The only question that flummoxed coach Shon Malani along the way came after the final out.
PONY baseball officials in Whittier, Calif., asked Malani which player’s jersey he wanted to nominate to be honored, and – after a delay – Malani sheepishly chose the No. 25 worn by his son.
After all, Brayden Malani was the reason his father came back for another try on the mainland after six misses – and this time he got it just right.
Not all went according to plan Monday, but everything fell into place as the Hilo Pony 13 All-Stars downed Johnstown, Pa., 10-6 to capture the World Series.
“Real surreal is what it is,” Shon Malani said. “Unbelievable.”
His voice sounded hoarse and he joked that when he got to his hotel that he’d have to ice his arm, which was sore from pumping his fist during the course of two victories, both of which were highlighted by Bubu Kawelu’s mad dashes around the bases.
“We played a heck of a game twice today,” ace reliever Loren Iwata said.
An 8-3 win against Mexico in earlier in the day – Kawelu was 4 for 5 with a home run, two triples and four RBIs – sent Hilo into the title game in the evening.
“He had a monster day,” Malani. “What a tournament he had.”
Kawelu’s heroics were forgotten, at least for a little while, as Johnstown scored four times in a disastrous top of the six inning to go ahead 6-4.
After a passed ball allowed a run to score, Iwata took the ball from his catcher and pounded the ball into the grass in frustration.
“I was mad,” Iwata said, “but then we started cheering for each other.”
In the bottom half of the inning, Hilo loaded the bases on singles by Kolten McCallum and Liwai Correa and a walk to Isaiah Justo. With two outs, Kawelu sent a scorching hit to right field that got behind the outfielder, allowing Kawelu to scamper all the way around the bases with a “grand slam.”
“I put my head down, saw my coach and ran,” Kawelu said.
Hilo was felling it.
“We never back down,” Kawelu said. “I did it for my team and we do it for each other.”
In the top of the seventh, ace starter Shane Sale-Silva, who won Monday’s first game before coming on to close the nightcap, had exactly 18 pitches left before he had to be pulled for exceeding the pitch count.
On pitch No. 18 with one out, Journey Leialoha fielded a ground ball at first and help turn a double play, sending Hilo players pouring onto the field to celebrates Hilo PONY’s first World Series victory since a 14-and-under team coached by Stacey Jarneski won it all in 2014.
“It was a different game,” Shon Malani said. “We had to scratch and claw, but we found a way.”
Sale-Silva had three hits in the final, McCallum had two, and Edinn Kitagawa came through with five innings of shutout relief after starter Dominic Christensen suffered an injury.
In the win against Mexico, Christensen had two hits.
Also on the team are Kiana Agpalza, Elijah Okano, Legend Lancaster and Gavin Nishida. Malani is assisted by Chad Criste and Derek Miura.
‘I want to give a shout-out to my coaches,” Shon Malani said. “They don’t have any kids on the team, but they’ve been with us all the way and have shown a lot sacrifice.”
The team is scheduled to arrive at Hilo International Airport at 1:51 p.m. Wednesday.
