Coach Gavien DeMello’s pitching instructions to Kamren Agpalza were timeless and ageless to the game of baseball: just throw strikes.
Agpalza not only mastered the concept at a young age, but he did it at key junctures in rapid succession, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Hilo Broncos 11 All-Stars held on to claim the state PONY League championship with a 4-3 victory against Kauai at Walter Victor complex.
“They’re excited, they worked hard and are resilient,” DeMello said. “I don’t think anyone worked as hard as these guys the last two and a half weeks.”
All of that to prepare for a three-team tournament that came down to two nitty-gritty games between the Hilo and Kauai.
“I think our hitting was a little better,” DeMello said, “and our heart. We wanted it a little more.”
Payten Remmers-Alameda drove in the go-ahead run with a hit in the top of the seventh, but Kauai, looking to force a second game after Hilo got the upper hand with a 10-7 win Saturday, put two runners aboard when Demello summoned Agpalza to the mound with one out and told him he was loading the bases with an intentional walk to set up a force at any base.
“Oh no,” Agpalza remembered thinking afterward.
But he pumped the strike zone, and after retiring his first batter on a bunt, the second batter also bunted, with Agpalza fielding it and firing a clean throw to first.
Hilo is headed to the West Zone tournament in Walnut, Calif., starting July 18.
“Looking forward to going shopping,” Agpalza said.
The rest of the state, however, may not be looking forward to coming back to Walter Victor anytime soon.
Just 13 minutes prior to Agpalza’s escape act, the Hilo Pony 13s wrapped up a state title on the other side of Walter Victor. At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Hilo Broncos (12-under) will try to make it a threepeat.
But few games at the four-tournament, five-day PONY event were as back and forth as the 11s final.
In the first inning, Hilo’s Iokepa Martines reached on a hit, Koa Marzo was hit by a pitch, and hits by Kaleb Wada and Zian Wery made it 2-0.
Kauai fought back to tie the game.
In the fifth, Agpalza led off with a hit, moved to second on Wada’s hit and eventually scored on Remmers-Alameda’s sacrifice fly.
Kauai battled back to tie the game.
Agpalza made sure Kauai didn’t have an answer in the seventh.
“This is a fun team and they are easy to get along with,” he said.
Afterward, DeMello talked to his players, then he talked to his players’ parents about the their trip to California, and there was picture time, of course.
But he still had at least one more duty.
“If we won today, we promised them boba,” he said.
On the team are: Zian Wery, Zayvin Fujioka, Daeson Cacho, Talus Sato, Iverson Ballo, Koa Marzo Jr., Iokepa Martines, Nathaniel Freeman, Jerrell Alston, Payten Remmers-Alameda, Kaleb Wada, Cole Silva, Kamren Agpalza.
Gavien DeMello is assisted by Clifton Silva and Dion Santiago.