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Little League World Series Championship / Waipio 12, Matamoros, Mexico 3
After the big win over Lake Charles, La., on Saturday, the Sunday final was almost anticlimactic for the 28,500 fans jamming Lamade Stadium.
Waipio became only the second team in Little League World Series championship game history to score in every inning, taking a 3-0 lead after two innings en route to a lopsided 12-3 victory over Matamoros, Mexico. It was the second time in four years that a team from Oahu won the world title in what is arguably the biggest event in youth sports.
After Christian Donahue led off the first with a single and came around to score on a single by Pikai Winchester, it was just a matter of time before Waipio would pull away for the win. Starting pitcher Sergio Rodriguez for Mexico kept hanging his curveball and Waipio kept jumping on it. Tanner Tokunaga made it 3-0 with a two-run homer to center, leaving the fans from Mexico unusually quiet.
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“(Sergio) told me he was relaxed before the game,” Mexico manager Gustavo Gomez said through an interpreter. “You have to understand this is one of the biggest games in this kid’s life, so I can understand if he was a little nervous.”
Mexico cut the lead to 3-1 on a homer by Jesus Sauceda off winning pitcher Caleb Duhay in the second, and trimmed Waipio’s lead to 4-3 in the third, but Waipio refused to lose, scoring three in the fourth and four more in the fifth to seal Mexico’s fate.
“Today I felt really confident,” Duhay said. “I had all my pitches.”
With Mexico closing in, Iolana Akau keyed the four-run fourth with a homer to left-center. It rattled reliever Sauceda, who promptly walked three batters and hit another. It was just a matter of playing out the string after that.
“All along I’ve been saying that it’s just a matter of time before our bats woke up,” Waipio manager Timo Donahue said. “It seems like once we got here, each game one bat would wake up, and eventually they all did.
“Did I expect the differential in scoring today? Not at all.”
The 12 runs for Hawaii were the most scored by one team in a World Series title game since Toms River, N.J., scored 12 against Japan in 1998.
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Waipio 12, Mexico 3
| Waipio | AB | R | H | BI | Mexico | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Donahue ss | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Castillo ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Tokunaga 2b/ss | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Molina 1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Winchester 3b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Rojas ph/1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Akau rf/c | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Muller spr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Paris 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Guevara 1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Duhay cf | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Rodriguez, S. cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Andrade lf/rf/ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rodriguez, Em. lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Farm ph/lf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Rodriguez Ed. rf/c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Yap ph/lf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Balboa 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ulep cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Sauceda cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Fong pr/cf/2b | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Muller rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ling lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Villegas c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Obedoza c | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Dragustinovis rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Salinas 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Rodriguez J. 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 30 | 12 | 11 | 8 | Totals | 25 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Waipio | 121 | 341 | - | 12 | 11 | 1 |
| Mexico | 012 | 000 | - | 3 | 6 | 3 |
E-Rodriguez, Em.; Donahue; Molina; Rodriguez, J. HR-Tokunaga 2; Sauceda; Akau.
| Waipio | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Duhay (W) | 51/3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Donahue | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mexico | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Rodriguez, S. (L) | 22/3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| Sauceda | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Muller | 1/3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Rodriguez, Ed. | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
HBP-Paris (by Sauceda); Andrade (by Muller); Akau (by Rodriguez, Ed.). WP-Rodriguez, S. 3; Duhay; Rodriguez, Ed. 3. PB-Villegas 2; Rodriguez, Ed.
Umpires-Baker (Plate); Germino (First); Mecham (Second); Prentiss (Third).
T-2:35. A-28,500.
