BANGOR – For the second time in two days, U.S. West representative Pearl City, Hawaii held its opposition to three runs and emerged with a win in a close Senior League World Series game.

Rorry Takayama’s two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a tie for a 6-3 victory over U.S. South representative Clarksville, Ga., Monday morning at Mansfield Stadium.

Pearl City Little League is 2-0 in Pool A play. It was the first game of the World Series for Clarksville’s Habersham Little League.

Both teams are in action today. U.S. West takes on Canada at 1 p.m., followed by a U.S. South game against Asia-Pacific at 5 p.m.

Shannon Liu earned the win Monday, striking out five and walking one in a complete game. He allowed eight hits and two earned runs, but had to make some adjustments over the course of the game.

“At the beginning my changeup was working pretty good,” Liu said. “My fastball wasn’t working how it was supposed to be. The curve was pretty good. They were fishing for it.”

The West squad didn’t need the 10 innings it did in Sunday’s 5-3 win over Asia-Pacific. The team did wait until the sixth, however, to put away the win with the game tied at 3-3.

U.S. West had runners at second and third thanks to two walks, a sacrifice bunt and two stolen bases when Nakayama smacked a 2-2 fastball to right field.

“It was high and inside,” said Nakayama, who has hit five or six triples this year. “I felt like it was pretty good [coming off the bat].”

Nakayama later scored on a throwing error when Liu hit a ground ball to third.

Liu sealed the win in the seventh with some help from his defense. He struck out the first batter looking and then gave up a single to Michael Lewallen, but the West team recorded its second double play to end the game.

The teams were tied twice. The South took a 1-0 lead in the second when Grier Rogers drove a double to right that scored Cooper Boydstan, who had reached on a two-out error. A South throwing error allowed West’s Nainoa Tampos (single) to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.

The 1-1 tie held until the bottom of the fifth when the West erupted with four straight hits, including an RBI double by Ryne Acosta. Kellen Ushijima added an RBI single.

Ismael Garza’s two-out doubled sparked a South rally in the sixth. He scored on a single by Brannon Humphries, who eventually scored on Jesse Holden’s single.

“I’m very proud of the way we continued to play hard,” South manager Randy Jackson said. “It was their first game and they weren’t overwhelmed [by nerves]. The bottom line was, the other team hit the ball better and they deserved to win.”

The South stranded runners at first and third in the top of the sixth, which ended with a Liu strikeout. Not letting the two baserunners score helped keep up the West’s morale.

“Our pitcher shut them down and we got out of the inning, so we were down but not all the way,” Nakayama said. “It was a tie game, and we came back in the next inning.”

U.S. WEST 6, U.S. SOUTH 3

Clarksville, Ga. (0-1) Pearl City, Hawaii (2-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Mixon, cf 4 0 0 0 Nakayama, cf 2 2 2

Jackson, 2b-p 3 0 0 0 Muraoka, rf 1 0

Garza, ss 3 1 2 0 Acosta, ss 4 1 1

Humphries, 3b-2b 2 1 1 1 Liu, p 4 0 0

Holden, p-3b 3 0 1 1 Ushijima, 1b 3 0 1

Parker, 1b-lf 3 0 1 0 Kiyota, c-pr 1 0

Boydstan, lf-p 1 1 0 0 Domingo, c 2 0

Brantley, rf-lf 2 0 0 0 Tampos, rf 2 0

Rogers, rf 2 0 1 1 DeKneef, cf-rf 1 0 0

Vermilya, 1b 1 0 0 0 Rasa, 3b 2 1 0

Lewallen, c 3 0 2 0 Lee, lf 1 0 0 0

Sugitaya, 2b-lf 1 0 0 0

Quillopo, 2b 1 1 0 0

Tanaid, lf 1 0 0 0

Totals 27 3 8 3 Totals 26 6 10 4

U.S. South 010 002 0 – 3

U.S. West 010 023 x – 6

E-Humphries, Holden; Ushijima, Sugitaya; LOB-U.S. South 4, U.S. West 7; 2B-Garza, Holden, Rogers; Acosta; 3B-Nakayama; DP-Rogers-Lewallen; Liu-Acosta-Ushijima, Rasa-Quillopo-Ushijima; S-Lee; SB-Domingo, Rasa, Quillopo

U.S. South IP H R ER BB SO

Holden 4* 7 3 2 2 1

Jackson 1 2 0 0 0 0

Boydstan (L,0-1) 1 1 3 2 2 0

U.S. West IP H R ER BB SO

Liu (W,1-0) 7 8 3 2 1 5

WP-Liu; T-1:49; ATT-250 (est.)

*faced three batters in the 5th