Waipi'o ends long journey to Little League World Series

By Matt Traub
Special to The Advertiser

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The fun part for Clyde Tanabe was watching his kids from Waipi'o fight back to beat Webb City, Mo., 2-1, on Monday night in the Little League World Series.

"They were really disappointed when I told them," Tanabe said yesterday afternoon. "Most of them broke down. It's really hard because you have to tell them that we're finished."

Waipi'o finished in a three-way tie for first with Fort Worth, Texas, and Worcester, Mass., but finished third in a three-way tiebreaker system.

"We're all disappointed that we couldn't go on," Tanabe said. "It's hard for the kids to understand that it's a thing outside of the field, instead of on the field."

Waipi'o will leave Williamsport at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and return home this afternoon.

"It's been a long journey," Tanabe said. "They're ready to go home and eat the foods that they like; see the people that they've missed. Don't get me wrong, this has been great. They've made a lot of friends along the way. But at some point, you start to miss home."

Waipi'o will return as the first team from the state to compete in the Series since 1988, a feat that Tanabe said his players will appreciate as they get older.

"The whole state of Hawai'i was behind them," he said. "I'm pretty sure that it won't sink in until a year or two, or even 10 years from now.

"As they get older, they'll appreciate the impact they made in Hawai'i."

The impact that his team made on Tanabe, he said, is one that he will remember.

"It will be a lifelong memory, something that will never be overcome by anything else," he said. "They took me on the ride. I just jumped on their backs. They took us on a ride through districts, regionals, and all the way to the World Series.

"They accomplished it with their heart and desire. They matured, they became closer, they learned a lot from the time they started until now."