By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
South Williamsport, Pa. – Japan is on top of the Little League world. The Japanese have been waiting a very long time to celebrate a Little League Championship.
Yet, that all changed. Japan was able to beat the West, 4-1, in the final game of the 2010 Little League World Series on Sunday at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.
“Every year, they play a rival team in Tokyo,” said Japan manager Shingo Ariyasu. “They have to beat the rival team to be able to advance to Williamsport. Every year, the teams are very strong and we didn’t expect to win it.”
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This is the first time in recent years that a team from Hawai’i was not able to bring a Championship back to the Islands. Hawai’i won the Championship in 2005 and again in 2008.
This is the first time since a team from Pearl City Little League in 1988 was the runner-up from Hawai’i.
“They have a lot of heart and gave it everything they got,” said West manager Brian Yoshii. “They were good sports. I hope you saw that.”
Yoshii made sure that his kids handled the outcome in the right way.
“We’re going back home,” he said. “We love it here. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience by coming here. No losers are coming here. We’re all winners for making it this far. They are a very special group of kids. They never gave up and they battled until the end.”
In the final half-inning of the season, Kaimana Bartolome grounded out. Noah Shackles reached on an error by the third baseman. Tyler Kushima struck out before Matthew Campos flew out to right field to end the World Series.
Masaya Ishii flies out to the left fielder to start the top of the sixth. Kaname Shinozaki walks, then moves to second base on a wild pitch. Natsuki Mizumachi flies out to the left fielder. Hawai’i makes a pitching change.
Keolu Ramos replaces Cody Maltezo, who went 5 2/3 innings. He allowed 2 runs and 4 hits. He walked 3 batters and struck out four.
“I’m so proud of them,” said West coach Yoshii. “Cody pitched a great game [yesterday] on the biggest stage of the year.”
Konan Tomori hits a home run on a 0-2 pitch from Ramos over the right field wall. Ryusuke Ikeda struck out for the third out.
Kahoea Akau flies out to the center fielder to start the bottom of the fifth. Ty DeSa then follows with a ground-out. Shiloh Baniaga also grounded out.
Shodai Fujii singles to start the inning in the fifth. Ryosuke Sugawara bunts to reach first base safely. Fujii is caught out at second base for the first out. Ryota Norimatsu flies out to the right fielder for the second out. Ogasawara flew out to the center fielder for the third out.
Brysen Yoshii has an infield single to advance to first base to start the fourth-inning rally. Shackles singles to right field to start a Hawai’ian rally, putting two runners on base.
Ichiro Ogasawara replaced Ikeda on the mound for Japan. Ikeda went 3 innings. He allowed 4 hits while striking out 5.
Ezra Heleski bunted the ball, and the Japanese third baseman made an error, which allowed Yoshii to score the first Hawai’ian run of the game, 2-1. Shackles advanced to third base on the errant throw.
Campos struck out for the first out of the inning. Heleski stole second base.
Ramos struck out looking for the second out of the inning. Maltezo grounded out to end the inning.
“Ikeda wasn’t pitching as good as he should have,” said Anyasu. “Osagawara was allowed to let the two runners in if they scored. But we ended the inning with no more runs.”
Ogasawara doubles after the Hawai’ian center fielder was not able to stretch long enough to be able to catch the ball for an out to start the top of the 4th. Teruma Nagata struck out for the first out of the inning.
Kaname Shinozaki walks to put runners on first and second base. A wild pitch allows Ogasawara and Shinozaki to move up to second and third base.
Mizumachi grounds out for the second out of the game on a web gem-like play by the Hawai’ian third baseman. Tomori singled to drive in the second run of the game, Ogasawara. A wild pitch moves Tomori from first to second base. Ikeda grounds out to end the inning.
Maltezo struck out to start the inning start the bottom of the third. Akau reaches base after the Japanese second base couldn’t handle the ball. DeSa hits the ball right off the first baseman’s leg, then bounces to the second baseman. He throws Akau out at second base. Baniaga flew out to the shortstop to end the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Kamikura grounds out for the first out of the inning. Takeshi Saito also grounds out for the second out of the inning. Norimatsu grounds out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, pinch hitter Kushima grounds out to start the inning. Justice Nakagawa struck out for the second out of the inning. Pinch hitter Dane Kaneshiro grounds out to end the inning.
In the top of the second inning, Ishii advanced to first base on a walk. Ishii was replaced by a special pinch runner, Sugawara.
Shinozaki singled past the second baseman. Shinozaki moved to first base, while Sugaware advanced to third base. A wild pitch allowed Sugawara to score the first run of the game and Shinozaki moved to second base.
Mizumachi strikes out for the first out of the inning. Shinozaki advances to third base on a wild pitch. Ryo Motegi grounds out for the second out of the inning. Ikeda also struck out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Hawai’i’s Akau gets hit in the head with a pitch to start the inning. After Akau advanced to first base, DeSa struck out for the first out of the inning.
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Baniaga follows that up with a single up the middle. Akau advances to second base on the single.
Bartolome strikes out for the second out of the inning. Shackles also struck out to end the inning.
Japan has three straight batters ground out to start the game.
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