Maui welcomes home Bronco champions
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
KAHULUI, Maui — Through five innings, the Maui Bronco All-Stars didn't look like a championship-caliber team. It was just the first game of the Hawai'i regional in Wailuku, and the home team was trailing West Kaua'i, 6-1.
Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser
"Things were looking a little grim for us,'' recalled coach Ed Beam. "But the boys pulled it together, came back and we won, 7-6. The team brought its game to a new level, and from then on, it never dropped.''
The Maui Bronco All-Stars baseball team came home to the Valley Isle yesterday after winning the Bronco World Series in Monterey, Calif.
Bolstered by that comeback victory, the team of 11- and 12-year-olds won 12 straight games, sweeping through the Hawai'i Region tournament in Wailuku, the West Zone tournament at Whittier, Calif., and the Bronco World Series at Monterey, Calif. Maui defeated a team from Seoul, South Korea, 11-4, to win the P.O.N.Y. Bronco World Series on Tuesday night.
After spending a few days sightseeing in California, the world champions returned home yesterday, greeted by dozens of parents, relatives and supporters at Kahului Airport.
"I can't describe the feeling,'' said Mark Moniz, whose son, Kalehua Moniz, went 5-for-5, including a solo home run, in the championship game. "It's just awesome. This is something most people can only dream of. For this group to do it, well, it's great.
"It's the best feeling in the world today,'' Moniz said.
Beam, a load of leis around his neck, said he and his coaches knew they had a good team, but he didn't really expect them to get as far as they did.
"None of us had been to a zone tournament before. We thought we'd play competitive, respectable ball,'' he said.
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| Dozens of parents, relatives and supporters greeted the Maui Bronco All-Stars at Kahului Airport yesterday as the team returned from California.
Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser |
"The key was that there was no one individual. There was no star. They were a team and they played together as a team. I can't say enough about the way they pulled together,'' the coach said.
Asian teams had captured the Bronco World Series title four out of the past six years, and the Seoul team put its ace on the mound for the final game, a fireballer who had lots of success up until that time. But Maui hit him hard.
Hitting the fastball seemed to come easy for this team, Beam said. During opening workouts, the boys took extra hitting practice, each taking cuts at 100 to 200 pitches from a pitching machine set at the high school level.
As for pitching, Maui relied on two boys throughout the playoff run: Kalehua Moniz and Kapena Kalehuawehe-Gomes, who had the lowest earned run average in the Bronco World Series.
While Monterey's 60 degree temperatures were a bit chilly for the boys, the team was warmed by the support of those who came out to see them play.
"People from Hawai'i in Monterey came out by the dozens,'' said Moniz, who traveled with the team throughout the team's championship run.
Louis DeCoite was beaming as he waited for his son, Chase DeCoite, to arrive yesterday.
"It's every boy's dream,'' DeCoite said. "These guys are going to live with this the rest of their life.''
