KAILUA-KONA — Che Doran and his coaches preach to their Hilo Little League player before games the old adage “defense wins championships.”
It appears the young ballplayers are listening to what their coaches are saying — at least most of the time.
The Hilo Little Leaguers shook off a bad inning and rode some highlight reel defensive plays to a 14-12 victory over North Hawaii in the opening game of the 8-9-10 Division District 4 Tournament at Old Kona Airport Park on Thursday.
“We try to teach the kids that defense wins championships. If you do that, the bats will eventually come alive,” Doran said. “So to see them perform how they did today was incredible. They played for each other and this was a big team win.”
The score doesn’t scream defensive battle, but much of that is due to Hilo giving up seven runs in the third inning to some hot North Hawaii bats.
After the tough inning, Hilo put down the North Hawaii batters in order the next three innings. However, it wasn’t from lack of contact from the North Hawaii side.
With the boys in blue looking to find some juice down the stretch, two big defensive plays in the sixth inning helped propel Hilo to victory.
The first came when Kainalu Crivello snagged a hard hit ball down the first base line without flinching, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Right fielder Josiah Nihoa provided the next big out, chasing down a fly ball, sliding for the catch and folding into a full scorpion pose to put an exclamation mark on the play. If caught on film, there’s no doubt it was worthy of being on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day.
“That changed the momentum of the game,” Doran said with a big smile. “There was adversity. Sometime life gets tough but it’s how you respond. It was great to see what our kids did today.”
North Hawaii made a last-gasp run in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs and putting two more runners on with just one out. But Hilo made the plays down the stretch to put the win away.
“Last year we went 0-2 here, so it’s nice to get a win,” Doran said. “North Hawaii is the defending champs so to come in and get a win against them is big. Hopefully we can follow in their footsteps and go undefeated here and head to the state tournament.”
The tournament continues today as Hilo faces off against West Side. The loser of that game will play on Saturday against North Hawaii in an elimination game. The championship will be decided on Sunday.
On the line is a berth to the state tournament on Oahu.