BANGOR – She bent over a sheaf of papers, trying to sort out who did what during Saturday afternoon’s Senior League World Series final.

Even during a ceremony to honor the winning team, she looked up only a few times. She glanced up for a moment as the boys from Hilo, Hawaii, accepted their championship banner, and smiled.

Then Grandma went back to work.

Ever since leaving her home in Hilo on July 23, Lillian Yamashita has devoted her time to the city’s Senior League team. As the team of 15- and 16-year olds advanced through district and regional levels, Grandma was there.

“Doing what I did for the kids wasn’t something I had to do,” Grandma said. “I wanted to do it. It was all so beautiful.”

Grandma got to watch her real grandson, outfielder Jessie Yamashita, and 13 other honorary grandsons win their first ever Senior League World Series championship, 16-8 win over U.S. South’s Central Chesterfield of Virginia.

Yamashita – who insists you call her Grandma and is Grandma to the Hilo parents, players, and the players’ grandparents – was one of a small but vocal group of fans who traveled thousands of miles from Hawaii to Bangor for last week’s World Series.

“That’s my Grandma,” outfielder Myles Ioane said after filling up a small bottle with dirt from the Mansfield Stadium mound. “Well, she’s not my Grandma. But she’s my Grandma. She’s always there for us.”

Of course Grandma saw every Hilo game, but she didn’t just sit back and watch the action. She helped keep track of what the players did in each game. She handed out leis made of tea leaves to volunteers and members of the press.

Grandma has been traveling with the Hilo team from Oregon to California and finally Maine – always making sure her “grandsons” had a touch of home.

For the team’s West regional trip to Lemoore, Calif., she packed a big box of kitchen supplies. She couldn’t leave Hilo without her 10-cup rice cooker because after all, she said, Hawaii boys need their rice.

But when she got to Lemoore, she found the accommodations didn’t include a kitchenette. So Grandma bought two single electric burners, as well as a big roasting pan, and made due.

Grandma and the players’ mothers cooked meatballs with mushroom gravy, chicken teriyaki, fried pork chops, steaks, and potato and macaroni salads.

“It’s great to have her on the trip,” Jessie Yamashita said. “Every time she cooks it’s the best. She’s always supported every kid, every team I’ve been on. She’s the best fan I ever had.”

Grandma also made sure the boys had their fill of a favorite Hilo snack, Spam musubi. Yes, that Spam.

“It’s a piece of luncheon meat wrapped with rice and a sheet of seaweed,” Grandma said. “So I made that for them a couple of times. They simply enjoyed it because it was a touch of home.”

In a way, busying herself with cooking and making sure the boys were happy was a way to take her mind off of what was happening on the field.

“When I left to go to Oregon, I felt I was dreaming,” she said. “And then in Oregon, I couldn’t take that first win. I just cried and cried and cried being so happy. Then we went to Lemoore and that was something I still couldn’t handle. It was too much. I was overwhelmed. Finally coming here with everything going so good for the boys, everybody around us has done so much.”

The Hilo team handed out all manner of presents, from flowers to shell necklaces to those tea-leaf leis. Grandma committed one more act of generosity, though, before she was able to go home.

Grandma has opted to stay on the mainland for a bit longer than the rest of the team. She’s retired after 31 years at Sears Roebuck & Co. in Hilo, so there’s no pressure for her to be home. And with just a few flights available, she wanted the team to leave first.

“I said, it doesn’t matter. I’ll go home last,” Grandma said as the ceremony broke up. “I’m going home really, really happy.”