A late rally fell short and the Central East Maui All-Star team lost its opener in the Little League Baseball West regional today in San Bernardino, Calif.

Angel Chavez struck out 14 and Rio Rico (Ariz.) held off Central East Maui in the bottom of the sixth in a 3-2 win at Al Houghton Stadium.

Rio Rico (1-1) did all of its scoring in a three-run fourth-inning rally in support of Chavez, who took a perfect game into the sixth.

Only three Maui batters put the ball in play through 5 2/3 innings against Chavez before Kekoa Ostermiller broke up the perfect game with a walk. Ka’o Mindoro followed with a single to center for Maui’s first hit.

Nevan Watanabe walked to load the bases and Ostermiller scored on a wild pitch to Orion Miyasato-Farias. Mindoro then scored on Miyasato-Farias’ infield single to bring Maui within a run.

With runners on first and third, Cesar Dominguez relieved Chavez and got Kawena Alo-Kaonohi to ground to shortstop for a fielder’s choice to end the game.

Central East Maui (0-1) continues pool play against Ocean View LL (Southern California) on Sunday at 5 p.m. Hawaii time.