BANGOR – In one dugout, tears of joy. In the other, tears of heartbreak.

Such was the aftermath Saturday after Falcon, Venezuela, rallied past Pearl City, Hawaii, 4-2, in the closest championship game the Senior League World Series has witnessed in the five years the tournament for 15- and 16-year-old baseball players has been held at Mansfield Stadium.

“I’m happy, not for myself, but for my guys, my boys, my sons,” said Venezuela manager Osmar Reyes through an interpreter. “These are my sons.”

For the Venezuelan team, the victory erased memories of a 5-2 loss to Tampa, Fla., in the championship game of the 2004 Junior League (13-14) World Series at Taylor, Mich.

“It is unbelievable,” said Venezuela catcher and cleanup hitter Eduardo Cuba, who set a tournament record with 13 hits in six games, “because in Michigan we could not be world champion, but here we could finally do it.”

For Pearl City, this marked the second straight defeat in the Senior League World Series final, coming one year after a 7-2 loss to Urbandale, Iowa.

“Some of the kids came back after losing in the final last year thinking we had a good chance to win it all, and this is a big disappointment for them,” said Pearl City manager Gary Nakamoto, whose team’s only losses in 12 SLWS games during the last two years have come with the championship on the line.

“But they shouldn’t be ashamed of themselves. They should be proud of themselves for getting this far, but this is a tough one to swallow.”

This battle of tournament unbeatens was tight throughout, but ultimately the pitching of righthander Osmar Morillo and some late defensive lapses by Pearl City combined to send the championship trophy home to Latin America for the first time since 2002, when Curacao won the initial Senior League World Series held in Bangor.

“I never believed I’d be a world champion,” said Morillo. “It feels great.”

Pearl City (5-1 in SLWS play) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Rorry Nakayama hit a leadoff single to right and Ryne Acosta walked. Both runners advanced on a balk by Morillo before Nakayama scored on a sacrifice fly by Carlton Tanabe and Acosta scored on Morillo’s second balk of the inning.

But Morillo quickly settled down, allowing just singles by Bryson Nakamura and Nainoa Tampos the rest of the way to finish with a three-hitter that included seven strikeouts and three walks.

“After the two balks, I said to Osmar to take it easy, that he could do the job,” said Reyes. “And Osmar stayed in the game and pitched well.”

Venezuela (6-0) got one run back in the bottom of the first on a double by Victor Perozo and an RBI single by Francisco Diaz.

Nakamura held Venezuela scoreless over the next three innings, thanks in part to some strong defense, particularly a throw from right fielder Jordan Dekneef in the fourth inning that cut down Venezuela’s Leonardo Rojas at the plate while he tried to score from second base on a single by Morillo.

But Pearl City was generating very little offense against Morillo’s assortment of fastballs and off-speed pitches, leaving a small margin of error for Nakamura and the defense as the late innings approached.

“We didn’t hit the ball, and their pitcher did a good job of keeping us off-balance,” said Nakamoto. “We couldn’t hit the outside pitches, and he was getting the calls and we couldn’t adjust to the outside fastball.”

Victor Perozo was hit by a Nakamura pitch with one out in the Venezuela fifth, and he went to second when third baseman Jason Rasa couldn’t handle a sharp grounder by Diaz. Cuba walked to load the bases, then Perozo scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Rito Garcia.

The Venezuelans took the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Marcos Pina hit a leadoff single and Morillo reached base when Nakamura misplayed his sacrifice bunt. After falling behind in the count 1-2, Lesme Pena sacrificed the runners to second and third and, one pitch after fouling off a suicide squeeze attempt, Dennys Osteicoechea singled to left to drive home pinch-runner Freddy Galvis with the go-ahead run.

Morillo then scored the game’s final run on a fielder’s choice grounder by Perozo.

“It was a tight game because Hawaii is a good team and they played well,” said Cuba. “But we took advantage of a few mistakes and were able to win.”

Nakamura scattered seven hits in a complete-game pitching effort for Pearl City. The lefthander struck out four and walked two while throwing just 94 pitches.

“It was a pressure game, the guys were working real hard,” said Nakamoto. “They wanted to win, but somebody has to lose. That’s the hard part.”

LATIN AMERICA 4, U.S. WEST 2

(2006 Senior League World Series final)

Pearl City, Hawaii(5-1) Falcon, Venezuela (6-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Nakayama, cf 3 1 1 0 Osteicoechea, ss 4 1

Acosta, ss 2 1 0 0 Perozo, cf 3 2 1

Tanabe, c 2 0 0 1 Diaz, 3b 4 0 1

Nakamura, p 3 0 1 0 Ruiz, pr 0 0 0

Sugitaya, pr 0 0 0 0 Cuba, c 2 0 1 0

Rasa, 3b 3 0 0 0 Garcia, rf 2 0 1

Casarez, 2b 0 0 0 0 Rojas, 1b 2 0 0

Namba, ph 3 0 0 0 Pina, 2b 3 0 0

Domingo, 1b 0 0 0 0 Galvis, pr 0 1 0

Kiyota, ph 2 0 0 0 Morillo, p 2 1 0

Dekneef, rf 0 0 0 0 Pena, lf 2 0 0

Tampos, rf 2 0 1 0

Poentis, lf 1 0 0 0

Abreu, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 22 2 3 1 Totals 24 4 8 4

Hawaii 200 000 0-2

Venezuela 100 012 x-4

E-Nakamura, Rasa, Dekneef; LOB-Hawaii 3, Venezuela 8; 2B-Perozo, Pena; DP-Osteicoechea-Rojas; S-Pina, Morillo, Pena; SF-Tanabe; Garcia; SB-Nakayama

Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO

Nakamura (L, 1-1) 6 8 4 2 2 4

Venezuela IP H R ER BB SO

Morillo (W, 1-0) 7 3 2 2 3 7

HBP-Perozo (by Nakamura); WP-Morillo 2; BK-Morillo 2; T-2:10; ATT-1,500