Whether it's with a league team or with his buddies out in the street of his Waipahu neighborhood, he can't get enough of them, said his mother, Dawn Rosete.

"We try to keep him busy all the time," she said. "We don't want him staying home and getting into trouble. All of our boys, we try to keep them occupied."

Zachary has four brothers, ages 3 to 15 years old and most of them are involved in sports. It's not uncommon for the family to get three post-game potluck assignments for the same day, said Dawn Rosete, a histology technician who helps prepare human tissue samples for pathologists.

Zachary is 12 and just started the eighth grade at Waipahu Intermediate.

Sports has served as a motivating force, Dawn Rosete said. When her son took a break from baseball and football last year, his grades fell.

"I was thinking if we put him back in sports his grades would drop more, but we let him play," she said. "We gave it a go and his grades picked up."

She watched the World Series with a dose of parental angst. Zachary had to endure a hitting slump.

"I said just play your best, you can't expect the world," she said.

He learned to persevere, though.