Two teams from Hawai'i will be competing in the 2006 USA Baseball Junior Olympics West Championships starting this weekend in Arizona.

Team Hawaii USA and the Hawaii Warriors, both composed of high school players, will be among the 72 teams playing games at both the Peoria Sports Complex and the Surprise Recreation Campus. Both venues are spring training sites for major league teams. Between the two sites, there are 20 fields available for the games.

This is one of two national tournaments. The other 72-team tournament is in Florida.

Games start Saturday with pool play. The top teams will eventually play for the title. College and pro teams have representatives scouting the games.

Team Hawaii USA has players from O'ahu private and public schools and is managed by Mililani High coach Dean Sato. The Hawaii Warriors are made up of players from the Kamehameha Schools' Kapalama and Maui campuses and is led by Kamehameha-Maui coach Barry Takahashi.

Most of the players will still be underclassmen this coming school year.

Team Hawaii USA played four games over the weekend against teams from Oklahoma, Georgia and Kansas in the King Kamehameha Baseball Classic, going 2-1-1. Sato said the Mainland teams were composed of players who were either going to be high school seniors or recent graduates going on to junior colleges.

"I hope to land in the top 20," Sato said. "I'm optimistic with the talent we have."

A concern is the temperature in Arizona. Sato was told of 115 degrees recently. He said Peoria Padres (San Diego's rookie affiliate) trainer Wade Yamasaki, a 1992 Mililani graduate, advised him how the players should keep themselves hydrated while in the area.

Takahashi said his squad has been working out the past three weeks, adding that some players came to Maui from the other islands. He said although the players are all from the Kamehameha campuses, he said the team itself is not affiliated with the school system.

"It's a good opportunity for them to show what they've got," Takahashi said.

The Hawaii Warriors leave today, while the Team Hawaii USA leaves tomorrow. Team Hawaii will conduct a home run derby at 4:30 p.m. today at Lynch Field at Pearl Harbor because it must determine a representative for a similar contest in Arizona.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.