Shon Malani has done it, but now he’d like to do it right.
There were a few tense moments Saturday after the Hilo Pony 13 All-Stars scored 10 runs in the first inning, but they overwhelmed Eastlake, Calif., 18-8 in Whittier, Calif., to reach the PONY baseball West Zone championship game and ensure themselves a spot at the World Series.
Malani said he was informed before the tournament that two teams would advance to the World Series, which starts Friday in Whittier.
This is the first time a Malani-coached team has reached the World Series in his seventh try, but he also wants that first regional title and the higher seed that goes with it. Hilo plays San Diego, which is also 3-0 on Sunday.
“We had a little celebration, but we know we aren’t done yet,” Malani said. “We want this (San Diego) game.”
Hilo couldn’t have started faster in beating Eastlake for the second time.
“We hit the crap out of the ball,” Malani said. “Triple, single, triple. It just went from there.”
There were no shortage of hitting standouts.
Braden Malani collected four hits, and Dominic Christensen had four RBIs and two hits. Legend Lancaster, Kolten McCallum and Shane Sale-Silva had had three hits apiece, and Kaohu Kawelu had two.
Edinn Kitagawa started and pitched three innings. After Eastlake closed to within 14-8, Malani said Loren Iwata came in and “settled things as usual.”
Hilo put the game away with four runs in the sixth.
Malani said San Diego beat Eastlake prior to West Zone. Sale-Silva, Thursday’s winner, will start for Hilo
“Small but scrappy,” Malani said. “I kind of familiar with that.”
Soon, he could be familiar with a West Zone championship, but either way he and Hilo can get ready for the World Series.
In Walnut, the Hilo Bronco 11s staged a rally to remember to beat Each Long Beach, but they were eliminated later in the day in a 13-1 loss to unbeaten Placentia, Calif.
“They were a good team,” coach Gavien DeMello said of Placentia. “We made too many errors.”
He said the Hilo expended a lot of of energy earlier in its 8-7 win and that’s understanble.
It was a big rally.
Hilo scored eight unanswered runs, with four two-out runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Zian Wery hit a key two-run single, Kamren Agpalza was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Kaleb Wada drove in two runs and Iokepa Martines was 2 for 4 and scored twice.
Koa Marzo scored twice and delivered three innings of shutout relief with four strikeouts.
“They were playing with pride,” DeMello said.