There is nothing quite like a summer trip with family.
Galvanizing right before coach Gayne Kobayashi’s eyes, Quinn Waiki helped pace Hilo’s 15-hit attack with a double and two singles Friday, and Clemson Julian and four relievers combined on a six-hit shutout as the Hilo Bronco All-Stars belted Los Alamitos, Calif., 10-0, remaining undefeated at the PONY West Zone baseball tournament in Whittier, Calif.
The Hawaii 12-and-under champions have picked up where they left off after going undefeated in winning the state tournament at Walter Victor complex. They’ve outscored their two foes in Southern California by a combined 18-3, compiling 29 hits without making an error.
“They’re getting so close, they’re playing like a family right now,” Kobayashi said. “Backing each other up. Everybody knows their role.”
On Friday, everybody’s role included hitting the ball hard.
Jarren Sakamoto collected three hits and the top three hitters in the order, Jaziah Oili, Noah Palea and Julian each had two.
Julian hit a two-run double as Hilo went ahead by scoring four times in the second inning, and Boston Kobayashi singled to bring two runners home as the Broncos tacked on four more runs in the third.
“The bats were hot from the start,” Kobayashi said. “(On Thursday), we started off slow with the bats.”
After coming on in relief a day earlier, Julian struck out three in two innings. Neil Colobong-Juayang (two strikeouts), Oili (two), Noah Palea (two) and Kamakalaniakekela Ili (one) worked an inning apiece to finish the six-inning TKO.
Hilo performed about as mistake-free as a coach could hope considering the age group. Along with playing error-less ball again, the All-Stars didn’t issue a walk. Los Alamitos, which thumped Utah 20-3 on Thursday, made seven errors.
“They’ve been mentally prepared,” Kobayashi said.
Hilo will have to lose twice during the next two days to be denied a spot in Sunday’s title game in the eight-team, double-elimination field.
Hilo beat Arizona 9-3 on Thursday, getting three hits apiece from Oili and Palea.
Arizona eliminated Utah on Friday and will face Los Alamitos on Saturday in an elimination game. The winner plays Hilo under the lights Saturday, with Keyan Kanahele most likely starting on the mound for the Big Islanders.
With coaches strictly monitoring the pitch count, Kanahele worked two innings Thursday and was relieved by Colobang-Juayang, Oili, Palea, Julian and Waiki.
Palea hit a three-run triple against Arizona and finished with two hits, Julian (two hits) and Oili each drove in two runs, Jaydon Geraci tripled and Keagan-Hunter Pacheco was 2 for 2 with a double.
“The tournament is run very professionally, and the team feels nice comfortable,” Kobayashi said.
It shows.
Pony 13s
Timely hits at the World Series were hard to come by for Hilo, which lost to Mexico 7-1 in its opener and faces Saturday in Whittier.
Ace Shane Sale-Silva fired 2 2/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for Hilo, which took a 1-0 lead when Loren Iwata scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning.
Mexico tied the game in the fifth and scored two in the sixth before Hilo loaded the bases with no outs on an error, hit by pitch and a walk, but the next three batters struck out.
Coach Shon Malani lamented that he didn’t play small-ball to try to scratch home the tying runs.
“I like who we had coming to the plate,” he said. “I had a long talk with my team (afterward). I told them the loss was on me. I’ll take the blame.”
In the fourth, Hilo used two walks and hits by Legend Lancaster and Kolten McCallum to threaten, but two runners were thrown out on the bases, limiting the rally to one run.
Four Mexico pitchers combined to strike out 12 batters.
“Hats off to Mexico,” Malani said. “All of their pitchers were firm with a good curveball.”
Hilo used four relievers: Iwata, Kaohu Kawelu, Dominic Christensen and Edinn Kitagawa.
Malani pegged Mexico as the team to beat on its side of the bracket in the eight-team bracket, and he’s hoping Hilo can pick up two wins – starting with a game Saturday against Whittier, which is coming off a 21-3 loss to Houston – to earn a rematch Sunday.
“I still think we can do it,” he said.