Waipi'o's dramatic win not enough to advance
| • | Waipi'o Little Leaguers win but see season end |
| • | Baseball diary: 'I wanted us to try our best' |
| • | Series at a glance |
| • | Tiebreaker the backbreaker |
By Matt Traub
Special to The Advertiser
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| Waipi'o's Kurt Tanabe won his second game of the Little League World Series, handcuffing Webb City, Mo., on four hits and 10 strikeouts in a 2-1 victory.
Associated Press |
Those were some of the words said by fans filing out of Lamade Stadium yesterday, after the kids from Waipi'o left a lasting impression on the Little League World Series for 11- and 12-year-olds.
Travis Jones, for the second time in three games, hit a game-winning home run, a two-run shot to center field to give the Northwest regional champions a 2-1 win over Midwest champion Webb City, Mo.
If there could possibly be a negative to a superbly played game, it's that the fans in Pennsylvania won't be able to see Waipi'o — a crowd favorite all week — play again.
Waipi'o, New England champion Worcester, Pa., and Southwest champion Fort Worth, Texas, all finished with 2-1 records in Pool A. Webb City was 0-3.
Under the series' tiebreaking formula, a three-way tie is broken by taking the number of runs allowed and dividing that by the innings played on defense. In that case, Worcester earned the top seed in Pool A with the help of its 6-0 victory over Fort Worth earlier yesterday. Worcester allowed just four runs in three games. Fort Worth gained the pool's second berth to the championship round because it had beaten Waipi'o, 8-0, on Sunday.
Waipi'o manager Clyde Tanabe knew his team was a very long shot to advance — it had to extend Webb City to 33 scoreless innings before winning — but was proud that his players pulled off another dramatic comeback.
"I don't know what's going to happen when we get back (home), but we wanted to win this game for the people of Hawai'i," Tanabe said. "We wanted to go out a winner."
And he can thank his son, winning pitcher Kurt Tanabe, and Jones for that.
Jones had hit a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth inning on Friday to beat Worcester, 3-2. Yesterday, his winning blow came after Isaac Moises, who had two of Waipi'o's four hits, walked on four pitches to start the bottom of the sixth.
Jones swung and missed twice before taking a ball from Webb City pitcher Alan Pink. Then, he connected on a breaking ball that easily cleared the center-field barrier.
"I was just trying to get on," the soft-spoken Jones said. But when he connected, "I kind of felt it," he added.
"When Isaac got on, I thought, 'We've got a shot here,' " manager Tanabe said. "One more miracle."
Kurt Tanabe, who beat Worcester in the opening game, pitched a four-hitter and struck out 10 yesterday. For the series, Tanabe struck out 22 batters in 12 innings, and allowed just seven hits and three runs.
Webb City scored its lone run in the top of the sixth inning. After Chance Sossamon was hit by a pitch and Landon Zerkel doubled, Tanabe intentionally walked Darren Aggas to load the bases and give Waipi'o a force at every base.
But Tanabe's first pitch to Caleb Powell went to the backstop and Sossamon scored the game's first run, as the other runners advanced.
"I got really nervous because one of the big guys (Powell) was up," Tanabe said. "I thought he was going to take me deep. I was kind of scared."
It didn't show. Tanabe got both Powell and Pink to ground out back to him, then struck out Brett Richardson to end the threat.
When the Waipi'o team got to the dugout, manager Tanabe gathered his players and spoke to them for nearly a minute.
"I told them that a million kids want to be here and we're the ones that are here," Tanabe recalled. "We made it to The Show. Winning or losing at this point is not that big a deal. If we're going to go down, go down swinging."
And that's exactly what Jones did, and winning became a very big deal.
Until Jones' game-winning shot, the best scoring chances came from Waipi'o in the third and fourth innings.
Jansen Rios walked and Jonathan Abe came in as a pinch runner in the third. Abe moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball. Then Tanabe, who had homered in the opening game, hit a shot to deep center. Webb City's Dakotah Miller raced to the wall and made an outstanding catch, grabbing the ball just as it was about to clear the fence.
Miller made another highlight-reel catch in the fourth to snuff Waipi'o's other threat. Moises singled and Jones reached on an error as Moises went to second base. The bases were loaded after Cory Yuh reached on a bunt single. Then, Kyle Kobayashi hit a blooper to center and it appeared the ball might fall in, but Miller made the catch, belly-flopping on the grass to come up with the final out of the inning.
It kept Waipi'o off the scoreboard, but only heightened the dramatic impact of its win.
• • •
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| Webb City, Mo., pitcher Alan Pink reacts after giving up a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the sixth to Waipi'o's Travis Jones.
Associated Press |
Pool A
United States: x-Worcester, Mass. (2-1); x-Fort Worth, Texas (2-1); Waipi'o, Hawai'i (2-1); Webb City, Mo. (0-3)
Pool B
United States: x-Louisville, Ky. (2-0); Harlem, N.Y. (1-1); Aptos, Calif (1-1); Clemmons, N.C. (0-2)
Pool C
International: Valencia, Venezuela (2-0); Hagatna, Guam (1-1); Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1-1); North Regina, Saskatchewan (0-2)
Pool D
International: x-Curacao, Netherlands Antilles (2-0); x-Sendai, Japan (2-0); Monterrey, Mexico (1-2); Moscow, Russia (0-3)
x-advanced to pool semifinals
Schedule
Eastern Standard Times
Friday, Aug. 16
- Waipi'o, Hawai'i 3, Worcester, Mass. 2
- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia 3, North Regina, Saskatchewan 2, 7 innings
- Fort Worth, Texas 1, Webb City, Mo. 0
Saturday, Aug. 17
- Valencia, Venezuela 11, Hagatna, Guam 1, 5 innings
- Louisville, Ky. 4, Aptos, Calif. 1
- Harlem, N.Y. 9, Clemmons, N.C. 3
- Curacao, Netherlands Antilles 10, Monterrey, Mexico 1
- Sendai, Japan 7, Moscow, Russia, 0
- Worcester, Mass. 2, Webb City, Mo. 1
Sunday, Aug. 18
- Aptos, Calif. 11, Clemmons, N.C. 8
- Fort Worth, Texas 8, Waipi'o, Hawai'i 0
- Hagatna, Guam 9, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia 6
- Louisville, Ky. 2, Harlem, N.Y. 0
- Monterrey, Mexico 4, Moscow, Russia 3
Yesterday
- Curacao, Netherlands Antilles 13, Moscow, Russia, 0, 4 innings
- Worcester, Mass. 6, Fort Worth, Texas 0
- Sendai, Japan 11, Monterrey, Mexico 0, 4 innings
- Valencia, Venezuela, 9, North Regina, Saskatchewan, 3
- Waipi'o, Hawai'i 2, Webb City, Mo., 1
Today
- Sendai, Japan, vs. Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, 11 a.m., Lamade Stadium
- North Regina, Saskatchewan, vs. Hagatna, Guam, 2 p.m., Volunteer Stadium (ESPN)
- Aptos, Calif., vs. Harlem, N.Y., 4 p.m., Lamade Stadium (ESPN2)
- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, vs. Valencia, Venezuela, 6 p.m., Volunteer Stadium
- Clemmons, N.C., vs. Louisville, Ky., 7 p.m. Lamade Stadium (ESPN2)
Tomorrow
- International Semifinal: Pool D No. 1 vs. Pool C No. 2, 4 p.m., Lamade Stadium (ESPN)
- U.S. Semifinal: Louisville, Ky. vs. Fort Worth, Texas, 7 p.m., Lamade Stadium (ESPN)
Thursday
- International Semifinal: Pool C No. 1 vs. Pool D No. 2, 3:30 p.m., Lamade Stadium (ESPN2)
- U.S. Semifinal: Worcester, Mass. vs. Pool B No. 2, 7 p.m., Lamade Stadium (ESPN)
Saturday
- International Championship, 3 p.m., Lamade Stadium, ESPN
- U.S. Championship, 7:30 p.m., Lamade Stadium, ABC
Sunday
- Consolation game, Noon, Lamade Stadium
- Championship, 6:30 p.m., Lamade Stadium, ABC
Waipi'o roster
Jonathan Abe, Sanoe Aina, Sean Clark, Tony Fernandez, Alex Goya, Travis Jones, Kyle Kobayashi, Dominic Macanas, Isaac Moises, Daniel Nishimoto, Kelsey Outram, Jansen Rios, Kurt Tanabe, Cory Yuh.
Manager: Clyde Tanabe. Coaches: Delbert Macanas, Gordon Oshiro.
• • •
Advertiser Staff
An 8-0 loss sandwiched between two walk-off wins by home runs was the undoing of the Waipi'o Little League team.
Under the series tie-breaking formula, a three-way tie is broken by taking the number of runs allowed divided by the total innings played on defense.
Massachusetts won that tiebreaker. Texas also advanced based on the second tiebreaker, a head-to-head victory over Hawai'i.
Final pool standings
W-L RA TID Ratio
Mass. 2-1 4 17¡ .611
Texas 2-1 6 17 .353
Hawai'i 2-1 11 18 .231
Missouri 0-3 5 16 .313
RA—Runs allowed; TID—Total innings played on defense. Ratio—Runs allowed divided by total innings played on defense.
