Hawaiian team stays hot with 21-4 win

loading...

BANGOR – In the U.S. West regional, Pearl City, Hawaii, rolled through the tournament, outscoring its opponents by a whopping 80-9.

In their opening game of the Senior League World Series at Mansfield Stadium on Sunday, the U.S. West champs kept swinging hot bats en route to a six-inning 21-4 romp of Asia Pacific representative Makati City, Philippines.

Pearl City scored 19 of its runs in two innings – a seven-run outburst in the top of the third and a 12-run surge during which they sent 18 men to the plate in the top half of the sixth.

Getting that all-important first win was huge, according to manager Gary Nakamoto.

“Every time you win that first game, all the butterflies go away,” he said.

Bryson Nakayama plated the game’s first run for Pearl City by scoring on a wild pitch. He singled to lead off the rally, took second on a stolen base then moved to third on a wild pitch.

The big blow came when Nainona Tampos smacked a two-run triple to dead center field off starter Gian Jimenez, making it 5-0. Bryson Nakamura knocked in the second run of the inning with a triple, then Cody Sugitaya knocked an RBI single, followed by Tampos’ two-run triple.

Starter Jason Rasa pitched five consistent innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits while striking out two and walking only three.

“He didn’t have his good stuff today, he was struggling a little bit,” Nakamoto said. “He had enough to just get by. Our pitching has to come through.”

Nakamoto also noted that his club can’t soar onto cloud nine after the convincing win – there is still a lot of baseball to be played.

“It’s only one game, and every game counts,” he said.

Asia Pacific got on the board in the bottom of the third, as C.J. Concepcion, who walked, scored while Paolo Mallari was being chased in a rundown.

The Hawaiians pushed across single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, then put the game out of reach – way out of reach – with their 12-run, eight-hit sixth.

Ryne Acosta and Duane Kiyota each had two-run singles in the inning while Carlton Tanabe smacked a two-run double.

Hawaii was patient at the plate, making the Asia Pacific pitchers work, and they were wild, as five pitchers combined to walk eight Hawaii batters.

“We told the kids to be patient up there. The pitchers, they didn’t throw strikes, we sat on a lot of balls,” Nakamoto said.

Hawaii’s hitters did a fairly good job of showing patience in the batter’s box, drawing walks and stealing bases, which Nakamoto said is one of their strengths.

“We do a lot of running, we have good speed on the bases,” he said. “If everything comes together, we can go far.”

Of the 14 players who saw plate appearances for Hawaii, all but four drove in at least one run. Kiyota was the offensive star, going 4-for-4, adding another RBI single in addition to his two-run single in the sixth. Cody Sugitaya finished 2-for-3 with a two-run single and RBI single.

Concepcion added an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth for Asia Pacific while Matt Laurel scored on an error and Angelo Esguerra came across on an error as well in the sixth.

U.S. WEST 21, ASIA-PACIFIC 4

(Sunday afternoon, 6 innings)

U.S. West (1-0) Asia-Pacific (0-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Nakayama, cf 3 2 2 1 Concepcion, 2b 2 1 1

Acosta, ss 5 3 2 2 Mallari, ss/p 3 0 0

Tanabe, c 5 1 1 2 Laurel, 3b/ss 3 1 0

Nakamura, 1b 2 0 1 1 Bernardo, c 2 0 0

Dekneef, 1b 1 3 0 0 Horibata, c 1 0 0

Domingo, 1b 1 0 1 0 Jimenez, p/lf 2 0 0

Rasa, p/2b 3 2 0 0 Esguerra, lf/p 2 1 0

Casarez, 2b 1 1 0 0 Gabay, rf 1 0 0

Sugitaya, 2b/lf 3 2 2 3 De Mesa, 1b 2 0

Abreu, 3b 4 2 2 1 Reyes, 1b/lf 1 1 0

Tampos, 3b 1 1 1 2 Uichico, rf/p 1 0 0

Kiyota, rf 4 3 4 3 Brias, 3b/rf 1 0 0

Poentis, lf/p 2 1 0 1 Jalaneoni, cf 2 0

Namba, lf 1 0 0 1

Totals 36 21 16 17 Totals 23 4 6 1

U.S. West 007 11 (12) – 21 16 3

Asia Pacific 001 012 – 4 6 6

E-Acosta, Tanabe, Poentis; Concepcion, Mallari 3, Laurel, Jalaneoni; LOB-U.S. West 8, Asia Pacific 5; 2B-Tanabe; Laurel; 3B-Nakamura, Tampos, Kiyota; SH-Nakayama; SF-Namba; SB-Nakayama, Acosta, Dekneef, Rasa, Sugitaya; Mesa

U.S. West IP H R ER BB SO

Rasa (W, 1-0) 5 4 2 2 3 2

Poentis 1 2 2 0 1 1

Asia-Pacific IP H R ER BB SO

Jimenez (L, 0-1) 3 6 7 7 3 3

Uichico 1 1 1 0 0 0

Mallari 1 2 2 1 0 0

Laurel 1/3 5 10 9 4 1

Esguerra 2/3 2 1 1 1 0

HBP-Domingo, by Laurel; WP-Poentis; Laurel, Jimenez 2, Esguerra; BK-Laurel; T-2:35; ATT-650