The stars appeared to align for Kaneohe Little League to make history on its home field.

For the first time, Hawaii State Little League would crown its West Region representative at Alice Hewett Field. It seemed a good omen. The last time Kaneohe won the state tournament was 1982. Its head coach, Colby Kashimoto, played on that team. They were one win away from a storybook finish in Heeia.

Central East Maui, a team Kaneohe had already beaten, needed two wins Sunday to steal the spotlight and advance to San Bernardino, Calif., from the loser’s bracket. The Maui players likely knew little to nothing about the magnitude of the moment for their opponent.

So they made it theirs, 21 runs later.

Maui won 13-0 and 8-2 amid a bout of dominance that left Kaneohe helpless in its pursuit of what would’ve been a landmark championship.

“We pretty much told them this is the end of the line,” Maui head coach Daniel Bolduc said of his message to the team after dropping to the loser’s bracket.

“These young kids, if they can get the mindset right, to battle, to compete, to never give up, all these boys going to be successful in life. That’s baseball. … We just (told) them if you guys quit today, you might quit tomorrow. So compete till the end.”

When Kaneohe walked off a 5-2 win over Maui in the winner’s bracket semifinal, Evan Tavares did not pitch. Kaneohe had no answer for him when he did in Sunday’s first game.

The entire Maui team, according to Bolduc and Kashimoto, fed off of his success.

“I really think they play differently when Tavares is not on the mound,” Kashimoto said.

The Maui southpaw ace recorded all 15 outs via strikeout en route to a five-inning shutout. He might’ve thrown a handful of offspeed pitches all game. His fastball, which Kashimoto said regularly reached the equivalent of 94-98 mph from an MLB mound, looked as close to untouchable as humanly possible. Kaneohe had only three hits with an extra baserunner that Tavares gifted via a walk.

Measure that up against a Maui offense led by Kanon Nakama-Ribao’s two multi-RBI home runs and Tavares’ grand slam, and you get a run-rule performance.

“I just want to strike out every player,” Tavares said.

The 45-minute break that prefaced the second game did little to stunt Maui’s momentum.

It connected on hit after hit, to the tune of cheers that poured in throughout a five-run first inning. Kaneohe also did not help itself with a number of early defensive errors.

With Cam Kaneshiro on the bump, Maui found itself in prime position. Kaneshiro did not throw nearly as fast as Tavares. But that was the idea, Bolduc said. The contrast was stark, and Kaneshiro accrued a number of whiffs with his offspeed repertoire. He completed four scoreless innings and struck out eight Kaneohe batters.

Maui’s 6-0 lead with two innings left was damning for its host, which had struggled to produce any offense all day.

Kaneohe added two runs in the final two frames. One scored on an error.

“We played a really, really tough team,” Kashimoto said. “They have some shutdown pitching. They have a lot of fire, which is what they’re going to need when they move on in the mainland. … They have a chance to get to the World Series. I honestly think they do.”