The price of gasoline is at obscene levels locally. Electricity costs are soaring and housing and rental prices have gone through the roof.

Could there be any better time for what the West O'ahu Little Leaguers are giving us?

For a remarkable week now, the lengthening saga of the West O'ahu Little League team has provided the state cause to not only momentarily take its mind off some of the less appealing headlines of the day but reason to cheer a little and share a widening bond.

How many times have you heard somebody say, "how about those little leaguers?" How often have you found yourself nodding in agreement.

You don't even have to be a sports fan to revel in what is taking place 4,800 miles away in South Williamsport, Pa. where West O'ahu plays Vista, Calif. this morning at 9:30 in the U.S. title game of the Little League World Series with a berth in the championship finale on the line.

You don't have to know an infield fly from a dragon fly to cheer this band of 11- and 12-year-olds in their quest to bring a world championship back to 'Ewa Beach.

Heck, you don't even have to know how to pronounce 'Ewa correctly. ESPN's announcers didn't for the first couple days and it didn't get in the way of their enthusiasm for this team.

"That team from Hawai'i" suffices in a summer when this state has had an amazing run of success in several youth league baseball tournaments. And now, West O'ahu has the opportunity to become the first team from the state since Pearl City in 1988 to get to the championship final in the granddaddy of them all.

With West O'ahu, however, it isn't just the games it wins or the flair with which it is accomplished. Though they sure have a sense for the moment, particularly that two-run homer Sheyne Baniaga walloped to beat Lafayette, La.

If you've watched more than an inning so far, you know that a lot of the enjoyment in following the West O'ahu kids is in seeing the whole spectacle through their eyes. The open-mouth joy of hitting a home run. The growing confidence that comes from doing things that amaze themselves. In short, kids being kids.

And their coaches letting them. You've got to like West O'ahu's Layton Aliviado, who keeps the instructions simple: "Hit it hard, run hard and play hard." A coach who lets his players enjoy the moment as in after the Lafayette win when he told them, "Let's have some fun; let's get some pizza; let's go eat."

It shows in the fun they are having, the joy they bring to the park and the purity of the game.

Whether West O'ahu's run continues in triumph tomorrow or ends suddenly today, they have given us all something to get excited about this week. If you've glimpsed the prices outside a gas station lately you know how welcome a diversion that can be.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.