Pina scores winner Venezuela edges Hawaiians in 9

BANGOR – Jose Gonzalez knew as soon as the ball left his bat that his hit would at least move a baserunner.

There was just one question going through his mind as the standout from the Falcon, Venezuela, team chugged around the bases in the top of the ninth inning of Friday’s Senior League World Series semifinal at Mansfield Stadium.

“There was no doubt the ball was going over the center fielder’s head because [the center fielder] was playing shallow,” Gonzales said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t sure if the runner on first was going to score.”

That runner, Marcos Pina, would indeed get all the way around to score the game-winning run as the Latin America representatives earned an exciting 5-4 win and the right to defend their 2006 World Series crown.

Venezuela, which was the No. 2 seed from Pool B of tournament play, will do that at 3 p.m. today when it faces Cartersville, Ga., in the championship game at Mansfield Stadium.

Venezuela manager Osmar Reyes said he was proud of the way his team rallied from an early deficit.

“It just shows all the hard work we did in Venezuela is paying off,” he said, also through an interpreter. “We’re all very happy.”

Gonzalez’s winning double – he tried for third but was thrown out there – plated Pina, who got aboard on a fielder’s choice. After a Venezuela batter was called out due to interference, Gonzalez hit a 2-1 pitch deep to center.

“He’s our strong guy and we trust him completely,” Reyes said.

Gonzalez had one more job to do after getting the winning hit. He had come in as a relief pitcher and would have to face the top of Hilo’s lineup, including power hitter Kolten Wong and possibly Blake Amaral, who had homered to left-center in the third.

After Gonzalez got two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth, Reyes went out for a quick conference.

“[Reyes] told me this was one of their best hitters and I already knew there was no way I was going to give him anything good to hit right now,” Gonzalez said. “I just gave him a fastball under his arm so he wouldn’t be able to extend, so I [could] jam him.”

It worked, and Wong flied out for the third time in the game. He ended up 0-for-4 with a walk.

“They got him today,” said manager Kaha Wong, Kolten’s father. “Maybe he wasn’t on the ball as quick as he usually is.”

Reyes was also concerned about Amaral.

“You don’t give them anything good to hit,” he said.

Starter Amaral pitched well early, but both he and the Hilo defense faltered in the fifth inning as Venezuela scored two unearned runs to tie the game at 2-2. Venezuela had three infield hits in the inning and Hilo had an error.

“The breaks just didn’t fall for us today,” Kaha Wong said. “One fielding mistake changed this game, made our pitch count go up higher, and we ended up losing Blake [to the pitch count].”

The game was knotted through seven innings until the top of the eighth. Venezuela’s Luis Lugo had an RBI single to break the tie and pinch-runner Erickson Primera eventually scored on a wild pitch.

But Hilo came back and tied it in the bottom of the eighth when Keaka Pilayo hit an RBI double and Geonah Ragual had an RBI single, all with one out.

Hilo couldn’t push across another run in the inning.