the Game!
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
DeShane Stevens beats the throw to second base in the top of the fourth inning. DeShane gave it a
110% effort to make it from home plate to second base after the ball got away from the catcher on a
strike three count.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Heart of a Champion!
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City Little League President, Liane Nakamura hands Pearl City teammates Micah Balderas,
Wil Cordes and Drake Lee the 2013 Little League Baseball Junior League Hawaii District 7
Championship banner.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]