A best-of-three series between Hilo and Long Beach has broken out in Whittier, Calif. The winner gets a berth in the PONY West Zone 13-14 tournament championship game.
A best-of-three series between Hilo and Long Beach has broken out in Whittier, Calif. The winner gets a berth in the PONY West Zone 13-14 tournament championship game.
Long Beach, Calif., tagged Hilo 9-0 on Saturday to set up Sunday’s rubber game.
The All-Stars managed just three hits, two by Joey Jarneski. Coach Stacey Jarneski saw a “different team” than the one that beat Long Beach 5-4 on Friday.
“They’ve just got to play like they know they’re supposed to play,” Stacey Jarneski said of Sunday’s 6 a.m. Hawaii time contest.
The winner makes a quick turnaround and meets Santa Clara, Calif., at 8:30 a.m. for a trip to the World Series.
Santa Clara is 3-0 in the other four-team bracket at the tournament, but Jarneski said the consensus is Hilo’s bracket is the tougher one.
“We’re staying in the same hotel with two teams from the other bracket, and they both agree that we have the stronger one,” he said. “All the top teams are in the same one.”
After riding Joey Jarneski’s 14-strikeout, four-hit gem on Friday, Hilo used three pitchers a day later.
David Nakamura pitched three innings and allowed six runs Saturday in taking the loss. Jaisten Cabatbat allowed three runs in three innings and Reese Mondina threw a scoreless seventh.
Stacey Jarneski said either Ryan Ragual, who pitched in Hilo’s 8-3 victory against Chula Vista on Thursday, or Mondina would get the call on the mound Sunday.
Long Beach’s two pitchers relied mostly on fastballs to stymie Hilo. DallasJ Duarte had the All-Stars’ other hit.
“We couldn’t figure them out,” Jarneski said. “We hit it right at their guys, with a lot of swinging and missing.”
Long Beach 303 201 0— 9 9 2
Hilo 000 000 0—0 3 2