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U.S. Championship / Waipio 7, Lake Charles, LA. 5
If there ever was a greater game in Little League World Series history, the old-timers here in Williamsport can’t remember it.
Down 5-1 after five innings and seemingly out of it against the powerful Southwest Region team from Lake Charles, La., Waipio mounted a rally for the ages by scoring six runs in its final at-bat to secure the 7-5 victory.
It all began with a simple single to left by Tanner Tokunaga. Pikai Winchester followed with a double down the line in left to put runners at second and third. Iolana Akau followed with an RBI single to center to cut the lead to 5-2. Khade Paris made the first out of the inning, but Winchester scored on the play and Akau went all the way to third to make it 5-3.
Caleb Duhay managed a single to center to make it 5-4. With runners on first and second, Trevor Ling went down on strikes, but Keelen Obedoza walked to load the bases for Christian Donahue. He hit a shot to first that infielder Gunner Leger couldn’t locate after stopping it, allowing the tying run to score.
“When I saw him bobble the ball I just started running harder,” Donahue said.
Tokunaga stepped in and hit a two-run double to left to give Waipio its first lead since the third inning, when it was 1-0. Waipio closed out the Louisiana team in the bottom of the sixth to move on to the final of the Little League World Series against Mexico, the International champion.
“It obviously didn’t look too good through that fifth inning,” Waipio manager Timo Donahue said.
“We do pretty good against lefties, but we were down. There’s something I tell these guys all the time - as long as we are within a grand slam, anything can happen.”
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Waipio 7, Southwest 5
| Waipio | AB | R | H | BI | Southwest | AB | R | H | BI | |
| Donahue ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Leger 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tokunaga 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Quinn cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Winchester 3b | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Fontenot ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Akau 1b/c/rf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Jordan, Be. c/1b | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Paris 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Jordan, Br. 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Duhay cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Abshire cf/lf | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| Yap lf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Dupin lf/rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Farm rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | McLemore 2b/c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Andrade 1b/rf/lf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Hunt rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ling lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Phillips ph/lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Fong rf/cf/2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Self 2b/ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Obedoza c/pr/rf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Lee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ulep lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 27 | 7 | 10 | 6 | Totals | 25 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| Waipio | 001 | 006 | - | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| Southwest | 000 | 320 | - | 5 | 7 | 1 |
E-Duhay; Leger. 2B-Donahue; Jordan, Be.; Winchester; Tokunaga. HR-Fontenot.
| Waipio | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Paris | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Tokunaga | 11/3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Ling (W) | 12/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Southwest | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Quinn | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Leger (L) | 2/3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| McLemore | 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
HBP-Winchester (by Quinn). WP-Paris; Tokunaga.
Umpires-Don Dozier (Plate); Dale Prentiss (First); Dan Gettert (Second); Daniel Lowe (Third).
T-2:19. A-22,700.
