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FURTHER REVIEW
Dave Reardon
Back when Little League was indeed little, Hawaii teams made eight trips to Williamsport, Pa. Eight trips and zero world championships.
That makes the highly publicized and widely televised victories by West Oahu in 2005 and Waipio last week all the more meaningful for the islands’ proud baseball community.
With that in mind, our stud researcher, Jerry Campany, handed me a list of all the kids from here who had played in the LLWS over the decades.
“Here, see if there’s anyone you’ve heard of,” he said.
The names from the two recent champions were familiar, of course, as well as those from the 1988 U.S. champs from Pearl City. But there were just a few that rang a bell from the seven earlier teams. One, though, made me smile: Lloyd Kishi.
Lloyd was the starting left fielder on the 1971 team from Wahiawa that made it to the semifinals at Williamsport before absorbing a beating from the then-dominant Taiwanese. He also happened to be my mountainball teammate in the 1990s. Lloyd was one of the best players on our team, but I had no idea about his Little League World Series pedigree.
Another Lloyd, the future Major Leaguer, last name of McClendon, was the American star in 1971, dominating the series until his Gary, Ind., team lost to Taiwan in the final. Lloyd Kishi said he doesn’t remember even getting a hit in his three games.
“I was 4-6 and 96 pounds,” Kishi said with a laugh. “I think I was overmatched. I was definitely nervous, especially the first game.
“When I saw Taiwan practice, I pretty much knew they were going to win. We had hope, but I knew.”
Lloyd elected not to play high school ball, but continued to stand out in AJA and other community hardball leagues. Then he starred in mountainball as a slick shortstop and power hitter until it became time to coach his own sons, Lance and Layne, in the Mililani PONY league. That’s where he encountered coach Timo Donahue and some of the players from the Waipio team that went on to fame.
“He’s a really good coach. We know Timo and his coaching style. He prepared them well. The kids rallied around him,” Kishi said. “I think because we knew some of the players and coaches, that made watching a really fun experience for us.”
Lloyd, 49, still follows the Little League World Series, especially when a Hawaii team makes it.
“I think the skill level has really improved from then to now,” he said. “The kids are bigger and stronger; they play a different game.”
Every now and then he bumps into a teammate from Wahiawa, 1971.
“It’s not so much we keep in touch, but when we see each other we’re always happy. There’s always going to be a bond,” he said.
And, although they will never all know each other, there will always be a tie among the two Hawaii teams that won it all at Williamsport and the previous eight that went and gave it their best shot.
