SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Marcus Yoshii had a second straight outstanding pitching performance, but Waipi'o came up a run short for the second time while Yoshii was on the mound.

Trevor Crough hit a two-run homer over the center-field fence in the bottom of the second inning, giving River Park of Fresno, Calif. a 2-1 victory over Waipi'o yesterday in pool play of the Little League (ages 11-12) Western Regional.

River Park, the Northern California representative, is 3-0 and is likely to earn the top seed in tomorrow's semifinals since its remaining pool play game today is against 0-3 Santa Clara of Utah.

Waipi'o, which completed pool play with a 2-2 record, clinched a spot in the semifinal round when Arizona defeated Southern California, 1-0, in last night's game. Waipi'o will finish among the top four in the six-team regional.

Yoshii, who struck out 11 in Friday's 1-0 loss to Arizona, was even more effective yesterday. Of the 15 outs recorded by Waipi'o, Yoshii had 12 strikeouts and got two easy outs on grounders back to the mound. He allowed two hits and walked only one batter, but that was immediately before Crough's home run.

"The outcome is frustrating, but it's OK — that's baseball," said Yoshii, whose favorite pitcher is Roger Clemens. The lefty showed an outstanding fastball and a cut fastball that is an effective off-speed pitch.

Waipi'o took a 1-0 lead when center fielder Brian Iida led off the top of the second inning with a home run to left field. Logan Carter, River Park's pitcher, struck out eight and retired 13 straight batters after Iida's home run.

Dustyn Cook broke that string with a one-out single in the top of the sixth as Waipi'o attempted a late rally. With two outs, Yoshii singled to center and advanced to second when Cook beat a throw to third base. However, Carter struck out the next batter to end the game.

WAIPI'O 010 000—1 4 1

RIVER PARK 020 00X—2 2 0

Marcus Yoshii and Westin Fabro. Logan Carter and Kasey Witt, Joseph Lynes (4). W—Carter (1-0). L—Yoshii.(0-2).

Waipi'o—Brian Iida HR. River Park—Trevor Crough 2-run HR.