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BANGOR – There was just one snag in Hilo, Hawaii’s winning the Senior League World Series.
The right kind of flowers weren’t available in Bangor to make the team’s victory leis.
So the team of 15- and 16-year old baseball players resorted to links of candy and Slim Jim meat sticks looped around their necks as the U.S. West champions celebrated a 16-8 victory over U.S. South representative Central Chesterfield of Virginia in Saturday’s championship game at Mansfield Stadium.
The team is sure to get the real thing upon its return to Hawaii. The Hilo squad is bring back the team’s first World Series title and the first championship for a West team since 1982.
Hilo and Central Chesterfield combined for 25 hits, including 12 for extra bases. A gusty wind blowing out from the infield helped carry the ball.
The World Series final seemed to feature a bit of everything with singles, doubles, triples, sacrifices, stolen bases – and a bald eagle that made an appearance over the Mansfield Stadium outfield in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The big hits, back-and-forth rallies, and exciting defensive moves in the outfield captured the attention of a packed house.
Hilo, which was named the visiting team by virtue of a coin flip Friday night, started it off with five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Central Chesterfield responded with four in the bottom of the inning.
Virginia took a 7-5 lead in the second, Hilo answered with three runs in the third and four more in the fourth.
“We started to work our bats and that was the turning point,” said Hilo’s Myles Ioane, who was 3-for-5 with two triples, two runs scored, and three RBIs.
Central Chesterfield was held to one run after the second, a run in the fourth.
That was due in part to Hilo reliever Kulea Bondallian, who held Chesterfield to six hits and three runs in six innings of work. The lefty earned the win, his second of the World Series.
“He told me he was good for the rest of the game,” Hilo manager Hale Decker said. “He pitched a helluva game. We were lucky because Ryan Pagan pitched against Maine [Thursday], so we came into the championship game with our one, two and three pitchers.”
Despite all the offense, two big defensive plays helped Hilo gain momentum.
With one out in the bottom of the second and runners at first and second, center fielder Jessie Yamashita snagged a fly ball over his back, then fired to shortstop Dane Inouye, who threw the ball to first baseman Ioane.
Ioane, covering second, stepped on the bag to get the runner, who was trying to get back to the base after the flyout, for the double play.
“We were down, we only had one out,” Yamashita said. “I was just trying to help the team out. It was nothing big, nothing special.”
Then, with two outs in the fourth, Chesterfield had a runner on second when Yamashita made a diving catch to end the inning.
“The way Jessie made those plays, he really turned it on,” Decker said. “He helped us a lot. It was a momentum-turner.”
Derrick Iida plated a run on a sacrifice fly in the key fourth inning. Kyle Correia scored on a Kahi Spencer groundout, and two other runs scored on errors as Hilo took the lead for good.
Marcus Childress led the Central Chesterfield offense with two doubles, a single, two runs scored and one RBI.
Will Childs, who started on the mound but went to the catcher’s position in the third, hit two singles and drove in two runs.
The two teams combined for seven errors. Six of the 24 total runs were unearned.
“Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn’t,” Chesterfield manager Jeff Byrd said. “They played better defense than we did and they hit the ball better than we did.”
U.S. WEST 16, U.S. SOUTH 8
Hilo (5-1) Cen. Chesterfield (4-2)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Inouye, ss 4 1 0 0 Reed, ss 3 2 0
O. Otsuka, c 3 2 1 0 McEnhimer, rf 3 3 0
Haasenritter, p-rf 5 3 3 2 Marshall, rf 0 0
Pagan, rf 0 0 0 0 Childress, lf 3 2 1
Ioane, cf-1b 5 2 3 3 Brown, 1b-p 3 1 3
Bondallian, 1b-p 4 3 2 0 Burgwyn, p 1 0
Iida, 3b-lf 3 1 1 1 Childs, p-c 3 0 2
Kaeo, lf 0 0 0 0 Byrd, 3b-1b 4 0 0
a-Yada 1 0 1 1 Ullom, c 3 0 0
Yamashita, rf-cf 2 2 1 1 T. Firebaugh, 3b 0
b-S. Otsuka 0 0 0 0 L. Firebaugh, cf 4 1
Correia, 2b 5 2 3 2 Richardson, 2b 3 0 0
Spencer, lf-3b 4 0 1 1
Totals 36 16 16 11 Totals 30 8 9 7
a-singled for Iida in fifth; b-hit by a pitch for Yamashita in fifth
Hilo 503 422 0 ? 16
Central Chesterfield 430 100 0 ? 8
E?Correia 2, Iida, Spencer; T. Firebaugh 2, Brown; LOB?Hilo 7, Central Chesterfield 6; 2B?Haasenritter 3, Ioane, Iida, Correia; Childress 2, Brown; 3B?Ioane 2, Bondallian; DP?Yamashita-Inouye-Ioane; S?Yamashita 2, Iida; SF?Childs; SB?O. Otsuka, Yamashita, Correia; Reed, McEnhimer, Childs
Hilo IP H R ER BB SO
Haasenritter 1 3 5 2 2 2
Bondallian (W, 2-0) 6 6 3 3 2 2
Cen. Chesterfield IP H R ER BB SO
Childs (L, 1-1) 2 2/3 9 8 7 1 0
Brown 2 1/3 5 6 4 2 2
Burgwyn 2 2 2 2 1 1
HBP?S. Otsuka by Brown; WP?Bondallian; Brown, Burgwyn, Childs; PB?Childs; T?2:36; ATT?1,550
Haasenritter faced one batter in second
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