The Hilo All-Stars Little League Minors team needed both games Tuesday to win the double-elimination state tournament on Maui, but came up champions.
In the first game at the Eddie Tam Complex in Makawao, the 8-to-10-year-old champions from Hilo came up on the short end of a 12-11 slugfest to a team they’d beaten on Sunday from Kaneohe, Oahu, to set up the doubleheader.
The Hilo boys roared back in an equally close nightcap, edging the Kaneohe club 7-6 to claim bragging rights for Hawaii.
Kala‘i Comilla started the opener, going two innings, giving up six runs on four hits, striking out three, issuing no walks, but hitting two batters.
Kade Manaarpac went 1 2/3 innings and Layne Paiva 2 2/3 innings in relief.
Manaarpac gave up three runs on one hit, one walk and three hit batsmen. He struck out a pair.
Paiva, who had a 11-10 lead going into the bottom of the sixth and final inning, gave up two runs in the stanza for the hard-luck loss. He surrendered three runs on two hits, striking out three, walking one batter and hitting another.
Kaiao Pua went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI. Paiva batted 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs. Julian “Juju” Nihoa went 2-for-5 and knocked in a run.
Comilla went 1-for-3, blasting a solo home run and scoring a pair of runs.
In the championship game, Cassius Aiwohi-Kegler got the start and hurled 4 1/3 innings, the longest mound stint of any Hilo pitcher in the state tourney. Robert Ching went the final 1 2/3 and picked up the win as Hilo scored the final run in the bottom of the sixth.
Hilo scored six runs in the bottom of the second and didn’t score again until the winning run in the final stanza.
Easton Devera was the standout at the plate, going 2-for-2 and scoring a run.
Tuesday’s twinbill was the third and fourth tournament games for the state champions.
Hilo’s all-star squad came out of the gate swinging in the opening round of the tournament Friday, pounding a 19-4, three-inning win over a team from Aiea, Oahu, to advance to a Sunday semifinal game.
Braeden Leite pitched two innings for the win, striking out three hitters and giving up no runs. He got help in relief from Paiva and Manarpaac.
Paiva went 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring three runs and knocking in three, as well. Comilla went 3-for-4 in the shortened contest, scoring three runs, knocking in two and hitting a double.
On Sunday, the Hilo squad notched its second victory, 6-3, over Kaneohe.
Hilo scored three runs in the sixth and final inning to salt away the win and punch the team’s ticket to the final round.
Nihoa started the game on the mound and went 2 2/3 innings for the victors, surrendering two runs, striking out four and walking three. Leite hurled 2 1/3 innings in relief to notch the victory, with Ching and Paiva each going 2/3 innings to seal the deal.
Paiva went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs. Comilla went 3-for-3, scoring three runs and driving in a pair. Leite went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.