With a mandated curfew only minutes away, Aukai Kea ended all the drama with one swing of the bat.
Good thing, too. Honolulu manager Gerald Oda had seen enough.
Representing the West Region in the Little League World Series, the Honolulu team won a pitcher’s duel over Southeast Region representative Peachtree City American (Georgia) 2-0 in the last game played Friday night in Williamsport, Pa.
Kea, who began the evening as Hawaii’s starting pitcher, ended it as the hero after he lined a two-run homer to left with one out in the 11th inning just six minutes before the midnight curfew that would have brought both teams back to play at 5 a.m. Hawaii time today. The matchup tied the longest game innings-wise in LLWS history. Reliever Sean Yamaguchi got the win. Ben Traxler was tagged with the loss.
The victory puts Honolulu into the winners bracket of this double-elimination event. The local kids will play Grosse Pointe, Mich. — which rallied to beat Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, 5-4 — on Sunday at 2 p.m. Hawaii time. Georgia will face Idaho at 2 p.m. today, with the loser going home.
“That was a long game,” Oda said in a phone call about an hour after the victory. “We are all drained and fortunate to get this win the way we did. Now, we can rest a day before we have to play again. It would have been so hard on the kids to lose this game tonight or have to come back and play again Saturday morning.”
Honolulu had a chance to score early against talented starting Georgia pitcher Jansen Kenty by loading the bases with one out in the first inning. But Kenty settled down, striking out the next two batters to get out of the inning unscathed. He yielded four hits and no runs while striking out 12 in 51⁄3 innings of work.
“He’s a stud,” Oda said of Kenty. “We watched him on ESPN and knew how good he was. Tough to open up against a pitcher like that.”
Meanwhile, Kea was pitching even better, holding Peachtree hitless through the first three frames. He wound up going 61⁄3 innings, yielding two singles and one walk and striking out 10. He left the game with a man on first and one out, handing the ball over to reliever Ka’olu Holt, who yielded a two-out single but got out of the inning with a flyout to left. Oda said Holt will get the start against Michigan on Sunday.
Georgia didn’t get a baserunner in the opening game for both teams until Kenty managed an infield hit, but he was erased on a nifty 6-4-3 double play turned by shortstop Taylin Oana, second baseman Yamaguchi and first baseman Mana Lau Kong.
Both pitchers dominated until the bottom of the fifth, when Honolulu got its first two batters on with a base hit by Jace Souza and a walk to Kong. That brought up Kea, who swings a hefty bat as well. But Kenty rose to the challenge to get him to go down swinging for the first out of the inning. Yamaguchi followed with a fielder’s choice that forced Souza at third. Bruce Boucher ended the inning with a strikeout.
Boucher had another chance to drive in a run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh that would have won the game, but grounded into an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play. Twice Hawaii had the bases loaded with one out. And twice the 12- to 13-year-olds failed to score — once in the first and once in the seventh.
Tanner Chun got hit by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the eighth to give Honolulu a much-needed baserunner. He moved to second with two outs on a fielder’s choice, then headed to the dugout for pinch runner Zachary Won. But the inning ended on a lineout to center by John De La Cruz.
Hawaii had another chance in the 10th, with a leadoff walk to Boucher. He was lifted for pinch runner Won. With two outs, Won moved down to second on a sharp single to center by Caleb Okada. But a popout to first ended the inning and left Hawaii 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position at that point in the game.
“I just want to say how much love and support we appreciate from all our fans back home,” Oda said. “We feel it all the way over here. And let me say, we’re not just representing Honolulu, but the entire state of Hawaii.”
