Hawaii will be an extremely tough opponent for Tennessee in final

Before playing Honolulu, Hawaii, every Little League World Series manager has heard a similar line.

All have told them that Hawaii would be unlike any previous opponent. And none of its Series opponents will disagree.

The West champions have put on one of the most awesome baseball displays by a Series team in the 2000s, outscoring four opponents, 42-1 and mercy-ruling three. They have steamrolled their way into Saturday's U.S. Final and are two wins from becoming the Honolulu Little League's second world champion since 2018.

"They're good. I don't know any other way to say it," Pearland, Texas manager Aaron Cummings said after Hawaii defeated his team, 6-0 last Monday. "Everybody said that's going to be the best team we've played all year and they were."

Many already have crowned Hawaii the champion but that title remains up for grabs. It still has to be won on the field and Nolensville, Tennessee also has a shot to wear that crown. A decorated league which has made four Series appearances since 2013 is enjoying its best season ever and has a chance to put quite an exclamation point on its tremendous season.

Tennessee earned that opportunity Thursday night when it defeated, Pearland, Texas, 7-1, After Hawaii handed Tennessee its only Series loss and beating 13-0 in Wednesday's winner's bracket final, Tennessee has yearned for a second chance. Now it has that coveted opportunity Saturday afternoon when it plays Hawaii in the U.S. Championship.

The winner heads to Sunday's world final and will play the International champion. It is quite a showdown between leagues which have made seven combined Series appearances since 2013 and who both were participants last year.

"We're gritty; we're resilient and if someone can't get it done there's always somebody to jump up and get it done for us," Tennessee manager Randy Huth said. "It's seemed to work so far and we'll see what happens."

Tennessee has put together a remarkable season. Still, the Southeast champions understand they are a decided underdog in this game. Not that it matters. It's one game and anything goes. This team won five straight games in five days after losing to Columbia in the state tournament, beating it twice in the final and it believes something similar can happen now.

"The pressure is on them. We have no pressure. They beat us so bad last time that there's nobody expecting us to win," Huth said. "Those guys might not be able to be beat, but who knows? But if they can, somebody has to do it. If they're beatable, why not us?

It is a tall task, however.

Honolulu has become a baseball factory, reaching the semifinals for the third time in four years. This team has been particularly dominant. It entered the Series as the U.S favorite after barreling through a tough West regional and only bolstered that role with every impressive performance here.

There may be no such thing as a perfectly played baseball game but Hawaii has come pretty close four times. The pitchers have allowed just four hits in four games, the offense has produced a Series-high 11 home runs and the defense has not made an error. Hawaii is hitting a collective .413, five players have hit home runs and it has scored at least six runs in each game, topping 10 three times.

Complicating matters for its opponents, Hawaii has shown an pre-crazy Mike Tyson knack for knocking out its opponents early with resounding haymakers. Hawaii has jumped all over three straight opponents in the first inning, hitting home runs in that opening inning each time. Twice Kekoa Payanal, the lone player back from last year's team, has hit first-inning, leadoff home runs.

Payanal did it again in Wednesday's winner's bracket final. He was one of our players who hit five home runs in that game with Hawaii doing all its offensive damage in just three innings.

When playing Hawaii it feels like one must play a near flawless game to have a chance and falling behind right away makes it especially feel like a Herculean task.

"You look at this team that we're playing and you see something that is pretty invincible," Huth said. "You hope to be able to get something on them early but when you don't it was just a snowball effect."

There really is no way to pitch around this team either. Jaron Lancaster may be the most imposing player, standing 5-foot-10 and featuring ridiculous five-tool talent, but those hitting in front of and behind him also are mighty dangerous. Cleanup hitter Daly Watson has homered in two straight games and No. 6 batter Cohen Sakamoto has gone off, hitting .714 with two home runs and a Series-best nine RBIs.

"It feels good to have two home runs," Watson said. "But my teammates have done a lot contributing to the wins and it feels good."

That's the thing about this team. Hawaii lives its motto, "We, not me." Nobody cares about stats, only about the team and doing what it takes to win.

That carries to the pitching staff which has been every bit as dominant as the offense. Five pitchers have combined to not allow a run in 15 straight innings. Hawaii produced a no-hitter against New York, one-hitters against Washington and Texas and a two-hitter against Tennessee. Lancaster throws in the mid-70 mile per hour range and Sakamoto has yet to surrender a hit in nine innings while striking out 17. Both pitchers are eligible to throw Saturday.

"They have a real strict regimen of drills and exercise. We do a lot of conditioning throughout the year," Hawaii coach Keith Oda said. "These guys will tell you it's not easy but it pays off in times like this. They're just physically stronger (now). When they have to reach back and reach that velocity they can do that."

So with Hawaii playing at exceptional level, the question is how can it be beaten?

Well, it is sports and its history is littered with huge upsets. And they are 12-year-old kids. Some wonder how Hawaii will respond if the opponents turns the tables and jumps on it, something which has yet to happen here.

Honolulu teams have proven resilient in 2018 and 2021, but at the Series, at least this team has not found itself in a 12-round type fight. What Tennessee would like to do is at least keep it close until late and see what happens.

"The one thing you have to take away from it is what will happen if that team was in a close game? We don't know," Huth said. "What would happen if they had to dig down deep in a gritty, grind of a game. We just don't know. No one has seen it yet, even in their regional games."

Tennessee has shown it can handle those kind of thrillers throughout the season. The Southeast champions displayed their mettle in the state tournament before going undefeated and repeating as regional champions. Tennessee trailed that game 2-0 in the fifth inning and 2-1 in the sixth before coming back and winning, 5-2.

Tennessee has played some of its best baseball under pressure, showing it again when it edged Indiana, 5-2 in seven innings last Monday. That day, Indiana tied the game in the sixth and had the bases loaded with two outs. Jack Rhodes struck out the next two batters and William Satinoff made an incredible, game-saving catch to force extra innings where Tennessee scored three times.

Rhodes and Satinoff played on last year's Series team. That experience has been huge. Now all the other players feel just as experienced and all have delivered throughout the summer and at the Series. Thursday against Texas, eight players produced hits, Josiah Porter smashed a grand slam and Drew Chadwick threw a brilliant six-hitter as the Southeast champions made an impressive statement.

"The way they hit (Thursday), I think they'll play them a lot better. It's not going to be a run-rule, that's for sure. I was super impressed with Tennessee and their bats," Cummings said. "The guys we threw at them have thrown well all year against good competition. If they go in with that approach, they can hang. Hawaii is going to be tough, but I think Tennessee is going to be all right. It won't be what you saw the other day."

What Tennessee has achieved on the field and history shows it certainly has a legitimate shot. Several world champions throughout the 2000s have won rematches in the semifinals, including the last two champions. Ironically, those teams, Louisiana and Michigan, each beat Hawaii in those rematches.

As dominant as Hawaii has been it has never lost its focus. This team takes nothing for granted and long has earned rave reviews for how it conducts itself off the field. When Hawaii won that 2018 world title, it also earned the Jack Losch Sportsmanship Award the same day.

Following the win, manager Gerald Oda said that award might have meant more than the championship. He likely would feel the same way this year. Hawaii has proven itself a phenomenal team and it has done so by following a similar formula.

It could be one which sends Hawaii all the way again.

"It makes us coaches very proud of our players that they buy in and believe it. It's not about one player and it's not just about one coach either. When I went down, how these kids just kept moving forward was great," said Oda, who missed the first three games after testing positive for COVID. "We've been stressing to our kids that some days you're going to do great and some days you're going to have a bad day but whether you're the starting pitcher or coming off the bench you're just as important. We all have a role together. As long as we stick together and we support and love one another, no matter what, it's going to be a great day.

"I speak on myself of my brother Keith and Coach Willis, (saying) that brings us the biggest joy when these guys really buy in and really support and love one another."

Huth and his coaches share similar sentiments about their players. The matchup is set and only one team will win, but when the tournament concludes both teams will understand they have already long established themselves as huge winners.

Look at where they are now.

"We're one of the top two teams in the country right now; top four teams in the world. We never thought this would happen. We believed in ourselves but the chances of getting to this point are so hard," Huth said. "You have to have so many breaks, a little bit of luck and a whole lot of skill. To get here is virtually impossible and after going 0-2 last year, to come back and do it this year for our community is just a magical experience. I'm sure everyone on our team would say the same exact thing. "What a ride."