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Hawaii downs Tennessee, returns to Little League World Series championship

By Evan Wheaton 5 min read

Hawaii's Little League baseball team has been, to put it lightly, wreaking complete and utter havoc ever since touching down on the mainland in South Williamsport, Pa.

Through the 2022 Little League World Series, Honolulu outscored opponents 42-1 with three mercy rules en route to the United States Championship, where it had a rematch with Southeast regional champ Tennessee.

Nolensville's lone loss of the tournament was at the hands of Hawaii in a 13-0 shortened contest. In the second meeting of the two, Honolulu once again fired on all cylinders, bumping Tennessee to the third-place match after a 5-1 win at Lamade Stadium Saturday.

"My phone is blowing up as we speak," Hawaii manager Geraldo Oda said in the postgame press conference room, phone in hand. "Baseball, in our community in Honolulu, is big. There's multiple leagues and so forth that any time a team, whether it's baseball, football, anything, it all means to represent our great state of Hawaii. It's an honor, but it's also a big responsibility."

Following a 1-2-3 opening frame, Nolensville's field showed a brief sign of resistance making two outs, but a base hit from Jaron Lancaster and RBI double from Daly Watson quickly washed that notion away.

Another two runs were poured on in the following inning. Cohen Sakamoto led off the bottom of with a knock to the left corner of the wall. A fielder's choice erased him, but a walk allowed two runners on and a wild pitch advanced them into scoring position.

Tau Purcell grounded out but forced in the lead runner. Back at the top of the West juggernaut's order, Kekoa Payanal put one in center to drive in another.

"The first at-bat, I didn't really need a hit, so I just needed to pick up my teammates and keep going on," Payanal said.

Only one runner reached base for Tennessee in the first three innings on a catcher's interference. Sakamoto reached his 85th pitch to end his mound duties of the tournament after 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven with two hits allowed and no walks.

Luke Hiromoto relieved Sakamoto and his first pitch turned into a fielder's choice to leave a runner stranded. Hiromoto pitched the remainder of the game and struck out one with one hit.

For a moment, just a moment, Hawaii was dealt a small chink in its armor. A base hit from Jack Rhodes (2 for 3) followed by a drop in the shallow infield allowed runners on the corners with no outs for Nolensville.

First baseman Wright Martin grounded out, but drove in Rhodes to cut the game to two runs. It was only the second time all tournament a run was scored against Hawaii.

"We kept it a game. It couldn't be any worse than we were last time. Thirteen-nothing in three and a half innings? That's pretty gross," Tennessee manager Randy Huth said. "We haven't been beat like that before, but that team does that to other teams."

Huth added, "They're that good. Really well coached team, they hit a ton. You watch their launch angles on their bats when they swing, they all have that major league launch angle style where it's all or nothing. We were hoping today we would get some of the nothing."

Sakamoto struck out his following two batters to pull Hawaii out of the inning.

"Getting those two strikeouts, I wasn't really pressured because I knew I had a great defense behind me and even if I didn't, I knew someone was going to have my back," Sakamoto said.

What was Hawaii's response offensively? A two-run shot right over the center wall from Ruston Hiyoto in the bottom half to pull away. Nolensvillensville's club was outhit 6-3.

Honolulu captured the 2018 Little League World Series championship before reaching last year's semifinals. This marks the first time since winning it all Hawaii is back in the Final.

"Coming to Williamsport of course is everybody's dream. The reality is that only 20 teams make it here," Oda said. "We stress to these kids that it's great to have big dreams, you have to have big dreams, big goals. The important thing is whether or not you have the accomplishment, it's whether or not you give up and you keep trying."

Hawaii will play International champion Curaçao in the Little League World Series Championship at 3 p.m. Sunday at Lamade Stadium. Tennessee will face International runner-up Chinese Taipei in the third-place match at 10 a.m. at Lamade.

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